Realistic Job Preview - Definition & Meaning

What is Realistic Job Preview?

Realistic job previews is a process during recruitment of an employee which clearly highlights all the pros and cons related to the job profile, giving the candidate the most accurate information about the job.

Realistic Job Previews (RJP) are developed to provide the potential applicants a true picture of the different features of the job. It highlights not only the positive aspects, but also the associated hazards and problems.

A Realistic Job Preview provides the following:

• Pay

• Work hours

• Job related tasks

• Schedule flexibility

• Work culture

• Related pressure

• Degree of customer interaction

• Degree of physical risk

• Priority associated to job

Advantages of Realistic Job Previews:

For the employee:

• Reduced stress: The employee takes up the job knowing exactly what to expect. This reduces job related grievances considerably and thus keeps the employee from getting too stressed

• Taking an informed decision: When a Realistic Job Preview is shared, the candidates apply only when they know that they will be able to cope up with the expectations

• Increase in job satisfaction: Unpleasant work details are not presented to employees post joining. Their job tasks are exactly as described to them. This increases job satisfaction

For the employer:

• Reduced attrition: As the job preview describes the associated negative aspects of the job clearly, the new hires do not face any unknown unpleasantness. E.g. X took up a job knowing that he is expected to work on erratic shifts. So working on weekends or night shifts does not stress him and he does not consider leaving the organization for the same.

• Better hiring decisions: On providing a Realistic Job Preview, the talent pool that applies are well aware of the job and turnover is low. So, cost of bad hire is reduced

• Increase in corporate citizenship behaviour: The employee sees Realistic job Preview as an act of honesty on the part of the organization. Thus the employer-employee trust increases, thereby the organizational citizenship behaviour of the employee increases

Disadvantages of Realistic Job Preview:

• They may lead to negative attitude towards a job

• The nature of work changes with time. Updating the previews along with the changing job may be time consuming as well as costly

They would be aware of what he organization will pay them, the duty hours, culture of the organization, duty schedule. Also they would be knowing what is expected of them – late hours, stress, customer interaction, urgency in work, some physical risk etc.

An organization where there is high turnover of new hires has some problems which should be tackled quickly. The employees could be unpleasantly surprised by an aspect of their job. For example, if the employees understand that they won’t have to work on weekends and after joining are immediately asked to work on Saturdays then it undermines the trust that the employee has for the organization.

RJPs can be in the form of a video, testimonials or short test. Whatever be the format, an effective RJP shows the actual culture of the organization that the employee is about to enter. Candor and openness are the 2 most critical components of a RJP. Ideally, information in a RJP should focus on the things that matter most to the candidate demographic, parts of the job or culture that correlate with engagement and turnover.

The 4 issues that challenge Realistic Job Preview are:

1. Realistic Job Previews are not shared by the recruiters during the interview.

2. The nature of information shared is unclear.

3. Right questions are not asked.

4. Applicants report desiring more specific information than they commonly receive.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Realistic Job Preview along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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