this subsection shows that while scheduling mandatory interviews may already generate positive employment impacts through a threat effect such services are particularly effective if they are of high quality while a high frequency of interviews may be desirable it is often constrained by staff caseloads the ratio of clients to employment counselling staff as for initial eligibility reviews counselling services may be more effective through the threat effect ie causing flows off benefit prior to the actual interview than through the actual delivery of the service graversen and van ours and hagglund a recent study for the united states shows that claimants who exited benefit before a scheduled jobsearch assistance programme had improved job prospects in the longer run compared with those who participated cebi et al