Search online: Evidence from acquisition of information on online job boards and resume banks

• Employers and job searchers prefer to visit employment websites that host more postings.
• The number of postings that a typical visitor reviews once on the website is small.
• The acquisition of information online is not affected by the amount of available information.

While online job boards and resume banks have improved access to information about available jobs and job searchers, little is known about how much of this information gets actually disseminated among participants in the labor market. On the basis of novel data, we find that employers and job searchers prefer to visit resume banks and job boards with more postings. However, once on the site, the number of postings that a typical visitor reviews is not affected by the number of available postings and represents a small fraction of all postings on the site. These findings suggest that employers and job searchers acquire limited amount of information about available job searchers and jobs online even though additional information is easily accessible and available free of charge.