This study attempts to contribute to academia and the business world by showing support for the development of more effective recruitment messages through the implementation of Functional Theory. It focuses on the attraction phase of the recruitment process, specifically, at the relationship between function-based messages, person-organization fit, organization attractiveness, and application intent. It is predicted that people exposed to job advertisements that could satisfy personally relevant motivations (functionally matched messages), would find these ads more persuasive and attractive than those with messages unrelated to their motivations (functionally mis-matched). A two-part study was conducted surveying the responses of 250 students and recent recruits in efforts to determine the effectiveness of a functionally targeted job advertisement and its effects on person-organization fit, organization attractiveness, and application intent. The results show strong support for the use of Functional Theory in the creation of more effective job advertisements, as well as the manipulation of applicant pools. Further details, implications, and limitations of this study are presented.

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