Are entrepreneurs penalized during job searches? It depends on who is hiring

Abstract Research Summary How do job‐applicants with entrepreneurship experience—“post‐entrepreneurs”—fare in the wage labor job market? We propose an “entrepreneurship‐experience penalty” generally occurs yet varies strength depending on recruiters faced by post‐entrepreneurs their application process. In experiment utilizing selection‐decisions of 275 (experimental study participants) reaction to objectively‐identical job‐applicants' resumes whose differences relate whether last‐held was as a Founder or Executive , we found that: (a) Founders (compared Executives) are about 23%–29% less likely be picked top‐choice for hire, (b) this penalty is weaker (rather than without) entrepreneurial aspirations, and (c) recruiter moderator‐effect stronger smaller larger) firms.