Some jobseekers remain unemployed because they focus on professions and felds in which the job prospects are not favourable. What happens when they receive personalised labour market information about more promising professions and positions that match their knowledge and skills? Compared to people who do not receive that information, they are more likely to move into professions that are completely different from the profession with poor job outlooks that was their first preference.

Why this experiment was conducted: opportunity to improve employment prospects
In 2021, more than 10% of unemployment benefit recipients were seeking employment in fields with poor job outlooks. These are fields attracting significant interest amongst jobseekers, but in which there are few vacancies. Research shows that jobseekers mainly focus on professions in which they have experience. That seems a safe bet, since they know what tasks and responsibilities are involved and they know they have the skills to perform them. However, this approach only serves to needlessly extend their period of joblessness. Instead, there are many professions with better job prospects, including professions that match their knowledge and skills.

Types of intervention: providing alternatives and personal experiences
The UWV developed two types of intervention:
• an email with clear personalised information about relevant alternative professions. See image 19. In this email, the jobseeker's preferred profession (the one with poor job outlooks) was contrasted with more promising alternatives. To decide what these alternatives might be, the other professions into which people with the same preferred profession have moved were investigated. Next, the professions that offered the best employment prospects during the period of the study were selected.
• a video aimed at lowering the psychological barriers to applying for more promising professions. In this video, several individuals who have successfully switched to a different profession share their experiences.

Method used: RCT
A randomised field experiment was conducted with three conditions:
• 10,050 jobseekers received the email drawing attention to promising professions
• 10,075 jobseekers received the email drawing attention to promising professions + the video
• 10,004 jobseekers received no email and no video (the control group) The impact of the interventions was evaluated by analysing the professions into which people moved, the number of hours worked and the benefit costs, amongst other things.

Result obtained: more individuals opt for a change of profession
The email campaign resulted in profession changes. Individuals who received personalised labour market information were more likely to move into professions that are completely different from the profession with poor job outlooks that was their first preference than individuals who did not receive that information. Of the jobseekers in the control group who found a job, 80% opted to change profession; in the experiment group, the corresponding figure was 86%. This significant difference suggests that the emails achieved their purpose of persuading jobseekers to broaden their job search. It was also found that jobseekers in the experiment group worked more hours after the email campaign than jobseekers in the control group. No difference was found between the groups in terms of benefit levels. The impact of the video could not be determined since it was watched by too few people. The experiment groups (with and without video) were therefore combined in the analyses.

Impact: broader outlook
The results are promising for a relatively simple and short intervention. The emails prompted jobseekers to broaden their outlook and find other jobs. This shows the potential of information tailored to the individual. Research is being conducted to ascertain whether the jobseekers who switch jobs actually stay in work longer than the control group.

Source: https://www.binnl.nl/home+-+en/knowledge/publications/bin+nl+publications/HandlerDownloadFiles.ashx?idnv=2719979