Information for the job market has traditionally been transmitted mainly by paper and involves significant duplication of files and effort. Candidates and university staff prepare dozens of copies of job market packets and submit them by regular mail separately to all of the organizations to which the candidates apply for jobs. References (or their staff representatives) send paper copies of their recommendation letters separately to each organization. Even as some organizations move to an electronic application process, there is still inefficiency due to needless duplication of effort as candidates and references must transmit materials separately to multiple organizations. The associated costs, both in time and money, are significant. For an individual candidate, the duplication of time and money is in proportion to the number of organizations to which the candidate applies. Furthermore, recruiters are faced with the laborious and costly task of assembling and maintaining "hardcopy" files and have to wait as colleagues review individual files sequentially; delays make it difficult for recruiters to schedule interviews for the ASSA Meetings in a timely manner.

EconJobMarket.org seeks to streamline the transmission of job-market materials. The EconJobMarket.org system serves as a central electronic repository that collects documents and other information from candidates and references and makes these materials available to authorized organizations to whom individual candidates apply. Papers, reference letters, and other information need to be submitted only once to the EconJobMarket.org, rather than separately to the, say, 100 organizations to which a candidate applies. The EconJobMarket.org web site provides this cost-cutting public service without altering the customary decentralized mode of operation of the economics job market. By lowering communication costs, EconJobMarket.org helps improve market outcomes.

Here is a simple time line to describe how the system works:

1. The recruiters for organizations register and post advertisements, which include specifications of the information and materials required of applicants. Recruiters are checked for authenticity before being allowed to post advertisements and receive applications. Concurrently, candidates register and upload basic biographical information, curriculum vita, and papers.

2. Candidates apply for jobs using the simple EconJobMarket.org interface. References (or their staff representatives) upload their letters of recommendation. References can submit multiple letters for the same candidate and designate which letter goes to each specific organization to which a candidate applies.

3. Recruiters obtain the electronic files of those candidates who apply to their advertisements.