Recruiting passionate job seekers for better performance

Purpose This research examines how job seekers' levels of harmonious work passion (HWP) and obsessive work passion (OWP) affect the importance job seekers place upon job and organizational elements in recruiting messages. Design/methodology/approach Employees who had recently completed job searches read multiple recruiting messages and ranked the importance of different elements in the messages. Findings General linear modeling found statistical differences between the importance of recruiting message elements for participants with varying levels of HWP and OWP. Research limitations/implications The participants were information technology, engineering and human resource professionals limiting the generalizability of these results to other professions. Practical implications Recruiters should vary the information in their recruiting messages depending on the levels of HWP and OWP they want to attract to their applicant pools. Originality/value This research adds harmonious and obsessive work passion to the constructs considered in the recruiting message development process.