Employers do not necessarily view dropouts as completely lost causes, as they represent a heterogeneous group of young individuals actively seeking opportunities in the labor market. This raises the question of whether job-related work experience, especially in tight occupations, is sufficient to increase the employment opportunities of school dropouts in comparison with graduates. To answer this question, we conducted a correspondence study with 6,400 applications sent to real job offers and 8,200 unsolicited applications between January and December 2018. We found that dropouts have lower probabilities of being interviewed for job positions than graduates, but this gap is narrowed for dropouts who acquired work experience and even more when skill certification is associated. Furthermore, sending unsolicited applications close the interview rate gap in slack labor markets for dropouts with work experience.
JEL codes: J08, J24, J71