Managerial recruitment: The influence of personality, ideal candidate characteristics, and personal characteristics on applicant rating of the job

This study addresses the vital issue of managerial recruitment for private industry using recruitment simulation techniques developed in the private and education sectors by focusing on external recruitment practices. The participants (N = 330) were experienced business professionals completing the MBA degree who role-played as applicants for managerial positions described in simulated position advertisements. The control variables were: age, gender (male, female) and ethnicity (minority, White). The predictor variables of interest were FIRO Element B scores (inclusion, control, openness). The dependent variable was job rating. The research design was a correlation design (Campbell & Stanley, 1963) involving correlation analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The findings from the regression analysis suggested that personal characteristics (personality, age) were significantly related to job ratings for manager positions described in position advertisements. Personality was the predictor with the greatest magnitude for explaining the variance in job ratings with inclusion, control, and openness job ratings explaining 5.3%, 5.7%, and 3.6% of the job rating variance respectively. Age correlated negatively with control and openness job ratings, indicating the younger the participants, the higher the job rating for control and openness. Implications for recruitment practice and future research are discussed.