A six year longitudinal study of graduate expectations: The implications for company recruitment and selection strategies

All job entrants formulate a set of expectations about what a new job will be like. At least in part, these expectations are shaped by their experience of the organization's selection process. What impact do these early impressions have upon subsequent job attitudes and behaviour? This article reports the findings of a longitudinal study of UK graduate from a few weeks prior to organizational entry to five or six years after commencing employment. Both the level of pre-entry expectations and the congruency of these expectations with work experience are found to correlate with subsequent job satisfaction and organizational commitment. More support is found for the congruent expectations hypotheses, and the implications of this for company selection and socialization strategies are discussed.