Employee Job Search: Toward an Understanding of Search Context and Search Objectives

Job search behaviors occur across various contexts, involving diverse populations of job seekers searching for employment opportunities. In particular, individuals may search for their first jobs following a period of education, may seek reemployment following job loss, or may search for new opportunities while currently employed. Research in each of these contexts has evolved somewhat separately, yet there is value to applying the ideas and findings from one search context to other search contexts. The purpose of this article is to review the prior research in each of the three job search contexts and offer an integrative analysis of the predictors, pro-cesses, consequences, and varying objectives of job search behavior across an individual’s potential employment situations (i.e., new entrant, job loser, employed job seeker). Implications for future research on job search behavior are discussed