Content area
Abstract
In the United States, self-promotion during a job interview is not just common, it is expected (Paulhus, Westlake, Calvez, & Harms, 2013). Job applicants are encouraged to inform potential employers about the qualifications, strengths, and professional accomplishments that make them the best fit for the job, which requires applicants to engage in self-promotion during the job interview. Literature has begun to suggest that sociocultural factors such as gender or culture may influence an individual’s propensity to engage in modesty as opposed to self-promotion in career-related contexts like the job interview. However, few studies have explored how these sociocultural factors interact to influence career-related self-presentation. The present qualitative study explored the experiences of a sample of undergraduate Latina college students during job interview self-presentation. The findings suggest that participants demonstrate a propensity to engage in modest self-presentation during job interviews and that sociocultural factors (culture, gender, family) and specific experiences (career development and learning experiences, experiences of discrimination, experiences of positive and negative affect) may influence their self-presentation tendencies and experiences. It is the researcher’s hope that the findings of this study will highlight the need for further research exploring how race, ethnicity, and culture intersect with other sociocultural factors to impact career-related self-presentation.
