While employers are highlighting incentives like attractive pay and benefits to gain and retain talent, they may be over-limiting their pool of candidates with the requirements and language presented on their
A survey conducted by invoicing software and information services company
“With the great resignation, a lot of people are leaving jobs, and companies are experiencing hiring shortages — and yet job seekers are saying that it’s hard to find places to work,” says Forrest Deters, project manager at Skynova. “It’s this disconnect between the skills that are available out there in the workforce and what hiring managers expect.”
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In fact, entry-level job seekers estimate that 55% of entry-level job listings require at least three years of work-related experience, while 80% of these job seekers agree that entry-level positions should not require more than two years.
“For the most part, job seekers recognize that they may be expected to have had an internship or do some work with a particular topic at school,” Deters says. “But once jobs ask for more than two years, it becomes unreasonable to applicants.”
It not only feels unreasonable but discouraging, especially to women. On average, 42% of women and 36% of men are discouraged from applying to entry-level positions asking for multiple years of experience, according to Skynova. This is echoed by the Harvard Business Review, which found that women were 9% more likely than men to not apply to jobs because they did not meet the qualifications listed and didn’t want to put themselves out if they felt likely to fail. Hiring managers could be inadvertently limiting their pool of female candidates with an excessive qualifications list.
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“I definitely think it's important for companies to evaluate how much of their experience requirements are practical and necessary,” says Deters. “Some of those requirements can be replaced by training, and investing in a candidate who shows initiative and a willingness to learn.”
In the past year, one in five hiring managers have made adjustments to their experience requirements for entry-level positions, and of those adjustments, 63% now require less experience, according to Skynova. Hiring managers named a lack of applicants as their top reason for these changes.
Still, there is a level of miscommunication between job seekers and hiring managers. While job seekers estimated over half of entry-level listings require three or more years of experience, Skynova reported that 93% of hiring managers believe their company typically requires less than three years of experience for entry-level qualifications.
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Because of this confusion, many job seekers feel frustrated with today’s labor market and stuck between applying to fewer jobs or lying about their qualifications. For example, 45% of entry-level job seekers told Skynova that they are very likely to exaggerate their achievements, and 42% are very likely to exaggerate their years of experience.
“Message the hiring manager, or look for people at the company in a similar role before resorting to exaggerating materials on an application, which I do not recommend,” says Deters. “Oftentimes, it’s worth investigating and looking at a job more closely than just the listing.”
