Abstract
Transactional Analysis (TA) is a theory that can be applied to the principles of classified recruitment advertising. Organizations attempt to attract and select qualified applicants through various advertising approaches ranging from the classified “help wanted” ad to full page corporate recruiting ads. Similarly, job seekers make decisions about which jobs to apply for based on the messages sent by the company through the ads. The Ego State model in TA allows for analysis of recruitment ads to insure that the ads correctly portray the job, the organization, and the person desired. In a study of 200 classified advertisements, it was found that the Adult ego state dominates recruitment messages and that there are significantly different ego state profiles for different job categories. Implications for practical applications and future research are noted.
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