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Applicant pools for principal vacancies are shrinking nationwide. Increased job demands, including greater accountability on the part of principals for student achievement, are making the job less attractive at a time when many principals from the baby boom generation are retiring. Furthermore, there is little empirical knowledge about factors that affect principal recruitment. This study took place in a state undergoing systemic school reform. Randomly selected assistant principals (n = 189) role-played as job applicants and rated high school principal jobs varied by school student achievement classification (meets goal, progressing, in need of assistance), school location (inner city, suburban, rural), and participant current work assignment (elementary, middle school, high school). The most significant finding, detected by a three-way analysis of variance, was that 64% of the variance in job ratings was accounted for by school achievement, with low performing schools being greatly disadvantaged in recruiting principals. Implications for recruitment practice and research are discussed.Thisinvestigationaddressedtheissueofrecruitingassistantprincipalsto become high school principals in a state (Kentucky) undergoing systemic school reform. The issue is timely because one of the most alarming developments confronting public school districts today is the shrinkage of applicant pools for principal vacancies (

Community college educators have been aware for more than two decades that the profile of community college students is undergoing steady and profound change. A facet of this change has been that students described as "nontraditional" constitute an increasing proportion of the student population. Nontraditional students (Cohen & Brawer, 1996) are individuals who do not conform to the profile of the traditional 18-year-old student who enrolls full-time at a community college, completes the freshman and sophomore years, and transfers to a four-year college to earn a baccalaureate degree. Cohen and Brawer (1996) noted various changes that during the period 1970 to 1994 affected the nontraditional student population: (a) the mean age for students increased from 27 in 1980 to more than 31 by 1993 as large numbers of adult learners returned to college to acquire and upgrade skills; (b) females, many of whom attend college part-time, did not equal males in enrollment until 1978 but outnumbered males (55 % to 45%) by 1991; (c) minority enrollment increased from 20% in 1976 to 25 % by 1991; and (d) part-time students, most of whom are members of one or more nontraditional groups, increased from 49% of the student population in 1970 to more than 65% of the population by 1992. The above patterns have remained the same through 1996, and it is likely that over 65 % of the students enrolled in community colleges fall into at least one nontraditional student category (American Council on Education, 1998).

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the vital issue of managerial recruitment for private industry. Personality and demographic variables and their interactions are to be examined to determine the extent they uniquely influence the attraction of business professionals to managerial jobs in simulated position advertisements.Design/methodology/approachThe study consisted of 330 experienced business professionals who role‐played as applicants for managerial positions by rating jobs described in simulated position advertisements.FindingsAfter statistically controlling for the demographic variables, the hierarchical regression analyses suggested that personality (inclusion, control, openness) as determined by the FIRO Element B explained statistically significant job rating variance in each of the three regression models. Thus, job applicant personality influenced the attraction of the participants to simulated managerial jobs.Originality/valueThese findings suggest the practical significance of human resource professionals producing recruitment media to attract managerial applicants with the appropriate personality to best assure a good person‐job fit. This notion is discussed as a possible lost cost method for managerial recruitment improvement and as a solid first step in developing a cadre of managers for organizations.