Vague Job Postings Get Clicks but Fewer Applicants, Study Finds
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Job listings that focus on personality traits and equipment draw fewer applicants than postings that spell out what a role requires. That is the finding of new research from the employment platform JobLeads. It examined nearly 1.4 million US job postings from April to June.
The study looked at "zero-apply" postings, which get clicks but no applications. Their median salaries and skill requirements look similar to other listings. They are more likely to contain words such as "motivated," "hardworking" and "following directions." Jobs in HR are 28% more likely than the baseline to be clicked but not applied to. Finance roles are 25% less likely.
"A posting that reads like a template will be treated like one," JobLeads concluded.
Nothing to measure yourself against
The report draws a line between hard and soft skills. "A job seeker can check whether they know Python or have run a payroll cycle. They can't check whether they are 'motivated' enough," it said. Trait words give readers nothing to measure against. Applicants may then decide whether to apply based on whether they feel they belong at the company, not on their skills.
"This suggests the problem isn't that the bar is too high," the report said. "It's that there's no visible bar at all." For job seekers, the report added, "vague, trait-heavy wording is one of the more common red flags in job postings."
Postings that dwell on the equipment a candidate must own tended to do poorly too. Words like "laptop," "computer" or "smartphone" say little about the role. They may also suggest that the company does not plan to provide basic work equipment.
JobLeads called it ironic that HR jobs were the most likely to draw no applicants, since HR is the function most often responsible for writing job ads. It offered one likely reason. HR roles depend on criteria like culture fit and lean heavily on soft skills, so they are described in the trait-led language that over-indexes across the data.
Specific requirements let applicants check their skills for gaps before applying. That could reduce the number of unqualified applicants that can slow down hiring. The report's advice to employers: "Name the skills the role actually uses, the systems a new hire will work in, and what success looks like in the first few months."
The context is a slow job market. Applicants may apply to as many as 90 roles before being hired, according to a recent Indeed study, and burnout could push promising candidates elsewhere. A separate report from hiring technology firm Employ found that 71% of US respondents expect an application to take under 30 minutes. Of those surveyed, 35% will abandon the process if it takes too long.
Source: HR Dive