How to get a job: deception in the applicant advice industry

The performance of applicants in a job interview is a well-studied topic within I-O psychology, yet less attention has been given to applicant preparation throughout the hiring process. While professional interview coaching has been rigorously tested, the surfeit of freely-available information circulating the internet has yet to be examined for content accuracy and integrity. In an attempt to highlight this industry under-examined by researchers, the current study proposes an investigation of online materials aimed at job applicants. Particularly, the proposed study aims to determine the sources of advice materials and whether they promote applicant deception during the job interview. Using a team of trained undergraduate coders, the proposed study will systematically categorize and analyze all articles available through Google from March 2017 to March 2019. Articles will be coded according to their primary topic of advice (i.e., ideal attire, charismatic nonverbal behavior, or commonly-asked interview questions), the source of the information (i.e., professional publication, mainstream news outlet, non-professional publication), and the overall goal of the article. As the proposed study aims to determine whether the online advice industry attempts to enable applicants to promote themselves beyond their abilities—potentially compromising the integrity of the job interview—each article is labeled along a continuum of deception, from purely-descriptive Informational materials to more prescriptive Image Maintenance and Image Creation materials. Classification in this manner will provide a systematic overview of the content and motive of recent advice materials, informing I-O researchers and practitioners of the potential influence of this industry. Preliminary results from April 2017 point to a prevalence of descriptive Informational materials and somewhat-prescriptive Image Maintenance materials, with deception-tolerant Image Creation appearing less frequently. Materials focused on appropriate answers for popular interview questions (50% of articles), do’s and don’ts for leveraging social media in the hiring process (12% of articles), and the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities contributing to successful job interviews (11% of articles). Mainstream news outlets emerged as the second-largest source of advice materials, publishing one-third of coded articles. Initial results suggest the promotion of mild impression management by the advice industry through self-enhancing techniques provided in Image Maintenance materials. Fully categorizing recent advice materials will enable more thorough examination and comparison of online advice materials to research-supported interview techniques. In the absence of other research on this industry, completion of the proposed study will enhance I-O understanding of the magnitude and nature of these materials’ impact