Realistic job previews in child welfare: state of innovation and practice.

We review the uses of realistic job previews (RJPs) for recruitment, selection, and retention of child welfare employees. We describe the history of development of RJPs in child welfare, summarize the contents of 10 RJPs, and report on interviews with human resources personnel and other key informants about how RJPs were developed and how they are used in child welfare recruitment and selection. Outcome data on the effectiveness of RJPs were available from one state, Michigan; these findings are reported.