Recruitment Channel Use and Applicant Arrival : An Empirical Analysis

This paper focuses on the recruitment behavior of firms at the extensive margin; we empirically explore the relationship between employer search strategies and the number of applicants by means of (reduced form) two-equations simultaneous models. The empirical analysis is carried out on a rich micro data set on Dutch employer recruitment behavior. Our empirical analysis reveals that the economic conditions prevailing on the labor market influence employer search activity at the extensive margin. In particular, we see that in tight (slack) labor markets characterized by excess demand (supply) of labor, the flow of applicants is smaller (larger). Employers react to the shortage (excess) of applicants by using more (less) often advertisements. This recruitment channel appears to trigger a significantly larger flow of applicants