Date of Graduation

8-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

Advisor/Mentor

Michael Popp

Committee Member

Michael Popp

Second Committee Member

Jennie Popp

Third Committee Member

Nathan Kemper

Abstract

For an experiential thesis over an internship experience in collaboration with the University of Arkansas and my advisor, Dr. Michael Popp, I collected data over a 9-month period relevant to my internship at Stout Executive Search, an executive recruiting firm. The purpose of the research was to explore the factors that influence productivity in a recruiting environment and provide quantifiable insights into the impact of different job-related achievements towards overall employee success. The research was initially designed to encompass evidence and commentary on training regimens and company culture, as well as job experience, with the latter becoming the sole focus as the study progressed. The findings suggest that a candidate responding positively to a message with interest in cooperation has the greatest positive effect towards achieving success as a recruiter. The findings also suggest that the event of a pay raise was negatively correlated with achieving success as a recruiter. However, this finding was confounded by taking on additional work duties that distracted from recruitment effort. Meanwhile a positive coefficient on a linear time trend capturing experience suggested productivity enhancement of achieving work goals at 0.035 added candidates sent to client companies per week or 8% growth in performance per week. These findings are specific to personal experience but contribute to the literature on worker productivity assessment by outlining a case study relevant to the recruiting industry or possibly research related to human resource services and employee productivity.

Keywords

Recruiting; Executive Recruiting; Employee Productivity

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