What information do you include in your job ad? Any one of our legal recruiters in Toronto will tell you that you need to be as detailed as possible. The more information you provide about the role and expected qualifications the more likely you have qualified candidates to apply for the job. If you are vague, you may have to sift through a big pile of candidate resumes.
One of the most common pieces of information you’ll see on job ads is years of experience. You’ll see ads that ask for 5, 10, or another specific number of years of experience as a qualification. But is it a good thing to include a specific level of experience in job ads?
Below our legal recruiters talk about years of experience on job ads and discuss some interesting research about this topic.
Why Years of Experience Requests Could Hurt Recruiting Efforts
While many employers and hiring managers assume they are being more descriptive when requesting candidates to have a certain amount of experience, it can actually have a negative impact on your ability to attract top talent.
By including a certain number of years of experience, you could be detracting great talent from applying. For example, if you request candidates who have 10 years of experience, you are potentially losing out on candidates with 7 or 8 years of experience who may also be a great fit. Hiring managers could also be disqualifying great people from contention simply because they didn’t have a certain number of years of experience.
There is growing evidence that it may be better to remove years of experience from job ads. Or at least make it a looser qualification standard.
Research Suggests Its Best To Remove Years of Experience From Job Ads
There is new research from a number of studies suggesting that including years of experience in your job ads is doing more harm than good. It has become information no longer relevant or an indicator of success in today’s job market.
As discussed by Jeff Harden from inc.com, experience is a terrible predictor of performance. He states,
“A study published in Journal of Applied Psychology found that years of experience is one of the worst predictors of performance for new hires, ranking behind 22 other selection criteria; the only selection procedure even worse at predicting performance is “openness to experience,” an attribute that seems impossible to quantify.”
Then another study by Leadership IQ found that only 11% of new hires that don’t work out within the first 18 months of employment was due to skills related to experience. Most new hires don’t work out because of attitude.
A word of advice from our recruiters – If you’re struggling to hire top talent, perhaps it’s worth placing less emphasis on experience and placing more weight on other candidate attributes.
Check Out These Posts From Our Toronto Legal Recruiters
What to Do When an Employee Resigns: A Resignation Period Checklist
Job Postings That Mention These 3 Things Receive Double the Applications
It’s Been a Candidate’s Market for Years Now. Have the Tables Turned?
IQ PARTNERS is an Executive Search & Recruitment firm supporting clients across Canada and internationally. We help companies hire better, hire less & retain more. We have specialist teams of recruiters in Executive Search / Board & C-Suite, Technology, Media, Digital & Marketing, Accounting & Finance, Financial Services & Insurance, Startup, Data Science, Consumer, eCommerce & Retail, HR, Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Engineering, Construction & Engineering, Legal & Professional Services, Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences, and Sales. Click here to view current job openings and to register with us.
