The Effect of Post-Baccalaureate Certificates on Job Search: Results from a Correspondence Study

Last registered on October 11, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Effect of Post-Baccalaureate Certificates on Job Search: Results from a Correspondence Study
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001992
Initial registration date
March 21, 2017

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
March 21, 2017, 6:14 PM EDT

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

Last updated
October 11, 2023, 10:51 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Amanda Gaulke
Affiliation
Kansas State University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Hugh Cassidy
PI Affiliation
Kansas State University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Sheryll Namingit
PI Affiliation
Kansas State University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2016-12-01
End date
2019-06-01
Keywords
Education, Labor
Additional Keywords
post-baccalaureate certificates, callback rates
JEL code(s)
I26, J24
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The ultimate goal of this project is to determine whether, controlling for other worker characteristics, employers place value on post-baccalaureate certificate receipt. This will be accomplished through the use of a correspondence study, which consists of sending fictitious résumés to real job postings and comparing how the callback rates differ between those fictitious applicants who have received a post-baccalaureate certificate versus those who have not. The number of post-baccalaureate certificates granted per year has increased greatly in recent years, with Capuzzi (2012) reporting a 46% increase from 2005 to 2010. Our study is one of the first to examine the impact of these certificates on the labor market outcomes of recipients, and thus may have important implications in both an academic and policy setting.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cassidy, Hugh, Amanda Gaulke and Sheryll Namingit. 2023. "The Effect of Post-Baccalaureate Certificates on Job Search: Results from a Correspondence Study." AEA RCT Registry. October 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1992-3.0
Former Citation
Cassidy, Hugh, Amanda Gaulke and Sheryll Namingit. 2023. "The Effect of Post-Baccalaureate Certificates on Job Search: Results from a Correspondence Study." AEA RCT Registry. October 11. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1992/history/195481
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Randomly assign one applicant in the pair that applies to a job with a post-baccalaureate certificate.
Intervention Start Date
2016-12-01
Intervention End Date
2019-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Callback rates (if potential employer calls or emails the job candidate)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
a. Collection of job advertisements from online job boards
• Each RA will be assigned a city from which they can collect job ads from. The RA will look for 10-15 jobs per day. For each job, the RA will record important information about the job and encode this in our research database.
b. Sending out of resumes
• Once information on job ads are collected, the RAs will draw from a pool of resumes and send the resumes. They will need to record the date each resume was sent.
c. Recording Callbacks and Responding to Employers
• After the resumes are sent, the RAs will have to go to the applicants email and Vumber accounts to check and record any response from the employer. They will need to carefully encode these responses in our research database.
• Once the callbacks are recorded, the RAs will immediately email interested employers and inform them of the applicant’s unavailability. If the employers contacted us via telephone or text only (no email), the RAs will use Slybroadcast to leave voicemails informing employers of the applicant’s unavailability.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Job Applicant
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Approximately 6,000 applicants
Based on a referee comment for an R&R we have been asked to send more resumes in which we change the format of where the certificates are listed. In order to address this comment we plan to send an additional 2,000 resumes.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 6,000 applicants plus the additional 2,000 to address the referee comment.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The applicants are pairs in which one is the treatment and one is the control. This gives approximately 3,000 treatment applicants and 3,000 control applicants. To address the referee comment we plan to send another 2,000 resumes which will result in around 4,000 treatment applicants and around 4,000 control applicants.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Kansas State University
IRB Approval Date
2016-06-22
IRB Approval Number
8335
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Analysis Plan

MD5: 810f6cdd560485fcc15cffac0a951818

SHA1: 0ac36c4bd7d30f96ff022b30f3c78304b233a1d8

Uploaded At: March 29, 2017

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
This paper tests whether post-baccalaureate business certificates improve the job callback rates of applicants using a correspondence study. We randomly assign a post-baccalaureate certificate to fictitious résumés and apply to real vacancy postings for managerial, administrative and accounting assistant positions in several large cities on multiple large online job boards. We find no statistical relationship between having a certificate and the probability of receiving a callback, with the 95 % confidence interval being (−1.44, 0.50) percentage points with a baseline callback rate of 11.6%. Our results suggest that post-baccalaureate certificates may provide little value to job seekers, though it remains an unexplored question as to whether such certificates improve wage growth or promotions on the job.
Citation
Gaulke, A., Cassidy, H., & Namingit, S. (2019). The effect of post-baccalaureate business certificates on job search: Results from a correspondence study. Labour Economics, 61, 101759.
URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2019.101759

Reports & Other Materials