Does the Formalisation of Practices Enhance Equal Hiring Opportunities? An Analysis of a French Nation-Wide Employer Survey

This article addresses the formalisation of hiring processes and its impact on the type of the employee hired. Using the French OFER survey on the hiring practices of 3,584 firms in 2005, we investigate how firms organise the selection of job applicants and analyse the outcome of this selection with regard to the profiles of successful applicants. The data analysis reveals four types of screening processes: an informal process (streamlined) and three formalised processes (written-based, testing, and professionalised). The use of a type of screening process depends on the constraints and resources of the firm and on the expected type of match. Finally, logit regressions show that informal recruitment methods tend to penalise women and formal testing screening processes seem to favour unemployed or inactive people, whereas the formalised screening processes are likely to penalise individuals without diplomas.