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Applications and Interviews: Firms’ Recruiting Decisions in a Frictional Labour Market

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  • Ronald Wolthoff

Abstract

I develop a directed search model to study the recruitment decisions of firms competing for workers who ex post differ in two dimensions: (1) their match productivity and (2) their probability of accepting a job offer, endogenously determined by their choice of application portfolio. To attract these workers, firms post a recruiting intensity and a hiring standard, in addition to terms of trade. A higher recruiting intensity is costly, but allows the firm to select more applicants for an interview, which reveals their productivity. The hiring standard solves the tradeoff between immediate hiring and waiting for a potentially better match in the future. I characterize equilibrium and find that various outcomes, including uniqueness of equilibrium and the cyclicality of recruiting intensity, crucially depend on firms’ recruiting cost and workers’ search cost. Calibration of the model to the U.S. labour market indicates a continuum of equilibria. Given selection of a particular equilibrium, hiring standards are countercyclical while recruiting intensity is procyclical. The calibrated model creates more amplification than a standard model without intensive margins and gives rise to procyclical match efficiency when viewed through the lens of a Cobb–Douglas matching function.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronald Wolthoff, 2018. "Applications and Interviews: Firms’ Recruiting Decisions in a Frictional Labour Market," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(2), pages 1314-1351.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:85:y:2018:i:2:p:1314-1351.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/restud/rdx045
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    Cited by:

    1. Brändle, Tobias & Grunau, Philipp & Haylock, Michael & Kampkötter, Patrick, 2020. "Recruitment strategies and match quality - New evidence from representative linked employer-employee data," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 134, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
    2. Gautier, Pieter A. & Moraga-González, José L. & Wolthoff, Ronald P., 2016. "Search costs and efficiency: Do unemployed workers search enough?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 123-139.
    3. Xiaoming Cai & Pieter Gautier & Ronald Wolthoff, 2025. "Search, Screening, and Sorting," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 205-236, July.
    4. Ronald Wolthoff & Pieter Gautier & Xiaoming Cai, 2016. "Inclusive versus Exclusive Markets:," 2016 Meeting Papers 262, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    5. Meier, Mario & Obermeier, Tim, 2017. "Employer Screening, Unemployment Stigma and Optimal Unemployment Insurance," EconStor Preprints 148303, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Sengul, Gonul, 2017. "Learning about match quality: Information flows and labor market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 118-130.
    7. Niklas Engbom, 2019. "Application Cycles," 2019 Meeting Papers 1170, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Carlos Carrillo-Tudela & Hermann Gartner & Leo Kaas, 2023. "Recruitment Policies, Job-Filling Rates, and Matching Efficiency," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(6), pages 2413-2459.
    9. Bradley, Jake, 2022. "Worker-Firm Screening and the Business Cycle," IZA Discussion Papers 15017, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Auster, Sarah & Gottardi, Piero, 2019. "Competing mechanisms in markets for lemons," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 14(3), July.
    11. Faberman, R. Jason & Menzio, Guido, 2018. "Evidence on the relationship between recruiting and the starting wage," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 67-79.
    12. James Albrecht & Bruno Decreuse & Susan Vroman, 2023. "Directed Search With Phantom Vacancies," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(2), pages 837-869, May.
    13. Ioana Marinescu & Ronald Wolthoff, 2020. "Opening the Black Box of the Matching Function: The Power of Words," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 535-568.
    14. Jake Bradley, 2025. "Worker-Firm Screening and the Business Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 57, July.
    15. Cai, Xiaoming & Gautier, Pieter A. & Wolthoff, Ronald P., 2017. "Search frictions, competing mechanisms and optimal market segmentation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 453-473.
    16. Dami'an Vergara, 2022. "Minimum Wages and Optimal Redistribution," Papers 2202.00839, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2022.
    17. Zuchuat, Jeremy & Lalive, Rafael & Osikominu, Aderonke & Pesaresi, Lorenzo & Zweimüller, Josef, 2023. "Duration Dependence in Finding a Job: Applications, Interviews, and Job Offers," CEPR Discussion Papers 18600, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Xiaoming Cai & Pieter Gautier & Ronald Wolthoff, 2015. "Inclusive versus Exclusive Markets: Search Frictions and Competing Mechanisms," Working Papers tecipa-545, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    19. Ciao-Wei Chen & Laura Yue Li, 2023. "Is hiring fast a good sign? The informativeness of job vacancy duration for future firm profitability," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1316-1353, September.
    20. Sengul, Gonul, 2017. "Effect of labor market policies on unemployment when firms adapt their recruitment strategy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 169-179.
    21. Saara Hämäläinen & Vaiva Petrikaitė, 2024. "Prediction algorithms in matching platforms," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 78(3), pages 979-1020, November.
    22. Ji-Woong Moon, 2025. "Hidden advertisement, signaling, and directed search," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 79(1), pages 57-87, February.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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