The attendees, representing more than 100 US and Chinese industries, were split into recruiters and job seekers. Candidates for jobs received two letters of application, one emphasizing their hard effort and the other their natural talent. They had to select one. Recruiters then had to choose one applicant to offer a job to.
The results indicated that while recruiters preferred applicants who emphasized hard work. While most job seekers selected the recommendation letter praising their natural talent.
Additionally, the researchers discovered that while recruiters associated hard work with current job performance. However, job seekers tended to correlate career possibility with inner talent. Similarly, recruiters focused more on candidates’ present job performance. In contrast, job seekers prioritized qualities linked to inner skill and a tendency to highlight personal career possibilities.
According to Professor Dai, the findings show how job seekers and recruiters differ in how much they value hard work vs natural skill. Job seekers may employ inefficient tactics due to the misaligned valuations, which will lower their chances of landing good positions.
In addition to negatively impacting productivity, misplaced expectations between recruiters and job seekers can make assigning employees to roles that best suit them more difficult. The most crucial objective in a productive job market is finding the perfect match between recruiters and job seekers. Therefore, this study has significant impacts for both parties.
According to Professor Dai, job seekers ought to make a greater effort to show that they are oriented toward hard work by, for example, submitting documentation of their diligent disposition during a job interview or cover letter. Conversely, recruiters must consider individuals’ career prospects and work output.
“Recruiters’ position-oriented approach or mindset in talent selection can have negative consequences for companies in the long term, such as high turnover, low morale, and lack of innovation,” Professor Dai stated.
Both job seekers and recruiters can increase their chances of finding suitable matches and help to create a positive and supportive work environment by acknowledging and addressing the expectations gap.
