Job search and employment success: A quantitative review and future research agenda.

Abstract

Job search is an important activity that people engage in during various phases across the life span (e.g., school-to-work transition, job loss, job change, career transition). Based on our definition of job search as a goal-directed, motivational, and self-regulatory process, we present a framework to organize the multitude of variables examined in the literature on job seeking and employment success. We conducted a quantitative synthesis of the literature to test relationships between job-search self-regulation, jobsearch behavior, and employment success outcomes. We also quantitatively review key antecedents (i.e., personality, attitudinal factors, and contextual variables) of job-search self-regulation, job-search behavior, and employment success. We included studies that examined relationships with job-search or employment success variables among job seekers (e.g., new labor market entrants, unemployed individuals, employed individuals), resulting in 378 independent samples (N ϭ 165,933). Most samples (74.3%, k ϭ 281) came from articles published in 2001 or later. Findings from our meta-analyses support the role of job-search intensity in predicting quantitative employment success outcomes (i.e., r c ϭ .23 for number of interviews, r c ϭ .14 for number of job offers, and r c ϭ .19 for employment status). Overall job-search intensity failed to predict employment quality. Our findings identify job-search self-regulation and job-search quality as promising constructs for future research, as these predicted both quantitative employment success outcomes and employment quality. Based on the results of the theoretical and quantitative synthesis, we map out an agenda for future research.

For Whom the Pandemic Tolls: A Person-Centric Analysis of Older Workers

“…A recent meta-analysis found that older workers face unique challenges in employing effective job search strategies as well as greater obstacles to reemployment ( Wanberg et al, 2016 ). Consistent with recommendations made by van Hooft et al (in press ), we suggest that successful job search and reemployment for older workers in the wake of COVID-19 should require greater attention to the individual’s job search skills and the socioeconomic, psychological, and technical capital available and used by the individual to identify job prospects. In addition to the considerations for future research suggested in previous sections (e.g., differential risk, mortality salience, and skill learning), practitioners should take these factors into consideration when designing reemployment interventions targeted at older workers.…”

Testing a Self-Compassion Intervention Among Job Seekers: Self-Compassion Beneficially Impacts Affect Through Reduced Self-Criticism

“…Further, we tested the effectiveness of our self-compassion intervention in a mixed sample of job seekers, including new entrants, employed, and unemployed job seekers. Although job search is relevant in all these groups (e.g., Kanfer et al, 2001 ; Boswell et al, 2012 ; Van Hooft et al, in press ), future research is needed to examine to what extent our findings generalize to especially vulnerable populations such as long-term unemployed individuals. Possibly, stronger interventions are needed in such groups to obtain lasting effects.…”

“…Job search occurs in several stages of people’s lives, as reflected by job seeking research that has typically sampled students seeking for employment upon graduation, unemployed individuals looking for reemployment, and employed individuals seeking for a job change (e.g., Boswell et al, 2012 ; Van Hooft et al, in press ). Rather than restricting to a particular group, in the present study we included job seekers from all these groups.…”

“…Most people search for a job at some stage in their career, for example when entering the labor market after finishing school, when a temporary contract ends, after being laid off, or when desiring to make a career move. The chance of finding employment increases to the extent that job seekers put effort in their search and search intensively ( Kanfer et al, 2001 ; Van Hooft et al, in press ). However, job search can be difficult and stressful, and is associated with various negative experiences such as rejections or failing to find job leads ( Song et al, 2009 ), making job seekers prone to feelings of self-doubt, anxiety, self-criticism, and rumination (e.g., Wanberg et al, 2012 ).…”

“…It includes a range of activities such as searching for vacancies, having network conversations, contacting employment agencies, and submitting applications. The amount of time and effort that job seekers spend on job search activities is positively related to job search success ( Kanfer et al, 2001 ; Van Hooft et al, in press ). However, during job search there is hardly a clear pathway toward reaching the desired employment outcome.…”