The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for young people in the labor market. Based on an evolutionary life history perspective, we tested how and when perceived scarcity of job opportunities during the pandemic related to job search outcomes. Using a sample of Master's student graduates (N = 1434; 40.2% female; mean age 25.6 years)…

The purpose of this study is to explore whether training job seekers in the positive psychological resource of psychological capital (PsyCap) facilitates their job search activities and outcomes. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, we examined the impact of the PsyCap training on job seekers success. Our findings demonstrated that those who…

Limited research exists around how to effectively enhance the job search behaviors and self-efficacy of job seekers during the job search process. In the current study, we investigated whether mentoring functions (i.e., career and psychosocial functions) are related to job search behaviors through job search self-efficacy. Moreover, we tested the…

This study aimed to understand the role of regulatory focus for influencing self-directed learning activities during a job search. The authors surveyed 185 job-searching university students at two time points to explore the conditions under which regulatory focus (promotion and prevention foci) impacts self-directed learning activities and the…

The authors investigate the role of emotions in the job search and choice process of novice job seekers. Results of qualitative analyses of the first-person accounts of 41 job seekers indicate that participants whose recollections of their job search contained emotional language were more likely to display a haphazard job search strategy than…

The proposed model in this article seeks to extend the job search literature by considering resiliency as a predictor of job search behavior and reemployment outcomes. In addition, because past research in this area has not expressly considered job search skills, they are included in this model as an additional predictor along with their…