The present research´s main goal is to find out how one responds to the organizational context and the candidate profile in a job candidate evaluation context. With that purpose, we ran an experiment with a sample of participants trained in personnel selection. Participants first received a message in which it was specified that the future of a given organization was unfavorable or favorable. Then, participants were asked to evaluate a potential job candidate to join such organization. The candidate was described in terms of her high previous experience or in terms of her high potential as a professional. Our a priori hypothesis was that there would be a higher preference for experience relative to potential, particularly under unfavorable context. As predicted, results showed that under unfavorable contextual conditions, attitudes towards the candidate were more favorable when the job candidate was portrayed in terms of experience (vs potential). Under favorable contextual conditions, attitudes towards the candidate did not vary as a function of her profile.
