Applying Behavioral Insights to Inform Job Search
Evaluating Effects of a Behaviorally Informed Intervention on Job Search Online in West Michigan
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Associated Project
Key Findings
The study team hypothesized that providing a short list of relevant occupations alongside each job listing on a webpage would lead job seekers to broaden their search by viewing listings they would have otherwise passed over based on the job title.
- In contrast to researchers’ hypothesis, the study found that this intervention led website visitors to be 4 percentage points less likely to click on a job listing and to click on an average of 0.1 fewer listings.
- The intervention showed no meaningful impact on the number of industries a user browsed in, nor did it affect their likelihood of making return visits to the site
- Qualitative results from interviews with five website users suggest that West Michigan Works! customers found the new information helpful in searching efficiently and considering job descriptions they might have overlooked.
- Job seekers reported using the new information to quickly focus their attention on what they believed to be the most promising openings. This suggests that job seekers may have used the new information to refine rather than expand their search.
In 2019, Mathematica and its partners began investigating behavioral barriers to successful online job search. The BI team partnered with West Michigan Works!, a local workforce agency, to conduct the study “Applying Behavioral Insights to Inform Job Search” from 2021 to 2022. The randomized controlled trial aimed to explore whether changes to job postings informed by behavioral science could improve job search success among West Michigan Works! customers.
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