With today’s tight talent market, recruiters need all the candidates they can get. Unfortunately, a lot of recruiters inadvertently narrow their talent pool with restrictive job postings.
These three mistakes are very common, but make it a lot harder to fill your roles with the best talent.
If you look at your average job description, you’ll see a very long list of skills and qualifications.
Not only is it a chore to read these lists, but it discourages candidates from applying – especially women. Studies have shown that women often
won’t apply for jobs unless they have every last skill and qualification listed.
In other words, the longer your list of qualifications, the fewer women will apply!
A good rule of thumb is to boil down your list of job requirements to five absolutely essential skills or qualifications.
Think about which skills are required for success from day one, and which can be teachable.
There are some jobs where degrees are a must. Nobody wants to hire a doctor or accountant who doesn’t have formal training!
But for the majority of jobs,
degrees are not nearly as important as you might think.
Think critically about what you really need from a candidate for them to succeed on the job.
Instead of writing degree requirements, focus on the required skills to get the job done. Alternatively, you could spell out “Bachelor’s degree or equivalent years of experience on the job.”
