Even if your current best guess is that it’s not causal, if having a PhD meaningfully increases your chances of getting hired conditional on having applied, that information would help candidates get a better sense of their probability of getting hired
[edited to specify that I meant conditional on applying]
Right, but there is definitely a way you can communicate this information without being misleading. You could say, “in previous rounds, >50% of successful applicants had a PhD, but we do not assign weight to PhDs and do not believe there is a direct causal relationship between having a PhD and receiving an offer”.
I think employers could just disclose that- “We do not assign any weight to having a PhD, but in previous application rounds, >50% of successful applicants had a PhD”.
Exactly