Job Search in the Labor Market for College Graduates: A Post Hoc Analysis and Some New Insights. Paper No. 483.

This study examines the impact of job-relevant information on search behavior of males and females, and compares the findings with those obtained in the Ullman and Gutteridge studies. The data were obtained from two questionnaires and by monitoring the operations of the Purdue University computerized teacher placement bureau. The subjects of the study were 85 inexperienced persons completing their bachelors or masters degrees in education, who were seeking their first teaching jobs in public or private schools. The 40 control subjects and the 45 experimental subjects received the same kinds of information regarding job vacancies from the placement bureau. But the experimental subjects also received additional information concerning the quality of the jobs offered. Job search and job choice behavior of the subjects were observed in terms of five dependent variables: (a) number of job opportunities; (b) length of job search; (c) salary for job accepted; (d) satisfaction with the job accepted; and (e) satisfaction with service provided by the placement bureau. Results indicated that male and female applicants made differential use of job-relevant information available to them, and that the impact of such information on job-search behavior and resulting outcomes was greater for males than for females. (A list of references is included.) (JS)