Faculty of Business Seminar Series / Efşan Nas Özen

Title: The Importance of Being Modest: The Roles of Gender and Socioemotional Skill Signals in the Labor Market

Abstract: A vast literature shows the importance of socioemotional skills in earnings and employment, but whether they matter in getting hired remains unanswered. This study seeks to address this question, and further investigates whether socioemotional skills signals in job applicants' resumes have the same value for male and female candidates. In a large-scale randomized audit study, we use an online job portal in Turkey to send fictitious CVs to real job openings, collecting a unique dataset that enables us to investigate different stages of candidate screening. We find that socioemotional skills appear to be valued only when an employer speci fically asks for such skills in the vacancy ad. When not asked for, however, candidates face a penalty in the form of lower callback rates. This penalty exists only for women, not for men. We don't fi nd evidence of other gender differences in the selection process.

Place: Meeting Room AB2-345