Experimental Design Details
STEP 1: ORIENTATION
o The orientation will happen a few weeks before the scheduled training and is designed to recruit students for the experiment. The orientation will comprise of a roughly 10 minutes pitch which will be accompanied by a short slide deck. This will cover a brief background on the team, the project, how the training is helpful and what all the session will cover, and our expectations from students who plan on registering.
STEP 2: REGISTRATION
o The orientation will be followed by a registration which sings students up to participate in the training in each college, along with their information (name, E-Mail, phone number and which area of specialization they belong to). We also ask them to take a standardized test to measure baseline ability and to bring their CV to the training in a few weeks (or e-mail it ahead of time).
STEP 3: TRAINING and BASELINE
o Using registration lists, we will randomly invite half of students in each college to attend a one of two types of training sessions. For intervention one, the treatment group will receive the soft skills session (which is given to all students within that college), after which they will be given a list of jobs in their area of interest. The job list will list the firm, job description, offered wage, and a link to apply. Candidates will be asked to apply to any jobs they are interested in during the session, and will be given a hard copy of the jobs to take with them. The control group will only receive the soft skills training. Additionally, during the training sessions, each group will be asked to complete a detailed baseline survey collecting data on their social network, job preferences, rankings of hypothetical jobs, and other demographic variables.
o For Intervention two, the treatment group will receive a detailed CV training which gives specific formatting and content tips. Students will be asked to create or edit their CVs during the session. CVs will be validated and copies will be collected by the trainers. The control group will only be asked to complete the baseline survey during this session.
o After two weeks the intervention two control group will be brought in for another training session. They will be asked to bring the current version of their CVs to collect and analyze as an outcome measure of CV information spread. Afterwards, they will be given the same CV training previously received the treatment group.
STEP 4: WEEKLY FOLLOW-UPS
o In intervention one, both treatment and control groups will be brought in weekly for a short interview. Treatment individuals will be given a new list of job openings and asked to apply to those they wish and asked a to complete a short survey about any interviews / job offers they have received. The control group will be asked about whether they have heard about or applied to any jobs given the treatment group in the previous week, and if so, who they heard the information from. The control group will also be asked to complete a short survey.
o In intervention two, there will be no follow-up until after the second week when both treatment and control groups have received their CV training. After week two, and the subsequent cross randomization into a job-list group and control group, we will proceed with the same weekly follow-ups as conducted in intervention one.