JOBSEEKERS HAVE A message for those out there writing job descriptions: “Please don’t bore us; get to the chorus!”
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The problem they’re keying in on is long, bloated overstuffed job descriptions — a side effect of a drive for transparency in job postings that has, according to some jobseekers, gone too far, with companies cramming in every single thing they might like to see in a candidate.
“Scrolling through LinkedIn, it’s easy to find job descriptions that rival CVS receipts, with so many responsibilities they’re split under several subheads,” reads a report in Business Insider. One engineer job they found listed a total of 11 essential duties and responsibilities, and 11 skills, including “positive energetic attitude.”
According to hiring platform Greenhouse, the average job description is now 7.4 per cent longer than it was just a few years ago.
“Hiring managers and recruiters are trying to make it so verbose to try and create some type of way to siphon out candidates, but they’re going about it the wrong way. They’re just adding a lot of paragraphs but not a lot of substance” —Trent Cotton
And if you’ve got a certain suspect in mind, you might be right. “What’s puffing up the ever-expanding job description? What else: AI,” wrote Amanda Hoover. “Hiring managers have layered new AI proficiency and pedagogy expectations on top of standard job tasks. Other listings, recruiters tell me, have inflated because hiring managers generated them with long-winded LLMs.”
“They’re dumping in nice-to-haves, could-haves and passing thoughts they had in the shower this morning,” added Marc Cenedella, CEO of career platform Ladders. “Managers don’t have to edit themselves, so they’re just dumping the kitchen sink in there.”
Others are warning that job description inflation is as much a problem for employers looking for talent as for the jobseekers wading through them. “We get it. It can be tempting to include every detail. But the truth is, that long job posts can be a major obstacle to attracting top and inclusive talent,” wrote Datapeople’s Brett Van Buskirk. “Studies have shown that when job posts exceed 600 words, the number of one-click-apply candidates rises. These applicants tend to be less qualified, having applied without thoroughly reading the job description.”
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How long is too long? Shorter than you think. A 2013 study by Ladders used eye-tracking tools to measure how candidates scanned job ads, finding that most candidates looked at them for about 49 seconds before deciding whether to apply — enough time to read about 150 words, far fewer than the 600-plus that make up the average job description these days.
Many would like to see this era of job posting bloat come to an end, and for employers to get back to the basics of selling the job to the candidate.
“We’ve gotten so far away from what the actual intent of a job description is and what it should be,” said Trent Cotton of recruiting company ICIMS. “Hiring managers and recruiters are trying to make it so verbose to try and create some type of way to siphon out candidates, but they’re going about it the wrong way. They’re just adding a lot of paragraphs but not a lot of substance.”
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