Anticipatory socialisation: the effect of recruitment and selection experiences on career expectations

Recruitment and selection experiences are part of a process of pre‐entry organisational socialisation, also known as anticipatory socialisation. Graduates are susceptible to such effects as their socialisation through exposure to professional employers begins during training. Employers’ practices are thought to contribute to the formation of realistic career expectations and the initial psychological contract between graduates and employers. The present study found that students in traditional professions reported greater exposure to employers than students in an emerging profession through work activities, more proactive engagement in recruitment events, and more extensive experience of selection processes at similar stages of study. Greater activity, in turn, was related to career expectations, including varying levels of commitment to and interest in the profession and career clarity.