Latest / Hiring & Firing with Fexingo: Recruitment, Performance, and Workforce Decisions / Why Your Job Post Is Repelling Your Best Candidates
Transcript
- Lucas: You know the feeling — you post a role, you're excited, and then... crickets. Or worse, you get a flood of applicants but none of them seem right. Luna: Yeah, and usually the first instinct is to blame the market or the salary range. But there's a growing body of evidence that the problem might be sitting right there in your job description. Lucas: Exactly. And not just in a vague 'oh, the wording matters' kind of way. I'm talking about a specific, measurable impact. Textio — the augmented writing platform — analyzed 2.7 million job posts last year and found that listings with more than ten requirements in the 'must-have' section got 40 percent fewer applications from high-skill candidates. Luna: Forty percent. That's massive. And I bet those weren't even niche roles — probably standard engineering or marketing positions. Lucas: Right. So what's happening is that when you overload the requirements, you're essentially signaling to top talent that you're unrealistic — or worse, that you don't really know what you need. High-performers read a list of fifteen must-haves and think, 'you're going to micromanage me, and this team probably has no idea how to prioritize.' Luna: There's also the gender angle. Textio's been tracking this for years. Words like 'aggressive,' 'dominant,' 'ninja,' 'rockstar' — they disproportionately deter women and underrepresented groups from applying, even if they meet the qualifications. Lucas: Yeah, and that's not just a diversity talking point — it's a talent pool issue. If you're using 'ninja' in your job title, you're actively narrowing your funnel. One study from the Journal of Applied Psychology found that women tend to only apply if they meet nearly 100 percent of the listed requirements, while men apply at around 60 percent. So every inflated requirement is a bigger filter for half the workforce. Luna: So what's the fix? I've seen companies like Atlassian do something interesting — they cut their job requirements to six essentials and saw a 25 percent increase in qualified applicants. Lucas: Atlassian is a great case. They did a public overhaul of their job descriptions around 2023, and the results were pretty stark. They removed years of experience minimums, they stopped listing nice to haves alongside must-haves, and they focused on what someone actually needs to do on day one. The number of applicants from non-traditional backgrounds jumped significantly. Luna: And that's not just a feel-good metric. More applicants means you can be more selective, which should theoretically raise quality. Lucas: Exactly. There's a concept called the 'minimum viable job description' that some startups are adopting. It's inspired by the minimum viable product idea — strip it down to the absolute core: what's the problem this person will solve, what's the key outcome, and what are the two or three non-negotiable skills? Everything else can be learned or taught. Luna: That forces hiring managers to actually think about what's essential versus what's habitual. I've seen job posts that say 'must have 5 years of Python' when someone with 2 years and a strong portfolio could absolutely do the work. Lucas: Right. And the data backs that up. A 2024 study from LinkedIn found that skills-based hiring — where you focus on demonstrated ability rather than credentials — increases the talent pool by nearly 10 times and improves retention by 20 percent. So the job description is your first filter. If it's badly designed, you're filtering out the wrong people from the start. Luna: I want to push back a little though. Some roles genuinely do require a lot of specific qualifications — like a neurosurgeon or an airline pilot. You can't just say 'must be good with hands.' Lucas: Sure, and that's fair. But even in highly regulated roles, there's a difference between regulatory requirements and employer preferences. A pilot needs a commercial license and a certain number of flight hours — that's non-negotiable. But does the job description also need to say 'must have experience with Boeing 737-800 specifically' when the training will cover that? Probably not. Luna: So it's about being honest about what's truly required versus what's nice to have. And if you do list nice to haves, make it clear they're not deal-breakers. Lucas: Yeah, and separate them visually. Textio's data shows that when you blend must-haves and nice to haves in one big list, candidates assume everything is a must-have, and they self-select out. But if you have a clear 'required' section and a 'bonus' section, people are more likely to apply even if they don't check every box in the bonus section. Luna: That's a simple formatting change that costs nothing and could double your applicant pool. It's almost too easy not to do. Lucas: And it ties into something bigger — your job description is your employer brand's front door. If it's cluttered, demanding, and uses jargon, candidates infer that the company culture is the same. A Glassdoor survey found that 76 percent of job seekers consider a company's brand before applying, and the job description is often the first real interaction they have. Luna: So you could be losing people before they even click 'apply.' And those are exactly the candidates you want — the ones who are thoughtful and have options. Lucas: Right. And this is something I think about a lot when we prepare these episodes. We try to make them useful, even if it's just one insight that shifts how you approach something. If these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going. Luna: Yeah. It's not about big pledges. Just a few bucks here and there, and it makes a real difference in keeping the show ad-free and independent. Lucas: If you've gotten something out of them, consider buying me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure at all. It just helps us keep doing this. Luna: Alright, back to job descriptions. Another thing that's been getting attention is the 'culture fit' creep — where job posts ask for things like 'must love ping-pong' or 'startup mentality.' Lucas: Yeah, and there's a fine line between describing culture and imposing a personality test. When you say 'must be passionate about our mission,' what you're really doing is screening out people who just want a solid job and a paycheck — which, by the way, is most people. And that's fine. Luna: There's also recent research from Harvard Business Review showing that job descriptions with cultural language — like 'high-energy' or 'fast-paced' — tend to attract fewer older workers. It's age discrimination by accident. Lucas: Yeah, and that's a liability. So what's the practical takeaway? First, audit your job descriptions. Pull the last five you posted and count the requirements. If any have more than seven, cut them. Second, use tools like Textio or Gender Decoder to check for biased language. Third, separate must-haves from nice to haves visually. Luna: And maybe test different versions. A/B testing job descriptions isn't common yet, but companies that do it — like HubSpot — have seen significant improvements in application rates and quality. Lucas: Exactly. One HubSpot experiment: they changed the title from 'Marketing Manager' to 'Marketing Manager, Growth' and added a line about the team's impact. Applications went up 30 percent. Small changes, big results. Luna: So the job description is not just a list — it's a marketing document. You're selling the role and the company, but you also need to be honest about what you need. Lucas: Right. And if you're not getting the candidates you want, the first place to look is not the job boards or the salary. It's the page where you first ask them to raise their hand. Luna: Good place to end. Next time, maybe we'll talk about the interview process itself — because even if you get them in the door, you can still mess it up. Lucas: Yeah, that's a whole other can of worms. For now, though, take a look at your job posts. You might be surprised what you find.