Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/336602 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper No. 552
Publisher: 
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition, München und Berlin
Abstract: 
As firms increasingly adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, how they adjust hiring practices for skilled workers remains unclear. This paper investigates whether AI-related skills are rewarded in talent recruitment by conducting a large-scale correspondence study in the United Kingdom. We submit 1,185 résumés to vacancies across a range of occupations, randomly assigning the presence or absence of advanced AI-related qualifications. These AI qualifications are added to résumés as voluntary signals and not explicitly requested in the job postings. We find no statistically significant effect of listing AI qualifications in résumés on interview callback rates. However, a heterogeneity analysis reveals some positive and significant effects for positions in Engineering and Marketing. These results are robust to controlling for the total number of skills listed in job ads, the degree of match between résumés and job descriptions, and the level of expertise required. In an exploratory analysis, we find stronger employer responses to AI-related skills in industries with lower exposure to AI technologies. These findings suggest that the labor market valuation of AI-related qualifications is context-dependent and shaped by sectoral innovation dynamics.
Subjects: 
return to skills
technological change
labor market
hiring
signaling
human capital
field experiment
AI-related skills
JEL: 
O33
J23
J24
I26
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
1.41 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.