Social Media and Job Market Success: A Field Experiment on Twitter, by Qiu, Chen, Cohn, and Roth

 Here's a new working paper on SSRN:

Social Media and Job Market Success: A Field Experiment on Twitter, by Jingyi Qiu, Yan Chen, Alain Cohn, and Alvin E. Roth, May 20, 2024

"Abstract: We conducted a field experiment on Twitter to examine the impact of social media promotion on job market outcomes in economics. Half of the 519 job market papers tweeted from our research account were randomly assigned to be quote-tweeted by prominent economists. Papers assigned to be quote-tweeted received 442% more views and 303% more likes. Moreover, candidates in the treatment group received one additional flyout, with women receiving 0.9 more job offers. These findings suggest that social media promotion can improve the visibility and success of job market candidates, especially for underrepresented groups in economics such as women."

I gather that our paper has gone somewhat viral on twitter, with discussion about whether field experiments on job markets are ethical.  That's not a bad discussion to have, and of course we discussed that in the course of planning this experiment. (A similar discussion can and should be be had about any intervention in a market, not just an experiment.*)

Here is what we had to say about that in the paper.

"Despite the positive outcomes, one might question the ethics of our intervention, which randomly promotes a subset of JMPs on social media. However, we observe that senior economists naturally promote their own students and coauthors on Twitter. In comparison, we tweeted every JMP in our sample from our dedicated research account. Furthermore, while 80% of the influencers in our sample come from top 30 institutions, they quote-tweeted JMPs from a broader spectrum of academic institutions, thus allocating attention more equitably. Given that 92% of the JMCs in both the treatment and control groups accepted a job, it is unlikely that our treatment displaced those in the control group. The current focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion suggests that highlighting suitable candidates could potentially expand the number of job openings, making the job market for economists not entirely zero-sum. Lastly, the differential benefit of our treatment for women contributes to fostering a more inclusive economics profession. In summary, we argue that the knowledge gained from our experiment outweighs the potential cost."

*I've been involved in several operational (i.e. not experimental) interventions in job markets, including  the job market for new Econ Ph.D.s (e.g. signaling and the scramble):  see 

 Coles, Peter, John H. Cawley, Phillip B. Levine, Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth, and John J. Siegfried, “The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24,4, Fall 2010, 187-206.  https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.24.4.187

The Professional Psychology Match and post-match scramble

 Here's an article that (among other things) describes the APPIC Match, and the more recently organized (and regularized) post-Match scramble for unfilled positions.

JenniferA.Erickson Cornish and Jeff Baker

"A Brief History of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers:  Trends and Directions for the Education and Training of Health Service Psychologists," Training and Education in Professional Psychology  

(2021,December20)  http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tep0000401

Abstract: The Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) is the largest health service psychology education and training council in the U.S. and Canada, with approximately 787 internships, 238 postdoctoral programs, and 431 doctoral program associates. APPIC regularly interacts with the other major training councils over the entire developmental graduate sequence from doctoral education through postdoctoral fellowships. All psychology doctoral students in accredited clinical, counseling, and school programs are required to complete an internship in health service psychology, with a significant majority of those students (3,684 in 2021) obtaining those internships via the APPIC match. Although there is no current similar APPIC match for postdoctoral training, APPIC provides selection guidelines for such training and hosts a list of over 1,600 positions available each year. 

"A computerized national match began with the 1998–1999selection process (10 years after a less than successful trial led tothe board deciding to discontinue it) in which 2,923 students applied for 2,631 positions, and 83% were matched (Keilin, 2000). This match, overseen by NMS, used an algorithm based on the NationalResidency Match Program (Roth & Peranson, 1999) and was deemed a success in a subsequent survey, although applicants and directors of clinical training were more satisfied than internship training directors (Keilin, 2000). In 2010, due to the leadership of then chair Sharon Berry, Phase II of the match was launched. Phase II brought about significant changes since it allowed applicants additional time to review and apply to another program if unsuccessful in Phase I, gave internship programs additional time to review Phase II applicants in a more thorough manner, and removed much of the fairly chaotic process that was frantic for both applicants and training directors (some of whom had to replace their fax machines due to overload). The former clearinghouse became the PMVS in 2011. The PMVS currently does not include a match but rather lists postings of positions that are still available on the APPIC website, allowing candidates and sites to participate in an informal selection process as needed. The PMVS will become part of the AAPI process in 2022 and will bring some additional order for those programs that still have openings and for trainees who haveeither not matched or were recently able to participate in the match. In2012, the Nobel Prize for Economics was given for the Roth–Peranson Algorithm used in the match by NMS. The match became limited to students from doctoral programs accredited by the APA or Canadian Psychological Association (including those with a site visit scheduled) and in 2021 to APPIC member internship programs. Previously, nonmember programs could participate in the match with the development of“ Provisional” membership; all programs would now have undergone review by the APPIC membership committee prior to participating in the match.

**********

Some historical background:

Roth, A.E. and X. Xing, "Turnaround Time and Bottlenecks in Market Clearing: Decentralized Matching in the Market for Clinical Psychologists," Journal of Political Economy, 105, April 1997, 284-329.

College admissions, late in the season

Each year, around this time of year, as the main round of college admissions comes to a conclusion, NACAC (the National Association for College Admissions Counseling) publishes a list of colleges that still have positions for qualified students.  Here's this year's listing:

COLLEGE OPENINGS UPDATE: OPTIONS FOR QUALIFIED STUDENTS

"NACAC’s annual College Openings Update: Options for Qualified Students (formerly the Space Availability Survey) is a voluntary listing of NACAC member postsecondary institutions that are still accepting applications from prospective freshman and/or transfer students for the upcoming fall term. Now in its 33rd year, the College Openings Update is designed as a tool for counselors, parents and others assisting students who have not yet completed the college admission process. Typically, colleges will continue to join the update after the May 5 public release date, so check back periodically to see additional colleges still accepting applications."

AEA Econ job market scramble is open

Good luck to those on the job market. If you are still looking (for jobs or for economists to hire) this is the week to enter the Scramble.

Economics Job Market "Scramble" for new Ph.D.s

2017 Job Market Scramble Timeline:

Registration for the 2017 Job Market Scramble will open on March 15, 2017. 

The deadline for registration is March 22, 2017 at 5:00 pm ET. 

The Scramble will open for viewing by registered participants only on March 24, 2017. Scramble viewing will close on April 10, 2017. 

Brief Description:

Occasionally prospective employers of new Ph.D. economists exhaust their candidates before hiring someone during the winter/spring "job market" period. Similarly, new economics Ph.D.s seeking a job sometimes find that all of the prospective employers with whom they have interviewed have hired someone else before they have secured an appointment.

To address these problems, the AEA has established a "Job Market Scramble" web site to facilitate communication between employers and job seekers in late spring. In March, employers that continue to have an open position previously listed in Job Openings for Economists (JOE) may post a short notice of its availability (with a link to theJOE listing). Similarly, new or recent economics Ph.D. job seekers still looking for a position may post a short announcement of their continued availability, with a link to their JOE candidate profile. The web site will open for viewing to those who have listed a position or availability soon after listings close. There is no charge to participate in the "Job Market Scramble."

See the Scramble Guide for more detailed information.

Reverse college admissions scramble in British clearing

In Britain, students get admitted to university (sometimes contingently) before their grades are known. So some students don't get the grades they need to fulfill their admissions requirement, and have to scramble for a position at a less selective school. But some students do much better on their exams than they anticipated, and find themselves in a position to go to more selective schools than they applied to (or were admitted to). But they need to scramble to find a place.

The Telegraph has the story: What are my options if I do better than expected at A-level?

The college admissions scramble is now open: many colleges still accepting applications

There is still time to find a college, and here is a link to a listing of colleges still seeking students:

College Openings Update 2016

NACAC’s annual College Openings Update: Options for Qualified Students (formerly the Space Availability Survey) is a voluntary listing of NACAC member postsecondary institutions that are still accepting applications from prospective freshman and/or transfer students for the upcoming fall term. Now in its 29th year, the College Openings Update is designed as a tool for counselors, parents and others assisting students who have not yet completed the college admission process. Typically, colleges will continued to join the update after the May 5 public release date, so check back periodically to see additional colleges still accepting applications.

The college admissions scramble

The National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) has posted its annual bulletin board of the more than 250 colleges that still have available positions.

NACAC College Openings Update: Space, Financial Aid and Housing Still Available For Fall 2014

​May 6, 2013 (Arlington, VA)  – More than 250 colleges and universities still have openings, aid and housing available to qualified freshman and/or transfer students for the Fall 2014 semester, according to the  National Association for College Admission Counseling’s (NACAC’s) annual College Openings Update (formerly the “Space Availability Survey”).

Now in its 27th year, the Update is a tool for counselors, parents and teachers as they assist students who have not yet completed the college application and admission process after the May 1 response deadline observed by many colleges.  In cases where well-qualified students may not have applied to a range of institutions, or may have been turned down by all schools to which they applied, the Update provides an opportunity to be identified and possibly accepted by competitive institutions, and to obtain financial aid and housing.

“This announcement is a ‘win-win’ for all parties, if students need to rethink their admission options,” said Joyce E. Smith, NACAC CEO.

“Part of demystifying college admission is understanding that, for many institutions, the application process is a year-round endeavor,” said Smith. “Some colleges accept applications throughout the year, while others may continue to have openings available even after the May 1 national response deadline. We hope students and families will benefit from knowing that these options are available to them each year.”

Both public and private colleges and universities are listed on the Update.

The Update can be viewed at:

http://www.nacacnet.org/research/research-data/College-Openings/Pages/College-Openings-Results.aspx

It will remain on NACAC’s Web site through June 30, and colleges have been asked to modify their listings as the number of openings at their institutions changes.

Media note: College Openings Update is not a survey, but instead, a bulletin board that allows students and colleges to find potential matches during the Spring prior to Fall enrollment. Some colleges accept applications well after May 1 as a matter of policy, while others have openings available due to fluctuations that occur each year in the college application process.

About NACAC: NACAC is an Arlington, VA-based education association of more than 14,000 secondary school counselors, independent counselors, college admission and financial aid officers, enrollment managers, and organizations that work with students as they make the transition from high school to postsecondary education. The association, founded in 1937, is committed to maintaining high standards that foster ethical and social responsibility among those involved in the transition process, as outlined in the NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice. More information about NACAC is available at www.nacacnet.org.

These secondary markets, sometimes called scrambles, have a big role to play in matching markets in which participants can only consider a relatively short list of the many participants on the other side of the market. (Fuhito Kojima and Parag Pathak and I showed in passing here that it is to be expected that such markets will have empty positions and unmatched applicants at the end of the initial matching phase...this observation is actually within a proof, see p12 of the online appendix)

Clearing: the scramble for British university admissions begins today

Admissions offers in Britain are (often) contingent on exam results, and today the A-level exam results are publiished, and the process known as Clearing begins. The Telegraph has the story (and apps to guide students through the process).
Clearing 2013: How to play the system
If you don’t get the A-level grades you want on Thursday, don’t panic. Let Andrew Marszal and the Telegraph guide you through clearing and beyond

While this particular “due date” is certain – A-level results will be published tomorrow come rain or shine – the outcome is anything but.

Based on numbers from previous years, we know that by tomorrow morning around 350,000 students will be celebrating, having secured the grades they needed to meet their university offers.

We can even speculate that one or two of them will leap joyfully into the air, shamelessly flourishing their straight A* grades for local press photographers.

But for a significant proportion of would-be undergraduates, the end of the long wait only marks the beginning of university clearing.

Once the dust had settled last year, some 167,000 teenagers found themselves eligible for clearing – the process which matches students who don’t have the university offers they want with courses that still have vacancies.

With overall application numbers slightly up for this year’s courses, it’s likely that figure could be exceeded this week.

And even those who have gained or exceeded the required grades will want to keep an eye on clearing – there is still the option of switching to a more competitive course through the parallel “adjustment” process, which carries the advantage of not having to give up your existing offer while you shop around for a better course.

So that’s why, with hundreds of thousands of teenagers making potentially life-altering decisions in the space of just a few days or even hours after receiving their results, the Telegraph has put together a range of exclusive tools to help you negotiate your application. As the exclusive media partner of Ucas, all course vacancy listings will be available only with this newspaper in England and Wales, starting from the morning of A-level results day. There will be further listings published free with your newspaper on August 16, 17 and 29 and September 5.

But bear in mind that clearing places will come and go across the clearing period until September 30, as people turn down offers and universities fill places.
**************

Here's a helpful graphic of whhere the vacant places are: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/clearing/10242726/Clearing-2013-graphic-which-universities-have-places.html

2013 Results and Data Book from NRMP’s Main Residency Match

Here's the press release: 2013 Results and Data Book from NRMP’s Main Residency Match, and here's the data book for the 2013 Match

The data book also reports on the second year of the new SOAP scramble, but not in the same detail as last year's report. Last year I predicted that more of the visible action would move to the first round (reflecting more action before the beginning of the official scramble), but this year's data book doesn't give that information.

Here's the press release, though, which gives a good overview of the data, which seem to reflect a successful match year.

The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) is pleased to announce the publication of its Results and Data 2013 Main Residency Match --- the most comprehensive Match data resource produced annually by the NRMP. The report provides statistics on the most successful Match in NRMP history, in which 28,130 of 29,171 available residency positions were filled.    

Included in the report are statistical tables and data graphs from the Main Residency Match and a state by state breakdown of each participating U.S. residency training program, with the number of positions offered and filled for each. This year, for the first time, the report includes results and charts from the Match Week Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program® (SOAP®)-- the process used by NRMP for unfilled residency positions.

This year’s Results and Data Book is notable because the 2013 Match was the first to utilize NRMP’s All In Policy, which requires participating programs to register and attempt to fill all their positions through The Match.

NRMP Executive Director Mona M. Signer said, “Readers of the 2013 Results and Data Book will see the overwhelming success of the All In Policy. The 2013 Match produced the highest fill rate in NRMP history, and match rates rose for nearly every applicant group.”

Results and Data 2013 Book Facts

Applicant Numbers (Comparisons to 2012) 

• 40,335 registrants (1,958 more)
• 34,355 active applicants (3,000 more)
• 17,487 U.S. allopathic medical school seniors (960 more)
• 2,677 osteopathic medical school students/graduates (317 more, highest ever)
• 5,095 U.S. citizen international medical school students/graduates (U.S. IMGs) (816 more)
• 7,568 non-U.S. citizen international medical school students/graduates (IMGs) (740 more)

Applicant Match Rates 

• 74.1 percent of all applicants were matched to PGY-1 positions
• 93.7 percent of U.S. allopathic seniors matched to PGY-1 positions; of those, 78.8 percent matched to one of their top three choices
• 53.1 percent of U.S. IMGs were matched to PGY-1 positions, up from 49.1 percent in 2012 and the highest Match rate for this applicant group since 2005
• 47.6 percent PGY-1 Match rate for IMGs, an increase of seven percentage points from 2012

Increased Positions/High Fill Rates
Available residency positions increased to 29,171, 2,399 (9 percent) more than in 2012, when 26,772 positions were offered. The increase is due primarily to implementation of the All In Policy, which resulted in some specialties offering significantly more positions in 2013. Internal Medicine offered 1,000 more positions, Family Medicine offered 297 more, and Pediatrics offered 141 more than the prior year.

The overall position fill rate increased 1.1 percentage points to 96.4 percent, the highest in NRMP history. In 2013, only 1,041 first-year and second-year positions were unfilled; of those, 939 were placed in SOAP, and all but 61 were filled.

Notable Specialties
Often Match results can be an indicator of competitiveness. This year, several specialties and specialty tracks had 100 percent fill rates: 

• Medicine Emergency Medicine
• Pediatrics Primary
• Pediatrics/Psychiatry/Child Psychiatry
• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation – Post graduate year one (PGY-1)
• Plastic Surgery – Post graduate year two (PGY-2)
• Psychiatry Family Medicine
• Radiation Oncology (PGY-1)
• Thoracic Surgery

The following specialties filled more than 90 percent of positions with U.S. seniors: 

• Plastic Surgery: 95.7 percent
• Otolaryngology: 94.5 percent
• Neurological Surgery: 93.1 percent
• Orthopedic Surgery: 91.8 percent

Couples in the Match
In 2013, a record 1,870 applicants (935 couples) participated in the 2013 Match. They continued to enjoy great success with a match rate of 95.2 percent. Couples have been able to participate together in The Match since 1984. The two partners identify themselves as a couple to the NRMP and submit rank order lists of identical length. The algorithm treats their lists as a unit, matching the couple to the highest linked program choices where both partners match.

SOAP - Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program
The NRMP launched the Match Week SOAP in 2012 to replace the "Scramble" and to streamline the process for unmatched applicants and the directors of unfilled programs. During SOAP, eligible applicants use ERAS® to apply to programs with unfilled positions and offers are extended to applicants based upon the number of unfilled positions remaining in the program.

U.S. seniors accepted the majority of positions (595 of 878) filled during SOAP. More than 13,808 applicants were SOAP-eligible, 261 more than in 2012. This year, 406 unfilled programs elected to participate in SOAP, offering 939 of the 1,041 positions not filled when the matching algorithm was processed.

A total of 1,327 offers were sent to applicants. By the conclusion of SOAP, 93.5 percent (878 of 939) of the positions had been filled.

How the Match Works
Conducted annually by the NRMP, The Match uses a computerized mathematical algorithm to align the preferences of applicants with the preferences of residency program directors in order to fill the training positions available at U.S. teaching hospitals. Research on the NRMP algorithm was a basis for Dr. Alvin Roth’s receipt of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics.

# # #
The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) is a private, non-profit organization established in 1952 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism for matching the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors. In addition to the Main Residency Match, the NRMP conducts matches for more than 40 subspecialties. For more information, contact NRMP at 1-866-653-NRMP (6767) or visit http://www.nrmp.org. For interviews, please email cherbert@nrmp.org.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1278215#ixzz2V7ttPAqX

Match Day today for new doctors

Good luck to all those matching today!

Here's the Wall Street Journal's anticipatory story: New Doctors Eagerly Await 'Match Day'

"The National Resident Matching Program, the nonprofit group that pairs applicants with openings, expects this year's match to be the largest ever, surpassing last year when 31,355 U.S. and foreign applicants vied for 24,035 first-year residency openings."

Here's the NRMP's press release:

The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) will announce the 2013 medical residency Match results for more than 17,000 United States allopathic medical school seniors and more than 16,000 other applicants on Friday, March 15, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Match Day, an annual rite of passage, is when medical school students learn where they will live and train for the next three to seven years at their medical residency programs.

“It’s a wonderful and exciting day,” said Mona M. Signer, executive director of the NRMP. She added, “We are honored to play a small role each year in moving forward the careers of young physicians.”

U. S. senior medical students typically begin the residency application process at the beginning of their final year in medical school. After they apply to programs, programs review applications and invite selected candidates for interviews, which are held in the fall and early winter. Once the interview period is over, both parties create rank-order lists. Programs rank applicants in order of preference, and applicants compile their lists based on their preferred medical specialty and the location of the training programs.

The NRMP matching algorithm pairs the preferences of applicants with the preferences of residency programs, producing a “best result” in order to fill the available training positions at U.S. teaching hospitals. Research about the NRMP algorithm was a basis of Dr. Alvin Roth’s receipt of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Students and graduates of international medical schools, osteopathic (D.O. degree) schools, and Canadian candidates also participate in the Match. Last year more than 38, 377 applicants vied for positions, and the NRMP reported a 95% successful NRMP Match result for U. S. seniors.

For more information on this year’s Match results, please visit http://www.nrmp.org after 1:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, March 15, or contact your local medical school for details on their Match Day ceremonies.

Here's the schedule:

March 15, 2013	Match Day! Match results for applicants are posted to Web site at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) concludes at 5:00 p.m. eastern time.
March 16, 2013	Hospitals begin sending letters of appointment to matched applicants after this date.

First year of the new medical residency scramble, SOAP

I've written before about the new Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP), and the National Resident Matching Program has now released a report on its first year of operation.

There were 1,100 unfilled first year positions at the end of the main match, and 815 unmatched seniors graduating from U.S. medical schools (and many more unmatched applicants when foreign medical schools are included). Most of the unmatched positions were in family medicine and in "preliminary" rotations in surgery and internal medicine.

After the first day of the SOAP exploding offer process (i.e. after two rounds of exploding offers), only 267 positions remained, and 98 of these remained unfilled. So, most of the action happened the first day.

Medical schools complained that students were asked to "commit" to programs prior to receiving an offer, and thought that rounds should be longer. Residency programs thought rounds should be shorter.

In line with the criticisms of the design offered earlier (see here), I anticipate that next year more students will be asked to "commit" before receiving an offer (even though it's against the rules), and that even more of the action will be concentrated in the first day and the first round, with more of the market shifting out of the formal scramble, either officially or de facto, through the offline "commitment" process....

As I was quoted saying last year (see here), "If it's really, really tempting for people on both sides to break the rules," says Roth, "often the rules get broken."


HT: Nikhil Agarwal

Economics job market scramble opens March 21, 2012

Here's the announcement:

Economics Job Market "Scramble" for new Ph.D.s

The 2012 Job Economics Job Market Scramble registration will open on March 21, 2012.
March 21-28: Registration Period.
March 30-April 10: Scramble Website will open for viewing by registered participants only.
April 11: Scramble Viewing will close.
See the Scramble Guide for more detailed information.
Verified registrants received an email on April 1st with instructions for viewing the prospective Employer and Candidate lists.

Brief Description:

Occasionally prospective employers of new Ph.D. economists exhaust their candidates before hiring someone during the winter/spring "job market" period. Similarly, new economics Ph.D.s seeking a job sometimes find that all of the prospective employers with whom they have interviewed have hired someone else before they have secured an appointment.
To address these problems, the AEA has established a "Job Market Scramble" web site to facilitate communication between employers and job seekers in late spring. In March, employers that continue to have an open position previously listed in Job Openings for Economists (JOE) may post a short notice of its availability (with a link to the JOE listing). Similarly, new or recent economics Ph.D. job seekers still looking for a position may post a short announcement of their continued availability, with a link to their application materials (C.V., papers, references). The web site will open for viewing to those who have listed a position or availability soon after listings close. There is no charge for the "Job Market Scramble."
See the Scramble Guide for more detailed information. 

Online dating, later in life

Job markets have scrambles for late action, and it turns out that it's never too late for online dating either, the NY Times reports: Second Love at First Click

"If you think online dating is the domain of the young, maybe it’s time to check in with your mother. Now, people 55 and older are visiting American dating sites more than any other age group — up 39 percent in the last three years, according to the Internet tracking firm Experian Hitwise. The No. 2 group? Singles 45 to 54. According to IBISWorld, a market research firm, and the United States Census Bureau, about 37 percent of people 50 and older are unmarried. And the divorce rate among the 50-plus demographic is high. With so many older Americans unattached, living independently into their later years, and increasingly comfortable using the Internet, they, too, are logging on for love.

"And they may be better at finding it than their younger cohorts. Dating industry professionals say that singles in their 20s and 30s are typically focused on marriage and starting a family, while older singles (many of whom have been married before) have a more relaxed approach and are careful to pick companions who share their interests.

“Baby boomers have been one of the fastest-growing demographics for a lot of online dating companies,” said Caitlin Moldvay, an analyst for IBISWorld. The growth comes at the same time that some younger singles (18 to 34) are moving away from dating sites to social networking sites like Facebook as “a proxy for online dating,” said Bill Tancer, the general manager of global research for Experian Marketing Services.

"Greg Liberman, the president and chief executive of Spark Networks — which owns specialty dating sites including JDate, ChristianMingle, BlackSingles, SilverSingles — said that for the first eight months of this year, Spark had a 93 percent increase in new members 50 and older across all of its dating sites, compared with the same span of time last year. “We’re seeing significant growth,” Mr. Liberman said.

"He’s also observed that, while it’s been common for parents to buy dating site memberships for their adult children, now adult children have begun buying memberships for their widowed and divorced parents. Gone is the heyday of personal ads in The New York Review of Books."

The job market in gastrointestinal endoscopy

After completing a 3 year subspecialty match in gastroenterology, doctors wishing to specialize further can do a fellowship in advanced endoscopy. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy is trying to organize that job market, and, at least for this year, they are doing something quite different from a standard medical match. Aside from a system of prescribed dates (First date to offer an interview: 4/1/2011; First date to offer a position 7/15/2011: Fellowship start date: 7/1/2012), the process is described to applicants (in a letter) as follows:

******
"At 12pm EDT on July 15th, all program directors will send out an email to their top
choice. The fellow will then have 1 hour to decide if they wish to take that position or
wait for other offers. Please send a return email confirming that you got the offer.
You may respond at any time during that hour, ideally as soon as you make your
decision. If you do not respond within that hour, the program director may move on to
their second choice, so please respond within the hour.


"One of 2 things will then happen once you respond:


1. If you have chosen the offer, and send an affirmative email, the program
director will then send an email ASAP to all of its other applicants to
alert them that the spot has been filled, so that other applicants will be
aware that that position at that particular institution is no longer
available.


2. If you chose to reject the offer, please alert the program director via email
ASAP, so that the program director can then make an offer to the next
applicant on the list.


"If after the 15th (and the weekend of the 16th-17th) you do not have a position, please
go to the ASGE AEF website, and a list of programs with open positions will be
posted so that you may contact any of them if you like.


"I know that this non-electronic “match” is not ideal, but until we adopt an electronic
match (hopefully next year) we hope this format works without too many glitches."
******


Note that this is a system of "exploding offers", so one can expect some communication between participants before the appointed hour... (See also the discussion of similar problems I anticipate in the proposed new rules for the residency scramble (SOAP)).

Gastroenterology fellowships enjoy a successful match, so it seems reasonable to speculate that the fellowship in advanced endoscopy will turn to one after trying this.

Report of the economics Job Market Committee in the May AER

The Report of Ad Hoc Committee on the Job Market in the May 2011 AER (pp 744-6) has four sections:

I. Signaling;
"The number of participating job candidates held steady at roughly 1,000 signalers per year. About two-thirds of those in the job market signal each year."
...
"We note that at least a small number of ads in JOE this season solicit signals (e.g., “Candidates will be interviewed at ASSA (Denver) and are encouraged to use AEA signaling”).

II. Scramble;
"Survey results indicate that about half of the employers who register for the scramble initiate an interview as a result of the scramble. It is difficult to count the number of job placements initiated by the scramble. For the 2009–2010 job market, it appears that there were at least 15 job placements facilitated by the scramble."

III. Letters of Reference;
"The Committee is keeping an eye on the proliferation of websites to which letters of reference for new PhDs have to be uploaded, with many universities having their own sites."
...
"The Job Market Committee has considered whether the AEA ought to recommend a short list of application service providers and suggest that departments use one of just a few Internet portals, eschewing the unique url approach that is so costly. However, economics departments may not always be in a position to override their human resources departments, which seek other advantages by having all the jobs offered by their university handled on the same software. In this case it might be useful to press for common interfaces, so that centralized job market services that provide efficiencies to letter writers could upload letters to centralized university-specific services (many of which depend on only a small numberof software providers).

IV. Applications to Ph.D. programs
"There is a related issue not pertaining to the job market that affects a broader group of economics departments than just those that produce PhDs. It is the PhD admission process.
...
"The problem, even more than in the job market, is that the graduate school admission process usually is not under the control of the economics department. Often the platform and application apply to all PhD programs in the graduate school. The process stands in contrast to law schools and medical schools, which have centralized admissions forms and recommendation procedures. It is ironic that electronic processing of graduate school and job applications has increased the time required to apply and write letters in support of applicants."
***********

Here's our original report:
Peter Coles, John Cawley, Phillip B. Levine, Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth, and John J. Siegfried , " The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24,4 (Fall) 2010, 187-206.

Medical residency scramble

Dr.  Naveed Saleh, writing in New Physician, describes some of the different prognoses suggested for the new resident scramble (SOAP) which will operate next year: Unscrambling the Match.

"Roth predicts that the rules of the SOAP will be subverted by both programs and applicants eager to match. "If it's really, really tempting for people on both sides to break the rules," says Roth, "often the rules get broken."
Roth suggests that instead of the SOAP, the NRMP and ERAS should institute a properly organized second match during Match Week.
Mona M. Signer, executive director of the NRMP, disagrees with Roth's prediction that decision-making during the SOAP will be strategic. Instead, she predicts that programs and applicants will continue to pursue their best opportunities. Additionally, as with the Match, should a program or applicant violate prescribed rules, sanctions would be imposed.

My previous posts on the residency scramble, and the proposed new rules are here.

2011 job market scramble for new economics Ph.D.s

The AEA's Economics job market scramble web page opens for registration tomorrow.

2011 Job Market Scramble Important Dates:

March 23: Registration Opens
March 30: Registration Closes
April 1-12: Scramble Website will be open for viewing by registered participants only
April 12: Scramble Viewing will close.

See the Scramble Guide for more detailed information.

And good luck to all still on the market.

The Job Market for New Economists: timely JEP article

The JEP has just published our report on various "new" features of the job market for new Ph.D. economists, including the signaling mechanism and the scramble.

The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective, by Peter Coles, John Cawley, Phillip B. Levine, Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth, and John J. Siegfried (Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 24, Number 4—Fall 2010—Pages 187–206)

Comment on the proposed NRMP scramble following the resident match

The NRMP website asked for comments on the NRMP's new plan for organizing the post-match scramble, and some of my young colleagues and I were moved to send one in:

Comment on the NRMP’s “Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program” Proposed to Replace the Post-Match Scramble by Peter A. Coles, Clayton R. Featherstone, John William Hatfield, Fuhito Kojima, Scott Duke Kominers, Muriel Niederle, Parag A. Pathak, and Alvin E. Roth.

Executive Summary: "Historical precedent and economic principles suggest that the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) proposed for the NRMP Scramble will lead to unsatisfactory outcomes by forcing participants to make unnecessarily difficult decisions and giving them strong incentives to break the rules laid out in the SOAP proposal. We suggest, as an alternative Scramble mechanism, that the NRMP run a “Second Match” for the Scramble participants using rules similar to those of the Main Match."


Here's my previous post: Cleaning up the scramble for medical residents with SOAP

Cleaning up the scramble for medical residents with SOAP

Changes are coming in the scramble that follows the medical resident match run by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). A new, semi-centralized, partially computerized Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) has been announced, for implementation in March 2010.

If I understand the proposal correctly, residency programs with unmatched positions will be able to submit preference lists of match participants who ended up unmatched, and these preferences will be used to make exploding offers, after which the preference lists and positions will be updated to take account of acceptances (e.g. candidates who accept a position will be removed from other program's preference lists), and new exploding offers will be issued. Unlike in the main match (which these days uses the Roth-Peranson algorithm, but which you can think of as a student-proposing deferred acceptance algorithm), applicants will not submit preference lists, but will accept or reject offers as they come in (i.e. they cannot defer acceptances by holding their best offer until they see if any better offers arrive later).

Part of the proposal is to integrate the scramble with the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS), which will make some kinds of automatic processing and regulation possible,while some of the proposed regulations may be more challenging to enforce. (Markets that use exploding offers at fixed times have often been subject to cheating of various sorts: here's a paper on the experience of the law clerk market. There are lots of differences in the market culture of doctors and lawyers that may result in different outcomes.)

Here are some of its proposed rules:

• Unmatched applicant and unfilled program information will be released simultaneously.

• There will be a “time out” period during which unmatched applicants can send applications but programs cannot make offers.

• Applicants and programs will be required to send and receive applications only through ERAS.

• NRMP-participating programs that fill positions during Match Week must do so only through the SOAP.

• New functionality will be added to the R3 System to allow programs to offer unfilled positions on the basis of preference lists submitted by the programs.

• Applicants must accept or reject their offer(s) within a specific timeframe; offers not accepted or rejected will expire.

• The R3 System will establish an electronic “handshake” when an applicant accepts a position.

• Positions will be deleted from the dynamic List of Unfilled Programs once an offer has been accepted.

• A program’s unfilled positions will be offered to applicants in order of preference until all positions are filled or the preference list has been exhausted; programs will be able to add applicants to the bottom of their preference lists throughout Match Week.

• The NRMP Match Participation Agreement will be expanded to include Match Week and SOAP, and sanctions will be imposed for improper behavior.
...
Eligible NRMP applicants:


• Must be able to enter GME on July 1 in the year of the Match

• Will be able to apply only to unfilled Match-participating programs during Match Week

􀀹 Access to the List of Unfilled Programs will be restricted by match status (preliminary or advanced)

􀀹 Must use ERAS and will be able to select only unfilled Match-participating programs

􀀹 Cannot use phone, fax, email, or other methods

􀀹 Cannot have another individual/entity contact programs on applicant’s behalf

􀀹 Will be able to accept positions only through SOAP during Match Week

• Can apply to non-Match-participating programs after Match Week

Ineligible NRMP applicants:

• Cannot participate in SOAP

􀀹 Cannot apply to Match-participating programs using ERAS, phone, fax, email, or other methods

􀀹 Cannot have another individual/entity contact Match-participating programs on applicant’s behalf

• Can apply to non-Match-participating programs during Match Week

􀀹 Can use ERAS to select non-Match-participating programs

􀀹 Can use phone, fax, email, or other methods

• Can apply to Match-participating programs after Match Week

Unfilled Programs:

• Must accept applications only through ERAS during Match Week

􀀹 Cannot use phone, fax, email, or personal contacts

• Must fill positions using SOAP during Match Week

􀀹 Cannot offer positions to ineligible applicants during Match Week

􀀹 Cannot make offers outside SOAP during Match Week

􀀹 Are not required to fill positions during Match Week

• Can add applicants to bottom of preference list

If an applicant rejects an offer or allows an offer to expire, no further offers will be made to that applicant by the same program.

Once an applicant accepts an offer, the applicant will not be able to send additional applications via ERAS.

Once a program has filled all of its positions through SOAP, applicants will be unable to send applications to that program via ERAS.

Offers extended by programs and accepted by applicants during the Match Week Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) will create a binding commitment. Failure to honor that commitment or failure to adhere to SOAP policies will be a violation of the Match Participation Agreement.