Sequential versus non-sequential search among German employers – evidence from a job vacancy survey

In this note, we provide evidence on the extent and determinants of sequential versus non-sequential search among German employers. Using unique representative data on employers’ recruitment behaviour, we exploit direct information on whether employers first formed a pool of applicants from which they chose the most suitable candidate (Non-Sequential Search), or whether they hired the first suitable applicant (Sequential Search). We show that non-sequential search is the predominant search strategy, accounting for about 75 per cent of all successful hirings. Hirings by larger employers and those for high-skilled positions are disproportionately represented among the non-sequential search processes. We then proceed to decompose recruitment durations for non-sequential search into an application and a selection period and, for sequential search, into an information and combined application/selection period. With non-sequential search, the application period lasts, on average, about 18 days, whereas the selection period is 45 days long. Sequential search processes start with a very short period of about one day until the very first application arrives, followed by a rather long combined application/selection period of 57 days until a suitable applicant is found.