The Influence of External Recruitment Practices on Job Search Practices Across Domestic Labor Markets: A comparison of the United States and China

Job search theories traditionally assume that job seekers have open access to information about employment opportunities. This may be moderated by the degree that labor markets rely on external recruitment to convey information about employment opportunities. In particular, external recruitment may be more widely used in some countries than other countries. Accordingly, this paper hypothesizes that job search practices that rely on external recruitment and information sharing with potential recruits are more likely to be widely used in the United States than in China and that job search practices are more likely to influence starting wages in the United States than in China. Using samples of graduating undergraduate college students in both the United States and China, this study suggests that job seekers gather more information about employment opportunities in the United States than in China, and that job search effort is more likely to influence starting wages in the United States than in China. The research suggests that job search theories need to consider job seeker access to information as a significant moderating variable in job search theory.