Job Search Instilled“Will to Work”and Early Career Performance

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between desires to work as evaluated in a job interview and performance after joining the organization.

In Japan, employees develop firm-specific skill over the long term, they only learn by means of on-the-job training. So employers make hiring decisions based on the interviewee’s likelihood of quitting the firm in early career. Initial skill or knowledge is irrelevant. Likelihood of quitting is determined subjectively by the interviewer. Thus, the standard for employing new graduates lacks clarity. In addition it is unclear that having the desire to work in the company when he applies is positively related to job satisfaction and organizational attitudes.

The analyses used web survey data collected from 503 employed who work for 3-5 years after graduation. The results of analyses showed that the desire to work in the firm when he applies is related to an intension not to leave the firm and job satisfaction, but not related to performance. The positive will to work, that a person acquired by means of his job search, was related to not only an intention not to leave the firm and job satisfaction but also performance in early career. It showed that job search itself had the ability to instill the positive will to work, regardless of firm this“ will to work”, being correlated to job performance.