Career Information Intervention

Last registered on April 30, 2025

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Career Information Intervention

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0015913

Initial registration date

April 28, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

April 30, 2025, 1:29 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Yana Gallen

Affiliation

University of Chicago

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Melanie Wasserman

PI Affiliation

University of California Los Angeles

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-04-30

End date

2026-04-30

Keywords

Gender

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

We conduct a survey experiment to study how information on a job’s work/life balance affects students’ interest in career paths. In the survey, students are asked to read a description of the pros and cons of going into management consulting. We randomize students to receive a description either with or without information on work/life balance. We then elicit students' beliefs about two non-wage amenities related to work/life balance as well as their interest in working in management consulting and in certain types of firms.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Gallen, Yana and Melanie Wasserman. 2025. "Career Information Intervention ." AEA RCT Registry. April 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15913-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We conduct a survey-based informational intervention among UCLA undergraduate students. We will recruit UCLA undergraduates potentially interested in career information about management consulting. In the survey, students are asked to read a description of the pros and cons of going into management consulting (an audio recording is also provided to make the message more salient/realistic). We sourced the description of management consulting from one of the actual messages that a student received in our original experiment.

We randomize students to receive one of two versions of the message.
Control: no work/life balance information
Treatment: identical to control but includes work/life balance information

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2025-04-30

Intervention End Date

2025-06-18

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

After students read/listen to the message, we elicit their beliefs about two non-wage amenities related to work/life balance as well as their career path interests:
1. Hours worked per week
2. Part-time work availability
3. Probability of attending a workshop on how to break into management consulting
4. Probability of choosing a Big 4 consulting job instead of a small, specialized consulting job

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

We will also check whether there is an effect on student’s filling out an application to attend the information session.

We will estimate the main effects by pre-existing interest/knowledge of the career path.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The survey is conducted online through Qualtrics. We randomize students to receive one of two versions of the message.
Control: no work/life balance information
Treatment: identical to control but includes work/life balance information

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization is done by a computer (Qualtrics at the time the survey is opened).

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

434 students

Sample size: planned number of observations

434 students

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

217 in each condition (treatment/control)

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

With 80% power, we can detect a 3 hour change in beliefs about hours worked per week with 434 students, given a pilot mean in the control group of 52.3 hours. We can detect an 8 percentage point change in the percent chance of attending the information session, given the pilot mean in the control group of 48.4 percent.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB