Journal of Vocational Behavior 58, 293–312 (2001) doi:10.1006/jvbe.2000.1765, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on Organizational Attractiveness as an Employer on College Campuses: An Examination of the Applicant Population Daniel B. Turban University of Missouri I extended recruitment research by sampling from the applicant population to investigate factors related to a firm’s attractiveness as an employer on college campuses. Specifically, I surveyed potential applicants at nine different universities and university personnel (faculty and placement staff) at eight of those universities to investigate relationships of recruit- ment activities, organizational attributes, familiarity with the firm, and the social context with a firm’s attractiveness as an employer. Results indicated that recruitment activities influenced firm attractiveness through influencing perceptions of organizational attributes. Additionally, familiarity with the firm and the social context, operationalized as perceptions of university personnel, were related to potential applicants’ attraction to the firm. Finally, of additional interest was the finding of no differences in perceptions of organizational attributes or attraction to the firm between respondents who interviewed with the firm and respondents who had not interviewed with the firm. The implications of such results for firms interested in attracting applicants are discussed. C  2001 Academic Press In part due to the shortage of qualified workers, organizations are facing difficul- ties in attracting qualified applicants (Adams, 1998; Highhouse, Zickar, Thorstein- son, Stierwalt, & Slaughter, 1999; Rynes, 1991). Such difficulties are expected to continue in the 21st century because of the low unemployment rate and the lack of qualified applicants for many positions (Judy, 1999), and organizations have started devoting considerably more resources to attracting and retaining quali- fied individuals (Leonard, 1999). For example, many firms are increasing their budgets for recruitment and now spend approximately 31% of the HR budget on recruitment and retention (Leonard, 1999). Organizations that attract more qual- ified applicants have a larger pool of applicants to choose from, which results in greater utility for the firm’s selection system (Boudreau & Rynes, 1985; Murphy, 1986). Furthermore, although an individual’s job choice process begins with the decision of whether to pursue employment with an organization, we know lit- tle about factors influencing this decision (Barber, 1998; Gatewood, Gowan, & Lautenschlager, 1993). The decision of whether to seek employment with a firm is important, however, because individuals who do not apply for jobs cannot be The author thanks Natalie Cleeton, Monica Forret, and Sarah O’Dell for their help in the data collec- tion process and Talya Bauer and Cindy Stevens for their comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Daniel B. Turban, Department of Management, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. E-mail: turban@missouri.edu. 293 0001-8791/01 $35.00 Copyright C  2001 by Academic Press All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.