Proactive Firm Prospection Campaign

In Simple Words

Think of a store manager who usually waits behind the counter for customers to walk in. Switching to a proactive approach means stepping outside, visiting nearby shop owners, asking about their upcoming projects, and offering custom inventory help before they even ask for it.

Research question

Public employment agencies traditionally operate reactively, waiting for employers to post job vacancies rather than actively initiating contact to uncover unmet hiring needs.

Participants

N = 7,438 unique small and medium-sized enterprise establishments across 129 local employment agencies in France.

Study Design

Stratified Randomized Controlled Trial with a 3-month intensive outreach campaign and a 6.5-month sanctuary period for control firms.

Results

Active prospection generated a 488% increase in agency counselor visits to treatment firms (jump of 0.5 visits per firm) and a 152% increase in phone contacts (1.5 additional calls per firm) during the intensive phase.

Takeaway

Initiate proactive outreach campaigns where caseworkers contact employers directly to identify latent hiring demands rather than relying on passive vacancy submissions.

Read alongside the research

Plain-English glossary

Original explanations, informed by the references below. Examples are illustrations, not data from the studies above. The research text stays unchanged.

Randomized controlled trial

A study that uses chance, like drawing lots, to decide who receives each option being compared. Researchers compare the groups’ outcomes to estimate the effect of those options.

ExampleA lottery assigns volunteers to a training programme or a comparison group. Researchers then compare their outcomes.

GET-IT glossary · Randomized study ↗Read more about randomized controlled trial →

Related findings

• Candidate Pre-Screening and Filtering Services →Labour & employment

  Imagine a bouncer standing outside a venue who checks guest tickets before letting anyone enter the building. Instead of the host personally reading hundreds of RSVPs, the bouncer pre-checks qualifications and restricts entry so the host only meets a small handpicked group of qualified guests.

• Private Vacancy Access Control →Labour & employment

  Think of a nightclub guest list kept privately at the door rather than printed on a flyer distributed across the entire city. Keeping the list private ensures only pre-screened guests can enter, preventing an overwhelming crowd from filling the entrance.

• Service Provider Incentive Alignment in Job Counseling →Labour & employment

  Imagine a real estate agent paid solely for the number of client open houses hosted rather than successful house sales. The agent rushes as many people through the door as possible without caring whether buyers actually find a house they want to live in long-term.

• Public Employment Referral Quality and Systemic Friction →Labour & employment

  Imagine a free municipal staffing agency that only attracts temporary, low-wage job listings because top employers post on private sites; candidates who get matched through the agency find work quickly, but end up earning less than they did in their previous career positions.