Is Your Job Description Letting You Down?

Recent research conducted by Allegis Group found that the job description is failing both the candidate and the hiring manager by not providing accurate information about the role being advertised.

This article is an extract from our recent whitepaper – The Broken Job Description and the Onboarding Perception Gap. Click here to download the full report.

The job description is fundamental to the entire recruitment process. Get it wrong and the entire process could be thrown off course – causing unnecessary delays, attracting the wrong talent and worse, putting off potentially perfect candidates.

And yet our research has found that there are discrepancies found that the job description is failing to provide the type of clarity that will ensure ideal candidates enter the interview stage.

The consequence can be a job description that is not fit for purpose: 52% of hiring managers and 68% of candidates don’t believe that the information provided in the job description is clear and accurate; 65% of hiring managers and 78% of candidates don’t believe that job descriptions illustrate the employee value proposition of the business; and 62% of hiring managers and 78% of candidates say that the job description fails to provide insight into the company culture.

The job description is, at worst, broken. Our research also found differing attitudes to the necessary skills required to perform a role between hiring managers and candidates. Incredibly, 92% of hiring managers say that employees are not always hired with the skills required to do the job.

This corresponds with 93% of candidates who say that they are offered jobs for which they are not always fully qualified.

While 53% of candidates expect to come fully equipped with the necessary skills and/or experience, only 28% of hiring managers concurred. Building on this, 42% of candidates would expect to be moderately trained within the role, 63% of hiring managers are willing or expect to moderately train candidates in select skillsets.

Therefore, a question the hiring manager should consider when writing the job description is: are the non-negotiable skills necessary for a candidate to perform effectively being clearly articulated?

Our research also tells us that the screening process fails to meet the expectations of both the hiring manager and the candidate. In fact, 86% of hiring managers told us that they are not always catching out lies and exaggerations during the interview process.

By way of explanation, our research found that 58% of hiring managers do not align their screening questions with the job description requirements (73% of candidates agree) and 60% say that supervisory references are not always contacted or vetted prior to the start date (72% of candidates agree).

These trends indicate that by the time a candidate has completed an interview process, several opportunities have been missed:

• to correctly assess the appropriate skills required for the job;
• to identify if the candidate is suited to the culture and environment of the business;
• to ensure job responsibilities are sufficient for the candidate; and
• to ensure advancement opportunities are aligned to the candidate’s career ambitions.

Click here to download the broken job description