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Realistic Job Previews (RJP) - Help Reduce Turnover and Improve Performance 

_What exactly is a realistic job preview?

Let me start by asking a question.  Did you ever start a job and find out within a number of hours or days that it wasn't exactly like you expected?  I think that most everyone has had this happen.  Let me tell you about my experience, but you must understand, I'm not whining about the work -- as a college student I needed a summer job, badly.  But it was considerably different than explained to me by the hiring manager.     

1971 was a difficult year for many people trying to find work, especially college students looking for summer jobs.  The economy was tight.  The country was still reeling from the Viet Nam War and inflation was rising.

After having applied to get back the same summer job I had the previous year, and being told I'd have to wait until all applicants were considered (also a euphemism for 'not getting the job') I found an opening at a large commercial printer.  I would be working on the 'Betty Crocker Cookbook line and had the job of picking shrink-wrapped cookbooks off of conveyor belts, packing them in boxes and because I was a "big strapping young fellow", I also had to lift and stack the boxes, each containing 24 cookbooks, onto a pallet.

Sounded fine to me.  I wasn't afraid of lifting and stacking.  But what I didn't know was the 'rest of the story', to coin a phrase by Paul Harvey.

My first impression was the kindest . . . it was a factory job.  Yet I had no idea of how dusty, smelly, dirty, noisy, and in general, foul, the work environment was until I got there.  I should have expected it, though I didn't.  And why?  Because I didn't have a realistic job preview - an accurate representation of the work, the tasks, the environment, the speed at which things happened, my colleagues, the break/lunch room, that there were only women in the department, and everything else that was part of the position at that company.  

Did I stick it out?  You bet.  Like I said, I needed that job.  But the moment something better came along -- SWOOSH, I was as gone as Michael Jordan on a fast break!  I became was is now known as 'unplanned turnover'.  They were, once again, looking to fill a 'tough-to-fill' position.

So let's talk more about this realistic job preview.  A couple of grad school professors, Peter Hom of Arizona State University and Rodger Griffeth, at Georgia State University, demonstrated through research, statistical analysis and VERY complex formulas, that if a person is hired for a specific job is given a preview -- a realistic preview, it reduces the likelihood of their quitting by a factor of .61.  

This means that if they accept the job after seeing, and understanding, both the positive AND negative aspects of the position, unlike a traditional job portrayal, you've got better odds, in fact a very good chance, of retaining them as an employee.

Certainly, there are many other factors that weigh in during the hiring and retention processes -- weak or strong job markets, the accuracy or perceived accuracy of the RJP content, and job complexity to name a few.

So you see, a realistic job preview can be a 'robust' method of controlling turnover, and when used as part of a prescriptive, world-class employee retention program, becomes an invaluable tool for business leaders.  No surprises . . . it's one segment of my retention coaching. 

Why, I've even coached some of my business clients to hold special 'RJP' events for positions they are trying to fill, inviting perspective applicants to see, hear, touch and learn more about the company, its management, the customers, their colleagues, the job and what other 'retention' issues are part of the hiring on package.

Want more?  Call or email me.  I'm Brian Howe and I'm a coach

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