And to be honest, more than the content of the class itself, what I am looking for in a candidate is interest and drive. If I see somebody who is willing to spend the time and effort to sign up for, and complete, a MOOC, then I see that as a sign of somebody who's a self-starter, who's proactive, and somebody who is more likely to continue to work to sharpen their skills and broaden their base of knowledge.

Think of it in Bayesian updating terms... the presence of a MOOC is just one more thing to change the posterior probability towards "this is a desirable candidate".

If a candidate already has experience or "traditional" qualifications in the subject of interest, a MOOC is not needed and probably will be worth approximately zero.

But for example, I have sometimes got CVs from candidates that had a formal education focused into topic X and are applying for a position to do a PhD in topic Y. Having taken a MOOC in topic Y tells me that they have a real interest in that subject and motivation to pursue it. They were not just applying because they saw the offer and they liked the location or the salary so why not.

For young candidates that are straight out of their Master's and don't have much more to show apart from their academic record, a bunch of MOOCs also shows me that they are people who really have an interest in learning, and are not just focused in ticking the minimum marks needed for their career goals.

So yes, definitely several times the presence of one or several MOOCs has had an influence in hiring processes I have conducted, and I know I'm not the only one.

You may give a positive sign, there are other reviewers who will give it a negative sign. I'd argue the average weight is negative overall, because of the traditional HR screening most resume have have to go through.

Interesting. What would be the rational behind assigning a negative weight to that? I have a hard time seeing that point of view. I'd think that, at worst, the presence of MOOC(s) on a resume would be neutral.

One of the first things HR screen for is a formal education. You wouldn't believe the amount of people who try to put a MOOC as one, HR is trained to detect and reject them right away.

Sounds like somebody needs to fire whoever is in charge of HR.

Agreed, but that's far from the same thing as saying that MOOCs carry no weight at all. Especially since it can be hard to demonstrate exactly what your skillset is.