Behavioral Job-Search Planning Nudge
RCTClinical Trial
Unemployed individuals frequently face behavioral self-control problems, procrastination, and motivational fatigue, which reduce job search intensity even when viable employment opportunities exist.
Picture this
Think of searching for a job like going to the gym. People often plan to go every day, but without a written schedule or a friend sending reminder texts, daily distractions cause them to procrastinate. Providing a physical weekly calendar along with text-message reminders acts like a personal workout coach, helping jobseekers set concrete weekly application targets and stay accountable to their goals.
What the evidence says
Two months post-treatment, the nudge increased job applications among Syrian refugees by 55% (0.648 additional applications, p = 0.016) and boosted the Jordanian job-search rate by 6.5 percentage points (p = 0.030). However, employment impacts for Syrian refugees attenuated by four months (0.3 percentage points, p = 0.449).
- Who was studied
- N = 3,770 jobseekers (1,663 Syrian refugees and 2,107 Jordanians aged 18–45) in urban Amman, Irbid, and Mafraq, Jordan.
- How
- Randomized evaluation of a bundled behavioral intervention consisting of a four-week job-search planning calendar, an instructional video, face-to-face coaching, and bi-weekly goal-setting SMS reminders.
What to do
Distribute paper goal-setting calendars paired with automated goal-review text messages to help jobseekers overcome procrastination during active search periods.
From the source
"The third intervention is psychological support; we refer to this as the 'nudge' intervention. We provide a packaged intervention composed of (i) a four-week job-search planning calendar... (ii) an instructional video... (iii) a face-to-face demonstration... and (iv) reminder SMSs."
An_Adaptive_Targeted_Field_Experiment_Job_Search_Assistance_for.pdf