AI Skills Improve Job Prospects: Causal Evidence from a Hiring Experiment
This provides causal evidence on the labor market value of AI skills, with implications for workers and firms, though it is incremental as it builds on existing interest in AI's role in hiring.
This study tackled the problem of whether AI skills improve job prospects by conducting a hiring experiment with 1,700 recruiters, finding that AI skills increase interview invitation probabilities by 8 to 15 percentage points and can offset disadvantages like older age or lower education.
The growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has heightened interest in the labour market value of AI-related skills, yet causal evidence on their role in hiring decisions remains scarce. This study examines whether AI skills serve as a positive hiring signal and whether they can offset conventional disadvantages such as older age or lower formal education. We conduct an experimental survey with 1,700 recruiters from the United Kingdom and the United States. Using a paired conjoint design, recruiters evaluated hypothetical candidates represented by synthetically designed resumes. Across three occupations - graphic designer, office assistant, and software engineer - AI skills significantly increase interview invitation probabilities by approximately 8 to 15 percentage points. AI skills also partially or fully offset disadvantages related to age and lower education, with effects strongest for office assistants, where formal AI certification plays an additional compensatory role. Effects are weaker for graphic designers, consistent with more skeptical recruiter attitudes toward AI in creative work. Finally, recruiters' own background and AI usage significantly moderate these effects. Overall, the findings demonstrate that AI skills function as a powerful hiring signal and can mitigate traditional labour market disadvantages, with implications for workers' skill acquisition strategies and firms' recruitment practices.