THE RELATIONS OF APPLICANTS’ ANXIETY AND THEIR LEVEL OF SUBJECTIVE CONTROL DURING INTERVIEWS FOR VACANT POSITIONS IN THE IT SPHERE

Abstract

The article presents the results of a theoretical and empirical study on relations between various manifestations of anxiety and indicators of the locus of control in applicants for filling vacant IT positions. Researchers' views on anxiety and its types depending on life and professional situations are described. The performed theoretical analysis has shown that interview anxiety is a common problem in today's stressful and fast-paced work environment. This is especially true for applicants for IT vacancies, as the evaluative and competitive nature of the selection process often creates feelings of anxiety, frustration and distress. Accordingly, applicants' anxiety during job interviews has serious consequences, as it may undermine the predictive validity of the interviews and lead to the selection of less promising candidates. In particular, high anxiety may lead to low interview performance, despite the fact that the applicant may demonstrate high performance on professional tasks in the future. We empirically found that applicants for filling vacant IT positions during interviews were more anxious in situations where they had to show examples of their work and cared the least about others' opinions about their appearance. As for general internality, the IT representatives in the studied sample were externals, they believed that most of the circumstances occurring in their own lives were a coincidence. This was the most evident in the areas of: health, interpersonal relationships and readiness for activities related to overcoming difficulties. At the same time, the respondents classified themselves as internal in the field of personal achievements. We found that the respondents showing externality in the field of achievements, their own health and with increased focus on their own failures had high anxiety when interviewing for IT positions. On the contrary, anxiety about the appearance during interviewing increases among those applicants who were internal in professional achievements and about their own life in general.