Professional Recruiters Research Articles

The reputational and ethical consequences of deceptive chatbot use

The use of chatbots is becoming widespread as they offer significant economic opportunities. At the same time, however, customers seem to prefer interacting with human operators when making inquiries and as a result are not as cooperative with chatbots when their use is known. This specific situation creates an incentive for organizations to use chatbots without disclosing this to customers. Will this deceptive practice harm the reputation of the organization, and the employees who work for them? Across four experimental studies, we demonstrate that prospective customers, who interact with an organization using chatbots, perceive the organization to be less ethical if the organization does not disclose the information about the chatbot to their customers (Study 1). Moreover, employees that work for an organization which requires them to facilitate the deceptive use of a chatbot exhibit greater turnover intentions (Study 2) and receive worse job opportunities from recruiters in both a hypothetical experimental setting (Study 3) and from professional job recruiters in the field (Study 4). These results highlight that using chatbots deceptively has far reaching negative effects, which begin with the organization and ultimately impact their customers and the employees that work for them.

Abstract 12970: Exploring Experiences Associated With Aortic Stenosis Diagnosis, Treatment and Life Impact Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: An Interview Study

Background: Although multiple studies have examined various clinical aspects of diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients with aortic stenosis (AS), there are limited data collected from patients regarding experiences related to symptoms, diagnosis, treatment decisions, and personal impacts of living with AS. Methods: Adults aged ≥40 years diagnosed with AS were recruited from national patient networks and through professional recruiters. Participants were separated into 3 cohorts: medically managed, surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), and transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Semi-structured interviews were conducted via teleconference using open ended questions and probes. Interview recordings were transcribed verbatim and inductive thematic analyses were conducted. Results: A total of 45 interviews were conducted (15 per treatment group). The majority of participants were male (55.6%, 25 of 45), white (95.6%, 43 of 45), and non-Hispanic (93.3%, 42 of 45). Median time from symptom onset to diagnosis was 6 months (IQR: 1-12). Participants noting longer times to diagnosis reported mild symptom onset and experiences of misdiagnoses. Some participants described that healthcare professionals explained the AS diagnosis clearly and understandably, while others left the encounter confused with unanswered questions. Participants described a strong reliance on their healthcare professionals to guide them through their treatment decisions, which were influenced by the effects of anticoagulation, future valve interventions, and recovery. Medically managed participants reported making lifestyle modifications to manage AS symptoms, including chronic anxiety and fatigue. In contrast, participants who underwent TAVI or SAVR reported positive sentiments, including gratitude and freedom to live life normally following the procedure. Conclusions: The diverse but challenging experiences of individuals with AS suggest that increasing both the availability and use of patient resources may improve patients’ understanding of AS and facilitate informed treatment decisions. Common reports of delayed AS diagnosis also indicate a need for additional healthcare professional education on referral to a heart valve team.

Screened Out: Recruiter Evaluations of Job Applicants with Prior Entrepreneurial Experience

A great deal of research on entrepreneurial exit focuses on the potential challenges that entrepreneurs may face when launching a new venture, but very little is known about those who choose to reenter the traditional workforce. It is commonly assumed that an entrepreneur can always “go back to work,” however, it is unclear whether entrepreneurial experience will help or hurt them on the job market. We attempt to answer this question by investigating how recruiters evaluate former entrepreneurs early in the selection process. Drawing on screening theory and attribution theory, we argue that, contrary to popular belief, former entrepreneurs are evaluated more negatively than their counterparts with traditional work experience. Additionally, we theorize that former entrepreneurs who close their business will face considerable difficulty reentering the traditional workforce compared to former entrepreneurs who sell their business. Results of two studies reveal that professional recruiters tend to screen out former entrepreneurs – both those who close and those who sell their ventures – from interview consideration in favor of applicants with traditional work experience. Our qualitative findings provide further support and insight into the attributions that recruiters make when considering former entrepreneurs as potential employees.

Opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence in recruitment and selection

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge on the opportunities and risks in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment and selection by exploring the perspectives of recruitment professionals in a multicultural multinational organisation.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was used in this exploratory study. Face-to-face, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with ten professional recruiters who worked for a multinational corporation.FindingsThe findings revealed that AI facilitates the effective performance of routine tasks through automation. However, the adoption of AI technology in recruitment and selection is also fraught with risks that engender fear and distrust among recruiters. The effective adoption of AI can improve recruitment strategies. However, cynicism exists because of the fears of job losses to automation, even though the participants thought that their jobs would continue to exist because recruiters should always be humans.Originality/valueThis paper provides a unique exploration of the opportunities and risks in the adoption of AI for the recruitment and selection function in human resource management. The benefits are the delegation of routine tasks to AI and the confirmation of the crucial role of professional recruiters.

Does expertise and thinking mode matter for accuracy in judgments of job applicants' cognitive ability?

The present research examined the role of thinking mode for accuracy in recruiters and laypeople's judgments of applicants' cognitive ability. In Study 1, students who relied on their intuition were somewhat less accurate. In Study 2, an experimental manipulation of thinking mode (intuitive vs analytical) revealed no apparent differences in accuracy. Moreover, there were no differences in accuracy or agreement between recruiters and laypeople. Examination of the use of specific resume content suggested that intuitive thinking corresponds to basing one's judgments more on the way that applicants present themselves in their personal letter and less on diagnostic biographical information such as SAT scores. The findings point to the possibility that professional recruiters may not possess intuitive expertise in this context.

Does Leadership on the Field Get You Noticed Off It?: The Value of Varsity Sports to Corporate Recruiters

An online correspondence study was conducted to explore whether professional recruiters screening candidates for entry-level corporate jobs would view leadership skills acquired through high level participation in amateur sports at the collegiate varsity level more favorably than those acquired through non-sports activities. The experimental manipulation randomly varied candidates’ athletic v. non-athletic leadership experience at university, their gender, and race. Eight hundred and twenty-eight corporate recruiters rated four potential candidate profiles on four of eight job-relevant leadership traits/skills they valued most when assessing a candidate and ranked the candidates for a callback interview. Varsity athletes were rated higher than non-athletes on the ability to work in a team and on being results-driven. However, recruiters rated athletes lower in critical thinking, follow-through on tasks, and organizational skills. Overall, athletes were no more likely than non-athlete candidates to be selected for a first interview. Results are interpreted in the context of signaling theory.

When the Dark Shines: The Role of Dark Personality Traits in Leadership Role Occupancy and Hiring Decisions in a Collectivistic Culture

Two studies investigated the role of the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism), conscientiousness, and intelligence on leadership role occupancy and hiring decisions in Indonesian culture, which is a collectivist culture. Study 1 used generalized linear model to examine two groups of participants with (i.e., school principals) and without (i.e., teachers) significant leadership responsibilities by controlling for participant grouping by school. The results indicated that, in comparison with teachers, school principals had significantly higher narcissism and conscientiousness and lower psychopathy and intelligence. In Study 2, video recordings of simulated job interviews of 133 undergraduates were evaluated by 133 professional recruiters. Interviewee narcissism was the only significant positive predictor for hiring decision. Both studies provide consistent evidence that narcissism is a significant positive factor in both leadership role occupancy and hiring decision in a collectivist culture.

Applicant Ethnicity Affects Which Questions Are Asked in a Job Interview

Abstract. Three experiments on professional recruiters explored how applicants’ ethnicity affects questions prepared for a job interview and the implications of this. Study 1 revealed that outgroup applicants prompt recruiters to focus more on whether applicants have integrated cultural norms and values fitting the ingroup norms (person-culture fit), as well as the match between the applicants and their would-be work team (person-group fit). When applicants were from the ethnic ingroup, recruiters focused more on questions pertaining to the match between the applicants’ abilities and the specific demands of the job (person-job fit). Studies 2 and 3 revealed that questions prepared for outgroup applicants were rated as less useful for hireability decisions, and that summaries emphasizing person-job fit were perceived as more useful.

Candidates’ attractiveness in selection decisions: a laboratory experiment

PurposeRecruiters in today’s organizations, through social networks, have the opportunity to see a candidate’s overall figure, and from this, they gain a first impression of their personalities which in turn affects their decisions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the biasing role of candidates’ attractiveness – in facial and bodily terms – on perceived main personality features (i.e. core evaluations (CEs)) in selection decisions.Design/methodology/approachAn experimental study involving professional recruiters (n=150) was conducted. Participants were asked to rate bodily attractiveness (using the objectification construct), CEs, facial attractiveness and hiring scores of six candidates for an administrative position; then, a moderated mediation model was tested.FindingsThis study suggests that recruiters’ perception of candidates’ CEs mediates the relationship between objectification (i.e. body attractiveness) and the assigned hiring score, while facial attractiveness amplifies or reduces the effect of objectification on CEs.Originality/valueThe value added of this contribution lies in studying the biasing mechanism of candidates’ overall attractiveness (facial and bodily) and its effects on the perceived core personality features.

Underrepresentation of Hispanics and Other Minorities in Clinical Trials: Recruiters' Perspectives.

Clinical trials and research studies often fail to recruit participants from the minorities, hampering the generalizability of results. In order to mitigate this problem, the present study investigated how race/ethnicity affects the process of recruiting people from racial and ethnic minority groups, by conducting 11 focus groups with professional recruiters. Several themes emerged, such as how to adapt to potential participants' language competency and literacy levels, the importance to engage in culturally appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication, and to establish a sense of homophily between recruiters and patients. In addition, recruiters pointed out possible solutions to accommodate socioeconomic concerns, to adapt to contextual factors-including immigration status-and ultimately to respond to potential participants' mistrust of medical research. These findings are discussed, and future recommendations are provided.

Barriers to the Hiring of English Teachers in English Training Schools in Hefei City, China

English teaching and learning has become an integral part of the Chinese educational system. Due to the opening up policy of the Chinese government to the rest of the world, the need to reform in line with the changing demands of the time became necessary. This therefore led to the influx of potential foreign English teachers in to the country due to the demand for foreign English teachers. The study therefore explores the factors influencing the hiring decisions of potential foreign English teachers in Hefei. Questionnaire was used to elicit information from respondents with the help of SPSS as the analysing tool. Using logistic regression model it made it possible to better understand the impact of the factors that influence hiring decisions. Results indicated that gender and experience were statistically significant. Colour and educational level were not statistically significant but important in the hiring decisions. Nationality of a potential foreign English teacher was not significant and also not important in the hiring decisions. The study concludes that professional recruiters should be put in place during the hiring process. It therefore suggests that competence should be a key factor in the hiring decisions of potential foreign English teachers in order to better learner’s outcomes and to meet the objective of the state.

“You Need to Be a Good Listener”: Recruiters’ Use of Relational Communication Behaviors to Enhance Clinical Trial and Research Study Accrual

Medical and research professionals who discuss clinical trials and research studies with potential participants face an often daunting challenge, particularly when recruiting from minority and underserved populations. This study reports on findings from a focus group study of 63 research coordinators, study nurses, professional recruiters, and other professionals in Indianapolis, IN and Miami, FL who work to recruit from minority and underserved populations. These professionals discussed the importance of creating a sense of connection with potential participants as part of the recruitment and retention process. Building a relationship, however fleeting, involved a number of concrete behaviors, including listening to personal information, expressing empathy, and then providing reciprocal self-disclosures; having repeated contact, usually by working in the same environment over an extended period of time; demonstrating respect through politeness and the use of honorifics; going the extra mile for participants; offering flexibility in scheduling follow-up appointments; and creating a sense of personal and community trust by being truthful. The implications of these findings for clinical trial and research study accrual are discussed.

The relationship between extraversion and physical attractiveness of online network users assessed by personnel recruiters

ObjectiveThe objective of the study was threefold. First, we examined whether extraversion contributes to the evaluations of an online social network user's physical attractiveness made by professional recruiters. We studied if this relationship is mediated by a degree of user's activity and popularity among other users. Second, we presumed this relationship to be specified in terms of the five‐factor theory of personality. A type of characteristic adaptation named reflected extraversion was assumed to incrementally contribute to this relationship. Reflected extraversion is a meta‐perception representing one's opinion on how extraverted one is as perceived by significant others. Third, user popularity treated as an external influence in terms of the five‐factor theory was presumed to reciprocally affect reflected extraversion.MethodProfiles of 188 online social network users were assessed by four professional recruiters. The latter were asked to evaluate the physical attractiveness of the former. The users completed a number of self‐report measures. Various behavioural indicators extracted from the profiles were measured.ResultsExtraversion enhanced recruiter‐rated physical attractiveness via two paths: user activity and user popularity. The inclusion of reflected extraversion failed to improve the model substantially. However, reflected extraversion mediated the link between trait extraversion and the indicators of user popularity but not the indicators of user activity. The reciprocal path from user popularity towards reflected extraversion was negligible.ConclusionsThe study shows that extraversion may allow people to efficiently manage online networking to convince recruiters that they are physically attractive, even in the absence of any offline communications.

The art and science of engaging patients into medical research: using professional recruiters' experiences to inform physicians and scientific directors' strategic choices.

In order to advance medical care, it is necessary to invest resources, both human and financial, in medical research. However, these investments sometimes are not sufficient to ensure the success of research studies. No progress can be made without the participation of patients in research studies and clinical trials. These potential participants are normally identified by their physicians, or by professional recruiters, depending on the patient clinical profile. However, often patients are intimidated by the idea of engaging in clinical trials for several reasons, including the fear of side effects, to the difficulty of understanding specific research-related terms. The main objective of this project was to identify the communication strategies used by recruiters to help patients enroll into medical research projects. Another goal of the study was to identify key information that would help PIs and researchers make more effective decisions in terms of design and methodology. A total of 11 focus groups were conducted in two large, ethnically diverse cities: Indianapolis and Miami (USA). Our analyses indicated that recruiters use a variety of verbal and nonverbal communication strategies to create a relationship with potential participants. In addition, recruiters consider the cultural background of the people they interact with, the environment in which they live, the resources available, and the possible support of family members.

Do Employers Forgive Applicants’ Bad Spelling in Résumés?

Spelling deficiencies are becoming a growing concern among employers, but few studies have quantified this phenomenon and its impact on recruiters’ choice. This article aims to highlight the relative weight of the form (the spelling skills) in application forms, compared with the content (the level of work experience), in recruiters’ judgment during the selection process. The study asked 536 professional recruiters to evaluate different application forms. The results show that the presence of spelling errors has the same detrimental impact on the chances of being shortlisted as a lack of professional experience, and recruiters’ spelling skills also moderate their judgment.

Clinical Trial and Research Study Recruiters’ Verbal Communication Behaviors

The lack of accrual to research studies and clinical trials is a persistent problem with serious consequences: Advances in medical science depend on the participation of large numbers of people, including members of minority and underserved populations. The current study examines a critical determinant of accrual: the approach of patients by professional recruiters who request participation in research studies and clinical trials. Findings indicate that recruiters use a number of verbal strategies in the communication process, including translating study information (such as simplifying, using examples, and substituting specific difficult or problematic words), using linguistic reframing or metaphors, balancing discussions of research participation risks with benefits, and encouraging potential participants to ask questions. The identification of these verbal strategies can form the basis of new communication protocols that will help medical and nonmedical professionals communicate more clearly and effectively with patients and other potential participants about research studies and clinical trials, which should lead to increased accrual in the future.

Searching for talent

Recruitment professionals perform complex search tasks in order to find candidates that match client job briefs. In completing these tasks, recruiters have to contend with many core information retrieval (IR) challenges, such as query formulation, refinement and evaluation. However, despite the similarities with more established communities of information professionals such as patent lawyers and healthcare librarians, this community has been largely overlooked in IR research. This article presents results of a survey of recruitment professionals to understand their information-seeking behaviour and their needs regarding IR systems and applications. The findings are discussed in the context of the recruitment industry as a whole and are moderated by insights from professional recruiters.

Judgments that lead to job offers

Psychology Job seekers often need to send out hundreds of resumes in order to get a handful of interviews. But do applicants really need to meet their potential employers face-to-face for the best chance of success? Schroeder and Epley investigated this by having business school students or actors apply for jobs by composing elevator pitches for delivery via text and audio or video recordings, and museum visitors or professional recruiters judged the candidates' intellect and their likelihood of being hired. In all of the combinations, the audio pitches outperformed written ones and did just as well as the videos, suggesting that a person's voice is the key. Psychol. Sci. 26 , 10.1177/0956797615572906 (2015).

The Sound of Intellect

A person’s mental capacities, such as intellect, cannot be observed directly and so are instead inferred from indirect cues. We predicted that a person’s intellect would be conveyed most strongly through a cue closely tied to actual thinking: his or her voice. Hypothetical employers (Experiments 1–3b) and professional recruiters (Experiment 4) watched, listened to, or read job candidates’ pitches about why they should be hired. These evaluators rated a candidate as more competent, thoughtful, and intelligent when they heard a pitch rather than read it and, as a result, had a more favorable impression of the candidate and were more interested in hiring the candidate. Adding voice to written pitches, by having trained actors (Experiment 3a) or untrained adults (Experiment 3b) read them, produced the same results. Adding visual cues to audio pitches did not alter evaluations of the candidates. For conveying one’s intellect, it is important that one’s voice, quite literally, be heard.

‘It’s everything else you do…’: Alumni views on extracurricular activities and employability

This article explores students’ extracurricular activities and, uniquely, their short- and long-term effects on employability. Drawing on the literature, six research questions are identified. A questionnaire and interviews with alumni provide the quantitative and qualitative information needed. The effects of different extracurricular activities and the skills and qualities they promote are demonstrated for early- and later-career jobs, as are the complementary effects for employability of degree schemes and extracurricular activities. Alumni who are now recruiters of staff use their double perspective to explain the role extracurricular activities have played in their lives and now as professional recruiters. This article shows how the alumni of any university could share these insights with undergraduates.