The effect of receipt of a realistic job preview (RJP) on employees' coping skills was explored. The RJP lowered employees' expectations, but did not result in better met expectations for those in the treatment group, in comparison to those in the control group, who did not receive an RJP. The RJP interacted with employees' tenure in affecting social coping; for the treatment group, as tenure increased, social coping decreased. In contrast, for the control group, social coping remained the same across months of tenure. Finally, the RJP interacted with negative affectivity. For the control group, as negative affectivity increased, controllability decreased. Treatment subjects' controllability ratings were similar across levels of negative affectivity. The study indicates that RJPs may have important outcomes beyond reducing turnover.