**Am eriCorps Competitive Advantage Questionnaire** 

Thank y ou for y ou r participation in this study

. The purpose of this study is to identify

what kinds of job applicant characteristics e mploy ers value when hiring

. W e are going to ask you to evaluate a series of fictiona l job candidate profiles and rank which candidates you would most likely hire for a hy

pothetical entry

- level, general office position in y our organization.

The survey

contains two sections. The firs t will ask y ou to ra nk hy pothetical job candidates . The second will ask you follow

- up questions to provide basic information about y ou and your organization. We anticipate the questionnaire taking about 15 minutes to complete

.

### Screening Questions

Q2 Do you make decisions about hiring new employees at your organization? [ Radio buttons ]

1 Yes 2 No

### Instructions

You will now review profiles of h ypothetical candidates competing for a fictiona l entry

- level

, full time position in y our organization. This p osition is a general office position that does not require highl y specialized experience or technical skills , but does require a Bachelor’s degree

.

You will review 3 candidates at a time . All candidates have :

 Completed any

screening processes, interviews, or other procedures normally used when hiring an employ ee at y our organization;

 S ame salary

requirements;

 C ompleted a Bachelor’s degree within the last two ye ar s;

 O ne year of work experience

. T he candidat e is currently employ ed in the position for which work experience is presented

. Experience may be in one of three areas:

o Private sector : candidate worked in a for

- profit company

. o P ublic sector : candidate worked in a civilian capacity for either a governm ent agency or a non

- profit organization

. o AmeriCorps : candidate completed a year of service in AmeriCorps, a civilian national service program. AmeriCorps members are selected to work in a year

long, full

- time, stipended position at nonprofits, schools, an d other community

based organizations. They work to solve critical community problems through organizational capacity

building, direct service provision, and community development

. Any additional experiences not shown in the candidate profiles are compara ble to one another and are satisfactory

to meet y our organization’s requirements.

Each candidate’s profile will consist of 6 characteristics . All characteristics are related to the candidate ’ s current job . These characteristics are:

1. **Related industry**  : T he candidate ’s current job i s in an industry related to your organization’s industry . For example, if y our organization is in marketing, a related industry may be public relations. An unrelated industry may be information technology (IT)

. Candidates may present experience in a job Related , or Not Related to y our organization’s industry

.

2. **Rel ated**  **s kills**  : At their current job , the candidate develop ed skills related to those often used by your organization

. For example, if your organization often needs employ ee s with customer service skills, the candidate’s last job may have involved interacting with clients at a homeless shelter

. Candidates may present job experience in which they Developed Related Skills , or Did Not Develop Related Skills

.

3. **Leadership** : A t their current job, the candidate gained experience leading a team and guiding others toward completion of a goal

. Candidates may present job experience in which they Gained Experience or Did not Gain Experience

.4. **Cross cultural competency**  : A t their current job, the candidate gained the ability to communicate and work effectivel y with individuals from diverse backgrounds or viewpoints. Candidates may present job experience in which they Gained or Did Not gain Skills

.

5. **Project development and**  **implementation** : At their current job, the candidate developed and implemented a project , delivering results on schedule. The options are: Gained Experience , or Did Not Gain Experience

.

6. **Organizational fit** : T he candidate’s values reflect your organization’s values and “personalit y”. The options are: Is an Excellent Fit , or Is a Satisfactory Fit

. After reviewing each candidate

, you will rank the candidates from 1 to 3, with **1** being your **top candidate**  to hire, **2** being your **next preferred** candidate, and **3** being your **least preferred** candidate to hire. If you feel that a particular candidate should be completely eliminated from consideration , y ou may

select the option “ **I would not consider this candidate**  ”. [Respo ndents should be required to make a selection for each candidate before proceeding to the next choice set. Respondents may

exit the survey

at an y time; if a respondent exits the survey before completing a choice set, that partially complete set should not be used for analy sis, however any completed sets before exiting can be used for analysis.]

### Part 1: Job Candidate Ratings

Rank the following three candidates from most (1) to least (3) preferred for the position

. Y ou may also select not to consider a candidate.

**Candidate 1: Private sector**  **Candidate 2:**

**Am eriCorps**  **Candidate 3:**

**Public sector**

Worked in Related Industry Prior job in industry related to your industry. Related Not Related Not Related

Developed Related Skills Developed skills related to those used in your organization Did No

Develop Related Skills Developed

Related Skills Developed

Related Skills

Leadership Experience Led a team and guided others to completion of a goal Gained

Experience Did Not Gain

Experience Gained

Experience

Cross Cultural Competency Communicated and worked effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds, vie wp oints Did Not Gain

Skills Gained Skills Did Not Gain Skills

Project Development and I mplementation In prior job, developed and im plemented a project, delivering results on schedule Did Not Gain

Experience Gained

Experience Gained

Experience

Organizational Fit The candidate’s values reflect your organization’s values and “personality” Satisfactory

Fit Excellent Fit Satisfactory Fit

**Candidate Rank**  **[ Select**  **1, 2, 3, or “I would not**  **consider this candidate”**  **] [**  **S elect 1, 2, 3, or** 

**“I would not consider this**  **candidate” ]**  **[ S**  **elect 1, 2, 3, or**

**“I would not consider this**  **candidate” ]**  *This choice set will have 7 more iterations that the respondent will review. The content for each iteration will be generated according to an experimental design that is under development.

### Part 2: **Background Questions about You and Y**  **our Organization**

We’d now like to ask y ou some questions abou t you rself, and what y ou thought about when responding to the previous questions.

Q 10 What is y our sex ?

1 Female 2 Male

Q 11 What is y our age ?

1 21

- 24 2 25

- 34 3 35

- 44 4 45

- 54 5 55

- 64 6 65+

Q 12 What is y our highest level of education attained ?

1 Less than h igh school 2 High school/GED 3 Some college/ Associate’s degree 4 B achelor’s degree 5 Master ’ s degree 6 Professional degree /Doctorate

Q 13 How man y new employ ees have you personall y been responsible for hiring during the past y ear?

If you don’t remember exactly, please give your best estimate.

1 0 to 5 employ ees 2 6 to 10 employ ees 3 11 to 15 employ ees 4 16 to 20 employ ees 5 21 employ ees or more 9 Don’t know

Q 14 How long have you been at y our organization ?

1 Less than 1 y ear 2 1

- 5 ye ars 3 6

- 10 y ears4 11

- 15 y ears

5 16

- 20 ye ars 6 21 or more ye ars

Q 15 Thinking about your career as a whole, not just at y our present employ er , how many
ye ars have y ou been responsible or had authorit y to hire new emplo ye es?

If you don’t remember exactly, please give your best estimate.

1 Less than 1 y ear 2 1 to 5 y ears 3 6 to 10 y ears 4 11 to 15 y ears 5 16 to 20 y ears 6 21 or more ye ars 9 Don’t know

Q16 Had you heard of AmeriCorps before taking this survey ?

1 Yes CONTINUE 2 No SKI P TO Q19

Q 1 7 Please select Yes or No for the following questions :

Yes No

I know someone who served or is serving in AmeriCorps. 1 2

I have worked with an AmeriCorps member before. 1 2

I have hired an AmeriCorps member before. 1 2

I know of AmeriCorps projects in my community

. 1 2

I have served in AmeriCorps. 1 2Q 1 8 To what extent do y ou agree with the following statements?StronglyDisagreeSomewhatDisagreeNeitherAgreenorDisagreeSomewhatAgreeStronglyAgree

I have a good image of AmeriCorps. 1 2 3 4 5 I think highly

of AmeriCorps. 1 2 3 4 5

In the profiles you reviewed, you saw candidates with one year of work experience in AmeriCorps

, the private sector , or the public sector

. We would like to know more about what work experience in the different sectors means to y ou.Q 19 AMERI CORPS: Candidate completed a y ear of service in AmeriCorps, a national service program. Experience in AmeriCorps means that the candidate completed a
ye ar of full

- time, stipended service in AmeriCorps, a civilian national service
program . AmeriCorps members in non

- profits, schools, and other community based organizations to solve critical community problems through organizational capacity building, direct service provision, and community development.

Rate on average how much **Am eriCorps**  experience demo nstrates the traits listed below.**D o** **e s** **n o** **t d** **e m** **o n** **s t** **r a** **t e** **S l** **i g** **h t** **l y** **d e** **m o** **n s** **t r** **a t** **e s** **D e** **m o** **n s** **t r** **a t** **e s** **G r** **e a** **t l** **y d** **e m** **o n** **s t** **r a** **t e** **s N** **o t** **s u** **r e** 

Leadership 1 2 3 4 9 Communication skills 1 2 3 4 9 Project management 1 2 3 4 9 Interpersonal and team skills 1 2 3 4 9 Problem Solving 1 2 3 4 9 Perseverance 1 2 3 4 9 Adaptability 1 2 3 4 9 Cross

- cultural competency 1 2 3 4 9

Q2 0 PRI VATE SECTOR: Candidate worked in a for

- profit company

.Rate on average how much **private sector** experience demonstrates the traits listed below.**D o** **e s** **n o** **t d** **e m** **o n** **s t** **r a** **t e** **S l** **i g** **h t** **l y** **d e** **m o** **n s** **t r** **a t** **e s** **D e** **m o** **n s** **t r** **a t** **e s** **G r** **e a** **t l** **y d** **e m** **o n** **s t** **r a** **t e** **s N** **o t** **s u** **r e** 

Leadership 1 2 3 4 9 Communication skills 1 2 3 4 9 Project management 1 2 3 4 9 Interpersonal and team skills 1 2 3 4 9 Problem Solving 1 2 3 4 9 Perseverance 1 2 3 4 9 Adaptability 1 2 3 4 9 Cross

- cultural competency 1 2 3 4 9

Q2 1 PUBLIC SECTOR: Candidate worked in a civilian capacity for either a government agency

or a non

- profit organization.

Rate on average how much **public sector** experience demon strates the traits listed below.**D o** **e s** **n o** **t d** **e m** **o n** **s t** **r a** **t e** **S l** **i g** **h t** **l y** **d e** **m o** **n s** **t r** **a t** **e s** **D e** **m o** **n s** **t r** **a t** **e s** **G r** **e a** **t l** **y d** **e m** **o n** **s t** **r a** **t e** **s N** **o t** **s u** **r e** 

Leadership 1 2 3 4 9 Communication skills 1 2 3 4 9 Project management 1 2 3 4 9 Interpersonal and team skills 1 2 3 4 9 Problem Solving 1 2 3 4 9 Perseverance 1 2 3 4 9 Adaptability 1 2 3 4 9 Cross

- cultural competency 1 2 3 4 9