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What determines the success of filling vacancies? Evidence from the German Job Vacancy Survey

Keywords: establishment survey, job vacancies, labor demand

The German Job Vacancy Survey is the only representative survey of job offers in Germany. Special attention is given to the recruitment process. According to the survey firms were not able to fill about 500,000 vacancies during the year 2010. At the same time firms were reporting more difficulties with respect to successful recruitment processes. For the future the German labor market will be characterized by a rising demand for high-skilled workers and a shrinking labor force. Both developments show that an effective recruitment strategy will be crucial for the firms’ economic success. The German Job Vacancy Survey offers information about search and matching processes – for the firms’ most recent hires as well as for failures of recruitment processes. Combining these data with information about the job profiles and firms statements according to recruitments or terminations of search processes offers insights into the matching process on the labor market from a firm’s perspective. It also enables us to analyze what distinguishes successful recruitment strategies from recruitment failures.