RAPPORT
WWW.RECORDINGACHIEVEMENT.ORG
Issue 1 (2015)
recruitment tool for all firm sizes in terms of use
and reported effectiveness. Especially recruiters
working for large firms found the service to be
relatively effective.
The most vital information sought for in gra duate
candidates included the type of university degree
they hold, their skills in foreign languages, and
professional and career motivations. In addition,
their soft skills, willingness to accept geographical
mobility, the software/computing skills, their
experiences abroad for work or study reasons,
university grades attained, graduates’ knowledge
of the sector of activity of the employer and,
finally, previous work experiences were reported
to be vital.
When comparing this to the extent to which these
characteristics are found in the graduate profiles
in AlmaLaurea, some mismatches arose. Most
notably, the professional and career motivations,
knowledge on the employers’ sector, soft skills,
experiences
in
foreign
countries
and
software/computing skills were found to lacking in
the graduate profiles. While there are relevant
developments with regards to standardization
(with respect to soft skills), big data analytics and
peer-reviewing systems that could facilitate an
enhanced provision of such information in the
future, it is evidently a challenging task.
The (mis)match between the supply of skills by
young graduates and the demand of skills by firms
is mainly a question of lack of information. Of
course, this is not the only explanation. Young
graduates may lack the skills needed or their
university credentials could be not reliable, i.e.
university credentials declared in the resumes do
not correspond to recruiters’ expectations, thus
making the recruitment process more costly and
less reliable.
Soft skills are becoming more important in the
selection process and the recruiters are very
much interested in detecting them when they
select their candidates. But the detection of the
soft skills through the resumes is not an easy task
in that these skills may be better assessed in real
working life situations and could be fully revealed
later in time. Since the skills mismatch is mainly
a matter of lack of information, the availability of
tools to enhance it and its reliability are central
questions. From this respect, AlmaLaurea can be
considered a valuable service: it has contributed
towards improving the match between demand
and supply of skills and the transparency of the
Italian labour market of graduates. A very
concrete measure of the benefits generated by the
AlmaLaurea on line CV-data bank has been
computed by Bagues and Labini (2007) who show
that graduates coming from universities belonging
to the consortium enjoy a higher employment
probability (3%), higher wages (3%) and are more
satisfied with their job. Moreover, they appear to
be geographically more mobile.
As Autor (2001) rightly argues, the benefits of
tools like AlmaLaurea should be assessed by
looking at society as a whole, not just by
considering the private gains of the individuals
who are using these tools. To this respect, one
should consider that social mobility can be
improved thanks to a wider use of formal
channels, such as the on line CV-data banks, as
opposed to informal channels such as family and
friends networks, to recruit workers. For instance,
empirical evidence shows that managerial and
CEO positions within firms are often inefficiently
transmitted within families and social networks
(Pellegrino and Zingales, 2014). A wider use of
formal recruitment channels such as the on line
CV-data banks can also bring benefits in terms of
a more meritocratic and more inclusive society.
Hence, the support to the development of these
tools is a means of fostering social mobility and to
include those talents who could be otherwise
marginalized in the labour market.
It can be concluded that online platforms such as
AlmaLaurea are valuable means towards
improving the transparency of the labour market.
It is important to stress that not all the “technical”
and “institutional” solutions are effective in
achieving this outcome. The critical issues are the
reliability and the relevance of the information
provided on the profiles of graduates but also the
reputation of the institutions providing information.
On these grounds, the AlmaLaurea bottom-up
governance model that was followed in Italy can
be considered a “best practice” to be followed.
A drawback of this study is that while the sample
is statistically representative of the companies
using the AlmaLaurea job placement services, it
is not representative of the entire Italian economy.
In particular, the sample underrepresents small
and micro firms which make up most of the Italian
economy. Future research could address the
extent to which services such as AlmaLaurea can
be
considered
effective
in
a
broader,
representative context. In addition, this study only
presents the perceptions of recruiters, no actual
recruitment behaviour was observed. Future
research could address the critical aspects of the
graduate profile by comparing purchased and notpurchased CV’s.
Furthermore, there is robust statistical evidence
that HRM practices may be affected by the
education of the manager/firms owners involved:
for instance, Schivardi and Torrini (2011) show
that an Italian an employer with a university
degree hires three times as many graduates as
one with a lower educational attainment. The
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