1 When I grow up I want to be? The impact of a large aid sector on the occupational choice of skilled workers Jamelia Harris †‡ October 17, 2018 Abstract Using data from Sierra Leone, I explore the validity of matching models in a LIC-context, the role of ability in sorting across sectors, and the importance of perceptions in the employment decision-making process. Crucial to the analysis is the introduction of the aid-industry/development sector as a ‘third sector’, which is shown to be attractive to skilled job-seekers. One of the key findings is that the majority of skilled job-seekers opt for early-career employment working for a donor organisation, INGO or NGO in the development sector. The results show that skilled graduates sort by intrinsic motivations to some extent, but these motivations are secondary to job-seekers perceptions of various sectors. This calls into question the use of choice models in contexts of little choice where possibilities are the likely binding constraint. Results also point to an internal brain drain effect where higher ability workers are more likely to choose the development sector over the public and private sector. JEL Codes: J22, J24, L31, I25, F35, O15, C25 † Jamelia Harris is a DPhil Candidate at the Department for International Development, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford. E: jamelia.harris@qeh.ox.ac.uk, M: +447986314029 ‡ This work would not have been possible without the financial support from the International Growth centre (IGC); my enumerators Abass Kargbo, Mousa Sesay, Sidi Saccoh and Umaro Tarawalie; and Alex Jones and my supervisor Christopher Adam for their comments and feedback in writing this paper. I am grateful to all of them.