Annual Surveys of Journalism and Mass Communication

Cultural Fit and Personal Connections:Impact on Job-Finding Success

Wilson Lowrey and Lee B. Becker

Abstract

A number of previous studies based on data from the Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Enrollments have been designed to explain job-finding success by journalism and mass communication graduates. To date the research has identified important predictors, such as internships
and campus media activities, but has explained only a small amount of the overall variance in job-finding
success. A battery of questions was added to the 2002 survey in order to improve the understanding of
the factors that explain success in the journalism and mass communication labor market. These
questions were designed to assess interviewing ability, cultural fit between candidate and the
organization, and extent of personal connections in the field. Studies in the management and sociology
literature on hiring suggest these factors influence later stages of the hiring process.