Recruiting Intensity, Hires, and Vacancies: Evidence from Firm-Level Data

We investigate employer recruiting behaviour, using detailed firm-level data from a national survey of employers hiring recent college graduates. We find that this behaviour is responsive to the business cycle, beliefs about labour market tightness and the intended number of hires. Specifically, employers adjust planned recruiting effort and compensation. We then show that, when firms expend greater recruiting effort, they ultimately hire more individuals per vacancy. These results suggest that, when firms want to increase hires, they adjust both the quantity of vacancies and the recruiting intensity per vacancy. If this is true more broadly in the labour market, it may help explain the breakdown in the standard matching function during the Great Recession.