Importance of Productivity Signals in the Labour Market: a Curriculum Vitae-Based Experiment with Personnel Managers

How do personnel managers take the decision over which candidates to invite to interview? Personnel managers cannot directly observe the productivity of applicants, but have to draw conclusions from signals sent by their written applications. An ifo study analyses which competency signals employers find relevant and credible. Its results show that signals related to cognitive competences, social competences and maturity are important to recruitment decisions by employers. The relevancy of a given signal depends, however, on the education level and gender of entry-level job applicants. Final grades and social competences are equally relevant for male and female applicants, as well as for intermediate secondary school leavers and university graduates. IT and language skills play a key role, especially for female applicants, while maturity is particularly important for male applicants.