Graduating students' responses to recruitment advertisements.

Many firms spend substantial resources in their efforts to recruit the best graduates, and recruitment advertisements can be a critical medium for potential employees deciding on whether to apply for jobs. It is important, therefore, that recruitment advertisements attract the attention of potential

applicants and encourage them to apply. The purpose of this study was to examine the variables that influence attention to advertisements and the intention to apply for advertised positions among final-year commerce students. A quasi-experiment was conducted to investigate the relative impact of three factors in a recruitment advertisement: the use of the word graduate in the heading, the use of pictures in the advertisement, and the mention of a career path or opportunities for development and promotion. The results highlight the importance of a heading with the word graduate and support a proposed three-step model for designing a recruitment advertisement.

Keywords: recruitment advertisements; graduating students; potential employment applicants; pictures or graphics; heading; career path

**********

What appears in the advertisement should assist rather than hinder the applicant in deciding whether or not he or she is interested in joining the organization.

--McKenna & Beech (1995)

Recruitment is critical to human resource management (HRM). Many companies boast, "Our people are our biggest asset." The success of a business ultimately relies on the type of employees who work there, which encourages businesses to attract and retain good employees. Many firms, therefore, spend millions of dollars in their efforts to recruit the best graduates. Job advertisements are an important tool in this recruitment. Usually, a recruitment advertisement is the first medium a potential employee sees before deciding on whether to apply for a job.

Much of what is said about what to include in a job advertisement focuses on the point of view of the employer and is not supported by evidence. Limited research has been conducted into what potential applicants want and how they approach job advertisements (Mathews & Redman, 1998). It is important, therefore, that a recruitment advertisement contain factors that are attractive to potential applicants. Such factors could include salary, benefits, career path, working conditions, public- or private-sector business, the name recognition of the company, and the title of the job. More research is needed into applicants' perceptions of job advertisements.

The recruitment process contains a number of steps, including corporate planning, human resource planning, job description and evaluation, and job advertisements. The present study centered on the job advertisement step.

I argue that job advertisements are a type of persuasive communication. Dessler, Griffiths, Lloyd-Walker, and Williams's (1999) concept of AIDA (attract, interest, desire, action) was used to guide a study into potential applicants' perceptions of various features of job advertisements. The study specifically looked at graduating students in commerce, a business degree in which accounting is a major, because this sector has been given little attention in HRM studies (Anderson-Gough, Grey, & Robson, 2001).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Most of the literature described here describes theories and advice relevant to recruitment advertisement. Very little empirical research on the subject has been conducted.

Petrick and Furr (1995) stated that an individual job should be designed as part of a broader organizational design, with specific tasks and duties prescribed. The HRM department, which in most large organizations has the responsibility of recruiting new employees, must be able to find the person with the right level of suitability for the job. Yet research that has been conducted has indicated that many organizations select staff members according to qualities irrelevant to successful performance on the job (Dessler et al., 1999). Selecting a recruit who is not the best person for a job leads to money being wasted on training, a decline in employees' morale, and an expensive selection mistake if it has to be rectified (Molander & Winterton, 1994). Thus, it is important to implement the best recruitment procedures possible.

Denton (1992) stated that competition teaches organizations to be aggressive recruiters and that they must use every avenue available to find the best employees. Initial attraction to an organization has been found to be related to early impressions of an organization's image as an employer (Turban, Forret, & Hendrickson, 1998). One of the most effective ways to recruit employees is to be the employer of choice (Denton, 1992). Slaughter et al. (2001) concluded that applicants are able to attribute specific traits to an organization on the basis of the organization's advertising, products and services, places of business, employees, customers, and social information. For example, applicants may favor a company that is publicly recognized as a good employer over other companies. Applicants who believe that an organization is innovative or competent may feel that this image expresses their own self-concepts and personalities and therefore will react more favorably toward that organization (Aaker, 1997, 1999; Bushman, 1993; Shavitt, 1990; Sirgy, 1982; Solomon, 1983). Lievens and Highhouse (2003) observed, "The criteria job seekers use to evaluate an organization's image may be attributes (e.g., innovative) that have symbolic meaning for them and that are held in high regard by others" (p. 96).

Barber and Roehling (1993) found that inferences about organizational characteristics can be made by readers from the information provided in a recruitment advertisement. In fact, Redman and Mathews (1995) wrote, "The readers of recruitment advertising are more sophisticated and demanding so the advertisements are becoming more difficult and complex to write" (p. 15). Research by Backhaus (2004) suggested, however, that organizations predominantly focus on their own attributes and secondarily on employee advancement. The poorly defined and limited research in this field means that most recruiters have to rely on their own past experiences and advice from others, resulting in the recruitment advertising process being less effective (Ryan, Gubern, & Rodriguez, 2000).

Williamson's (2000) review of research indicated that the recruitment procedures and HRM policies implemented by an organization heavily influence applicants' job-choice decisions. It is these procedures and policies that indicate to an applicant how well a potential employer will meet employment goals.

Recruitment, therefore, is an important form of persuasive marketing communication (Allen, Van Scotter, & Otondo, 2004). Specifically, recruitment is a process in which a communicator or source (a company) seeks to elicit a desired response (an application from a potential employee). The difference between communication and persuasive communication lies in the intent of the source. In persuasive communication, the source of a message wants receivers to change their behaviors or wants to influence the behaviors of receivers in a specified manner (Bettinghaus, 1973). In other words, persuasive appeals aim to motivate readers to take some form of action (Dwyer, 1999). For the focus of this study, a recruitment advertisement is supposed to persuade suitable potential employees to apply for a position.

According to Lievens and Highhouse (2003), organizations need to have a "strategy that consists of focusing on its symbolic meaning as an employer in the market place" (p. 98). They also suggested that organizations use "employee imagery (e.g., testimonials of employees) and employment imagery (e.g., employment stories) in their advertising" (p. 98). Lievens and Highhouse argued that using such "image-oriented advertising techniques, especially crafted around a company's innovativeness, prestige and sincerity" (p. 98) would enhance the recruitment process. Neely-Martinez (2002) stated that recruitment advertisements do more than just promote positions, they are about branding and selling a corporate image, convincing applicants that this is the employer of choice.

Dessler and colleagues (1999) suggested using AIDA (1) to construct an advertisement. As in general advertising, the first task in designing a recruitment advertisement is to make sure that the advertisement will attract notice. Chandor (1976) stated that companies need to be aware that their advertisements will be surrounded by others for similar jobs. The elements of a successful advertising campaign to attract job applicants include thought-provoking and appealing headlines and appealing graphics. The use of visuals in text, graphics in particular, is an important way to attract the attention of potential applicants. Allen et al. (2004) found that "visual channels are capable of transmitting detailed graphics, pictures, symbols, nonverbal cues, facial expressions, and other visual images that convey meaning" (p. 147). Once readers' attention has been caught, an advertisement should hold their attention and convince them that this advertisement is of interest to them (Vestergaard & Schroder, 1985).

The second point, therefore, is to develop interest in a job. Interest may be created by the nature of the work or the working environment. An advertisement must emphasize a particular aspect of a vacancy, for example, the organization, salary, technical attraction, job title, type of person needed, locality, or career prospects (Chandor, 1976). Chandor (1976) found that the overall effectiveness of an advertisement could be diminished if more than one element is emphasized. Thus, once the key factor has been determined, other factors should be included in the supporting text. The elements included need to be relevant so that potential applicants are able to do as much self-selection as possible.

The third step, desire, can be created by amplifying a job's interest factors and extras, such as job satisfaction, career-path opportunities, travel, or similar advantages. Jennings, Werbel, and Power (2003) argued that benefits offered by organizations should also be included so that potential applicants can make informed decisions. These benefits can fall into one of two categories, traditional and nontraditional benefits. Traditional benefits include "disability insurance, health insurance, retirement funding and life insurance. However, employers are increasingly emphasizing non-traditional benefits, such as flexible work arrangements, telecommuting, portable retirement plans and corporate sponsored daycare centers" (Elswick, 2000, p. 291).

Table 1 is a summary of factors that could influence the effectiveness of a recruitment advertisement as suggested from this review of the literature on recruitment advertisements and persuasive communication. Although multiple factors have been suggested, very little evidence exists to support the relative importance of these factors.

Finally, a recruitment advertisement should encourage action (Thorsteinson & Highhouse, 2003). Recruitment advertisements must give applicants an easy way to apply for the positions advertised (Dessler et al., 1999; Koch, 1976). Advertisements should persuade an appropriate number of applicants to apply because too many applicants can make the process time-consuming, and thus expensive, for management. However, too little response to a recruitment advertisement disadvantages an organization by limiting its choice.

In summary, companies that wish to attract readers, create desire, develop interest in jobs, and motivate readers to action need to use effective advertising communication. Effective persuasive strategies include organizing the information into a logical and user-friendly structure, stating a clear and precise purpose, and using a style that is concise and does not waste readers' time. They also need to fit the purpose and context and to be targeted to a particular audience or target group.

A THREE-STEP MODEL OF RESPONSES TO RECRUITMENT ADVERTISEMENTS

Guided by the core steps in the AIDA approach to advertising and using the results of the research into recruitment advertising, a three-step model was designed to suggest a process for creating effective recruitment advertisements.

1. An advertisement should be able to attract a reader's attention. As Chandor (1976) stated, companies need to be aware that their recruitment advertisement will be surrounded by others that are similar, and so they need to stand out. Strategies here could be the type of heading or the use of graphics.

2. An advertisement needs to create interest to motivate further reading by a potential applicant by building a link to personal values or motives. This motivation encourages the reader to perform a particular behavior that is directed toward the goal of reading the entire advertisement (Dwyer, 1999). These links could be built by including references to skills and attributes of relevance to the target audience.

3. An advertisement also needs to create a positive desire or attitude toward applying for the position. This positive attitude can be enhanced through the inclusion of job benefits and self-development or promotion opportunities.

Study Aims

Given the lack of existing research, it was decided to test this three-step model by examining the responses of graduating students to job advertisements using a quasi-experiment, which manipulated three factors identified in a pilot study as important to the target population. Each of these three factors was connected to a step in the proposed model. The first factor was the use of a picture to attract attention. The second was the use of the word graduate in the heading, which was likely to create interest in further reading by building a personal link. The third factor was reference to a career path, which created a positive attitude toward applying for the position. The study investigated both the relative impact of three factors in recruitment advertisements that are of importance to final-year commerce students and the cumulative impact these factors have on respondents' evaluations of recruitment advertisements.

METHOD

Sample

Questionnaires were handed out to students at the beginning of a lecture that included mostly final-year commerce students at a regional Australian university. The sampling frame was compiled from a list of final-year commerce subjects being studied at the time. A total of 97 questionnaires were completed and returned, giving a 69.3% response rate. The sample was made up of 38 male respondents and 56 female respondents. The majority of respondents were born between 1981 and 1983. Most of the respondents were finishing their degrees at the end of the year of the study and were therefore looking for work in the near future.

Questionnaire Design

The data were gathered from a questionnaire designed by the researcher with both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The majority of the questionnaire contained closed-ended questions and rating scales. In the first section, participants were asked to write down factors they thought to be important in a recruitment advertisement. They were also given a list of factors that would usually be included in recruitment advertisements and asked to rate each on a 5-point scale ranging from not at all important to very important. Participants were asked to state whether the offer of a graduate program in a recruitment advertisement would affect their choice to apply for the position and why. This acted as a check on the decision to focus on the three factors of picture, graduate, and career path.

The next section of the questionnaire asked participants to read eight mock recruitment advertisements. Each advertisement was consistent in its layout, but key variables were altered to test significance (see Figures 1 to 8). The advertisements were distributed randomly in the questionnaire:

* Advertisement 1: all three variables (picture, heading, and career path);

* Advertisement 2: heading and career path;

* Advertisement 3: picture and career path;

* Advertisement 4: career path;

* Advertisement 5: picture and heading;

* Advertisement 6: heading;

* Advertisement 7: picture; and

* Advertisement 8: none of the variables being tested.

[FIGURES 1-8 OMITTED]

After reading each of the recruitment advertisements, participants were asked to rate each of the advertisements as either attractive, neutral, or unattractive. They were then asked to select the one advertisement to which they were most attracted and to state why. Participants were also asked to select the advertisement they found least attractive and why. They were also asked what would make an advertisement stand out from others. The final section of the survey asked for the participants' genders and ages.

RESULTS

The analysis of the results was conducted in three stages: (a) confirmation of the importance of the three factors earlier identified by the pilot study participants, (b) the results of the manipulation, and (c) a check on the manipulation.

Confirmation of the Importance of Three Factors

Responses are depicted in descending order in Table 2 for the first question: "If you could design a recruitment advertisement, what key factors would you seek in the advertisement?" This question was an open-ended question allowing respondents to enter as many factors as they wished, therefore resulting in 216 responses. These answers were then sorted into categories. For example, comments about the job description, tasks involved, and expectations of the employee on the job were put in the category "information about the position." The category "information about the company" included working conditions, organizational environment and behavior, the company's standards, the company's mission, and what the company stood for. Table 2 lists the top 10 categories.

Three variables--heading, picture, and career path--appeared in the top 10 factors listed by respondents. Because this question was open ended, it confirmed the importance of the three factors nominated as most important by the researcher.

Next, participants were asked to mark factors from a given list that made them think positively about an advertisement when it was surrounded by similar advertisements. The most common response was a heading in the advertisement, with 80% of respondents marking this factor. The use of the word graduate in the advertisement, the use of pictures and graphics, the use of section headings in the newspaper, and the use of color were all rated by approximately half of the respondents as factors that would attract their attention. This question, therefore, confirmed the importance of the use of the word graduate and the use of pictures in a recruitment advertisement. Both were listed in the top three factors to include in a recruitment advertisement. However, the factor of career path was not confirmed by this question to be as important as other factors.

Respondents were also asked to rate eight job factors on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all important) to 5 (very important) for their job aspirations. Career path and working conditions (49.5% and 46.4%, respectively) were considered to be very important to the majority of respondents. Salary, benefits, and location were also important, with the majority of respondents choosing these factors as either important or very important. Some respondents (10.3%) indicated that it was very important that a company be easily identifiable; 7.3% of the respondents reported that the title of the position was very important. Nearly half of the respondents felt that career path was very important when asked to rate it on a scale of importance; however, when asked what factors would make them feel positive about a recruitment advertisement, this factor was not considered to be as important. This difference may have occurred because respondents judged advertisements in terms of appearance (layout and aesthetics).

Results of the Quasi-Experiment

When respondents were asked to rate each of the eight constructed advertisements on a scale of attractive, neutral, or unattractive, the frequencies showed that Advertisement 1 was considered the most attractive by respondents, with 71% of participants rating it as attractive. The full results are displayed in Table 3. This advertisement contained all three of the variables being tested: a picture, a heading, and a career path. Advertisement 5, containing a picture and a heading, was the second most attractive advertisement, followed closely by Advertisements 6 and 2. Advertisements 3 (with a picture and a career path) and 8 (with none of the variables) were rated the least attractive.

A Friedman test was conducted on these rating scales to determine if there were significant differences in the ratings given to each of the advertisements. A Friedman test was chosen because a repeated-measures nonparametric test was required for ordinal data. The probability level set for all tests was p < .05. The test indicated a chi-square value of 114.99 (df = 7, p < .05). This result suggested that there were significant differences in responses to the different advertisements.

One of the limitations of the Friedman test is that it is not possible to conduct post hoc tests to determine exactly where any significant differences might lie. Therefore, to further examine the effects of the experimental manipulation, a series of Wilcoxon's signed-rank tests were run between each pair of advertisements in the rank order as presented in Table 3. That is, Advertisement 1 was compared with Advertisement 5, Advertisement 5 with Advertisement 6, and so on. Again, a repeated-measures nonparametric test was chosen. The results are displayed in Table 4.

These results indicated that Advertisement 1, which contained all three of the experimental factors, was significantly more attractive than all other advertisements. There were also significant differences between Advertisements 5 and 6 and between Advertisements 2 and 4. Thus, all advertisements with headings containing the word graduate were significantly more likely to be rated as attractive than the other four advertisements. Furthermore, mention of a career path or the use of a picture resulted in a significant difference only when accompanied by the word graduate in the heading.

Check on Experimental Manipulation

As discussed in the preceding section, participants were asked to evaluate each advertisement as attractive, neutral, or unattractive. To check on the reliability of the experimental manipulation, participants were also asked, "Which one of the advertisements is most attractive to you?" Advertisement 1, which contained all three manipulated variables, was clearly rated to be the most attractive, with 52% of the sample choosing it (see Table 5). Although the overall rank order from this question differed slightly from that in Table 3, three of the four most popular advertisements were those with the word graduate in the heading.

When respondents were asked why they rated their chosen advertisements as most attractive, the most common reason given was the use of a clear and concise layout and description (21.6% of participants). The second most frequent answer was a tie between the use of pictures and the use of a heading, with 31 respondents (20.3%) choosing each response (see Table 6).

Table 6 was a check on the experimental manipulation because respondents could select the advertisement they felt was most attractive and explain why. The results confirmed that the three factors were considered to be the most attractive and important to respondents. Respondents stated that Advertisement 1 was the most attractive, and three of the four most popular advertisements were those with the word graduate in the heading.

Summary of Results

This study elicited information on three variables in a recruitment advertisement:

* the use of a heading or graphics to capture a reader's attention,

* the use of the word graduate in the heading, and

* a career path.

The experimental manipulation found that the use of a heading containing the word graduate was most consistently associated with significantly greater attractiveness ratings. The results for the other two factors, pictures and career path, were inconsistent. Just under half of the sample (49.5%) stated that a career path was a very important factor to consider when applying for a job. Furthermore, 48.5% stated that pictures and graphics were positive features to include in a recruitment advertisement. However, neither of these factors alone had a significant effect on the attractiveness ratings of the advertisements tested.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study indicated that the most important feature influencing the attractiveness of a recruitment advertisement was the use of a heading including the word graduate. The word graduate apparently helped the respondents, commerce students, identify with what the company was looking for. However, a heading alone was not as successful in motivating an applicant to apply as the presence of all three variables. The advertisement that was rated most attractive, Advertisement 1, contained all three of the features being tested: a heading, a picture, and a career path. These findings are further supported by the results displayed in Table 4.

Therefore, the success of a recruitment advertisement for graduating commerce students may depend on its use of graphics to attract readers, a heading with which readers will identify, and information (e.g., career path) that creates a desire within readers to actually apply for the position advertised.

However, a more detailed investigation of the results suggests that a condensed version of the three-step approach might be a better fit with the data. In this version, the readers' attention could be achieved through the use of either pictures and graphics or a heading rather than both elements. The second step would include the use of a career path to encourage the desired action by a reader.

This condensed, two-step approach to designing a successful recruitment advertisement is further supported by the results shown in Table 3. Although Advertisements 1 and 5 were rated the most attractive, Advertisement 1, which contained all three variables, was significantly more likely to be judged attractive than Advertisement 5, which did not include the career path. When Advertisement 5 (picture and heading) was compared with Advertisement 6 (heading only), a significant difference was also noted. The only other comparison in which a significant difference was found was between Advertisements 2 (heading and career path) and 4 (career path). These results demonstrate that the use of a picture or heading to get readers' attention needs to be informative or make some kind of connection with readers. Only then will they read the entire advertisement and be attracted to the factor of a career path.

Limitations and Opportunities

This research studied the opinions of final-year commerce students at a regional Australian university, and therefore, some caution is required in generalizing to a larger population. Specifically, location might be an issue because these students may have fewer employment options than students in capital cities.

Another limitation is the possible test sensitization effect resulting from asking respondents to look at eight advertisements. However, there was a trade-off between this limitation and the fact that the comparison was useful and had a higher face validity. That is, asking respondents to look at two pages of advertisements more closely simulates the real situation of reading a newspaper. Furthermore, because the population was small, it did not allow for separate groups to be tested. It should be noted that the respondents were not asked to view the advertisements in any order.

Opportunities for further research on this topic could be extended to include different contexts or different content in the recruitment advertisements.

Theoretical extensions could also be suggested because persuasive communication is a large area that has generally overlooked the context of recruitment advertisement factors. Researching different parts of persuasive communication theory in relation to recruitment advertisements may develop different results. Another area for exploration could include the manipulation of different variables, for example, information on organizational culture, salary, or working conditions. Applicants at different stages of their careers may also respond differently to advertisements, which could provide another avenue for further research.

Because recruitment is a key component in securing excellent candidates for employment, it is important that researchers continue to conduct empirical studies on what persuades people to respond to specific advertisements.

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NOTE

(1.) AIDA is a guide used in business communication textbooks. See Murphy and Hildebrandt (1984).

Table 1. Factors That Could Be Included in Recruitment
Advertisements

Attract attention (Dessler, Griffiths, Lloyd-Walker, & Williams, 1999;
Koch, 1976)

Thought-provoking and appealing headlines (Dessler et al., 1999;
Hartley & Trueman, 1983; Koch, 1976; Moscardo, 1996; Serrell, 1981)

Organization recognition (Aaker, 1997, 1999; Belt & Paolillo, 1982;
Bushman, 1993; Chandor, 1976; Gatewood, Gowan, & Lautenschlager, 1993;
Mathews & Redman, 1998; Neely-Martinez, 2002; Rynes, 1991; Shavitt,
1990: Sirgy, 1982; Slaughter et al., 2001; Solomon, 1983)

Salary (Cable & Graham, 2000; Highhouse, Zickar, Thorsteinson,
Steirwalt, & Slaughter. 1999; Honeycutt & Rosen, 1997: Lievens &
Highhouse, 2003; Mathews & Redman, 1998; Turban, Forret, &
Hendrickson, 1998)

Technical attraction (Chandor, 1976; Mathews & Redman, 1998:
Vestergaard & Schroder, 1985)

Job title (Chandor, 1976; Mathews & Redman, 1998)

Type of person needed (Chandor, 1976; Mathews & Redman, 1998; Petrick
& Furr, 1995)

Locality (Cable & Graham, 2000; Chandor, 1976: Highhouse et al., 1999;
Honeycutt & Rosen, 1997; Lievens & Highhouse, 2003: Mathews & Redman,
1998; Turban et al., 1998)

Career prospects (Cable & Graham, 2000; Chandor, 1976; Highhouse et
al., 1999; Honeycutt & Rosen, 1997; Lievens & Highhouse, 2003; Mathews
& Redman, 1998; Turban et al., 1998)

Easy way to respond to employment queries (Dessler et al., 1999; Koch,
1976) Job satisfaction (Cowling & James, 1994)

Career-path opportunities (Cable & Graham, 2000; Chandor, 1976:
Highhouse et al., 1999; Honeycutt & Rosen, 1997; Lievens & Highhouse,
2003; Mathews & Redman, 1998; Turban et al., 1998)

Anna Blackman is a doctoral candidate researching the effectiveness of business coaching. She is a lecturer and tutor in the School of Business at James Cook University, Townsville, North Queensland, Australia. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Anna Blackman, James Cook University, School of Business, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia; e-mail: anna.blackman@ jcu.edu.au.

Journal of Business Communication, Volume 43, Number 4, October 2006 367-388 DOI: 10.1177/0021943606291705

Table 2. Top 10 Most Commonly Suggested
Factors for a Recruitment Advertisement

                                      % of
                        Number of     Total
                        Responses   Responses

1. Information             37         17.1
   about the position

2. Salary range            24         11.1

3. Information             20          9.3
   about the company

4. Attractive layout       19          8.8

5. Company policies        15          6.9
   and benefits

6. Career path             13          6.0

7. Heading that            12          5.6
   stands out

7. Location of job         12          5.6

8. Not too much             9          4.2
   information
   (keep it clear
   and concise)

9. Training                 8          3.7

10. The word graduate       7          3.2

Other                      40         18.5

Table 3. Attractiveness of Advertisements
on a Scale of Attractive, Neutral, and
Unattractive (n = 284)

                                          % Voting
Advertisement                      Rank   Attractive

1 (heading, picture, career path)   1        71.9
5 (picture, heading)                2        59.4
6 (heading)                         3        39.6
2 (heading, career path)            4        38.5
4 (career path)                     5        25.0
7 (picture)                         6        21.9
3 (picture, career path)            7        19.8
8 (none)                            7        19.8

Table 4. Wilcoxon's Test Results

Pairs                           Z      p

Advertisements 1 and 5 (a)   -3.05   <.05
Advertisements 5 and 6 (a)   -2.24   <.05
Advertisements 6 and 2       -0.02   >.05
Advertisements 2 and 4 (a)   -2.90   <.05
Advertisements 4 and 7       -0.25   >.05
Advertisements 7 and 8       -0.09   >.05
Advertisements 8 and 3       -0.14   >.05

(a.) Significant differences.

Table 5. Responses to the Prompt "Which One
of the Advertisements Is Most Attractive
to You?" (n = 97)
                                                % Voting
                                                  Most
Advertisement Number                Rank (a)   Attractive

1 (heading, picture, career path)    1 (1)        52.0
5 (picture, heading)                 3 (2)        13.0
6 (heading)                          5 (3)         7.0
2 (heading, career path)             2 (4)        17.0
4 (career path)                      4 (5)         9.0
7 (picture)                          7 (6)         2.0
3 (picture, career path)             6 (7)         4.0
8 (none)                             6 (7)         4.0

(a.) The rankings from Table 3 are in parentheses.

Table 6. Top Two Advertisements Chosen as
Attractive and the Reasons Why

Advertisement          Reasons Why
Chosen

Advertisement 1        Pictures: 38%
  (heading, picture,   Heading: 14%
  career path)         Clear and concise
                         layout: 12%

Advertisement 2        Career opportunities: 13%
  (heading,            Clear and concise layout, graduate
  career path)           position, professional appearance,
                         benefits offered, space not wasted with
                         pictures, international company: 6%