Anticipatory socialisation: the effect of recruitment and selection experiences on career expectations

Abstract

Recruitment and selection experiences are part of a process of pre-entry organisational socialisation, also known as anticipatory socialisation. Graduates are susceptible to such effects as their socialisation through exposure to professional employers begins during training. Employers' practices are thought to contribute to the formation of realistic career expectations and the initial psychological contract between graduates and employers. The present study found that students in traditional professions reported greater exposure to employers than students in an emerging profession through work activities, more proactive engagement in recruitment events, and more extensive experience of selection processes at similar stages of study. Greater activity, in turn, was related to career expectations, including varying levels of commitment to and interest in the profession and career clarity.

Understanding graduate recruitment, development and retention for the enhancement of talent management: sharpening ‘the edge’ of graduate talent

“…Furthermore, Scholarios, Lockyer and Johnson (2003) contend that turnover and retention issues arise when initial expectations are not fulfilled in reality. Issues arise as employers find it increasingly difficult to meet such expectations.…”

Position, possession or process? Understanding objective and subjective employability during university-to-work transitions

“…For instance, graduates from older UK universities enjoy the benefits of employers' 'milk round' attention where they can explore career opportunities and possibly network. Similarly, graduates from professional degree courses are generally socialised into career opportunities in their fields, while this is a rarity for those from non-professional degree courses as career routes are less visible for the latter (Scholarios, Lockyer, and Johnson 2003). This suggests the following hypotheses about the relationships between CSM, education and employability.…”

What Do Talents Want? Work Expectations in India, China, and Germany

“…Given generational and cultural differences, scholars call for further cross-cultural research on potential employees and current students (Konrad, Ritchie, Lieb, & Corrigall, 2000). Individuals' expectations prior to entering the labor market influence their future career expectations and socialization within the organization; (Garavan & Morley, 1997;Scholarios, Lockyer, & Johnson, 2003); moreover, the workforce in multinational companies is becoming increasingly diverse (Cooke & Saini, 2012). Consequently, it is important to examine work expectations across cultural backgrounds.…”