The source of employee recruitment has been related to numerous important work outcomes (e.g., turnover, performance), but reasons for this relationship are not known. To test the viability of two possible explanations for recruiting source effects, i.e., employee level of realistic expectation, or individual differences, information was gathered directly from 98 social service workers and from their personnel records. The source by which the employees were recruited, information on their realistic job expectations, and several individual difference variables (demographics, perceived ease of movement in the job market) were determined. Information on employees' ability was provided by a personnel specialist, and data relevant to their performance and retention were also gathered. The employees were divided into the three most common recruitment sources: newspaper advertisements (N=33), employee referrals (N=42), and walk-ins (N=23). Results showed that employee referrals reported having more realistic expectations of the job than did newspaper recruits or walk-ins. Those recruited through newspaper advertisements were more likely to be male and older than those recruited from other sources. No recruiting source differences were found for either the perceived ease of movement or ability. Individuals who directly applied to the organization received higher performance ratings and were less likely to be terminated than those recruited from other sources. It appears that the relative ineffectiveness of newspaper advertisements may be due to less accurate job information than more formal recruiting sources; however, it is possible that other underlying causes (e.g., motivational differences) may account for recruitment source effects. (LLL)