# **E Audit Study**

We conduct an audit study to identify the effect of information provision on firm decisions, without any scope for mediating behavior by workseekers. We submit real workseekers’ applications to entry-level job vacancies and randomly vary the information firms see about workseekers’ skills. This appendix reports more information about the process and sample to help interpret the results reported in Section 4.3.

We implement the audit study in nine sequential rounds. In each round, we invite candidates by text message to submit application materials to us, within 7 days, for an undisclosed job opportunity.<sup>31</sup> We do not explicitly indicate our affiliations or link the message to Harambee. We send one reminder text message to all candidates 1-3 days after the initial invitation.

We invited 2,220 candidates to send CVs over the nine rounds. We randomly sample candidates from those who had already completed the workseeker survey. 717 candidates (28%) submit CVs within the one week period. Most CVs include some information about proxies for candidates’ skills: 91% include a reference letter or contact information for referees and 55% include their secondary school graduation results (Table E.1, panel A). The 717 responders are similar to the full workseeker sample on all baseline covariates except gender, where deliberately oversampled men for an even gender split. Candidates in the private treatment group are slightly more likely to respond to the invitation (Panel B). All treatment effects are robust to reweighting the responders to have the same distribution of treatment assignments and baseline covariates as the full workseeker sample.

For each application received, we record information on when the application was received, where it was sent from, what documents are included, and an indicator for scan quality of included documents (e.g. photographs versus high-quality scans). We also send the candidate an acknowledgement of receipt.

Simultaneously, we compile job vacancies from several online job posting sites. We selected only vacancies suitable for entry-level workers, so that all candidates in our sample are eligible to apply. We exclude jobs that look suspicious or are discriminatory, for example: jobs that ask for payments of any kind to apply, promise unrealistic salaries or benefits, or discriminate based on appearance, race, or gender. This generates a sample of 1,068 vacancies over the nine rounds, though we exclude 70 vacancies for reasons discussed below. Among the vacancies, 48% are for sales jobs, with the remaining vacancies spread over clerical, call center, factory, restaurant and retail jobs.

We submit 4 applications to each vacancy, each “from” a different candidate using a different email address. We do not represent ourselves as the candidate. Instead, we use a generic email address designed to look like the application was scanned at a copy/printing shop, a generic subject

> 31We send each individual a text message: “Dear _<_ name _>_ , we have identified a job opportunity for you. We are a group of researchers trying to help young people find jobs. If you are interested, email your CV to _<_ email address _>_ or fax your CV to _<_ fax number _>_ . Find more info at _<_ website _>_ . Please send your CV within 7 days.” A CV in South Africa is generally understood to include all materials relevant to job applications.

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