Sule Paya pagoda the center of Yangon, Myanmar. Photo credit: Boy Anupong / Moment via Getty Images.
Hiring frictions and growth among small firms: Evidence from an internet platform experiment
This webinar presents research on improving hiring through online job portals. It finds that combining better advertising with applicant verification increases hiring and helps firms attract and select more suitable candidates.
Please note, the timings for the webinar are in Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Despite the growing prominence of online job portals, firms remain reluctant to hire outside traditional recruitment networks. We find that experimentally providing firms with a combination of advertising and the ability to verify applicant identity increases portal-based hiring by 68 percent and the likelihood of filling a vacancy by 11 percent. Advertising attracts more skilled applicants, while verification enables the screening of unfamiliar applicants. Portal-based hires are retained beyond the standard assessment period, suggesting that they are well suited to the vacancies. Firms assigned only advertising also attract more skilled applicants, but providing neither advertising nor verification alone increases hiring.