Whether you are unemployed and actively looking for a job or just want to switch to a better job, job applications and interviews can be tough. A lot of people will tell you that interviews are their worst nightmare. But interviews come at a later stage of the recruitment process. The Advertisement of the job is what you find first and there are a number of things about the advertisement that most people find annoying.
Not listing the name of the company
It’s become a common practice that in the advertisement, they will just mention themselves as: A Reputed Company in *Enter name of the industry*. Here’s my problem with this- if you are in fact ‘reputed’ then why are you afraid to mention your name? I have heard many people justifying this practice in different ways but none of their logics were good enough. As an applicant, one should have the right to know where they are applying for a job.
Not listing salary range
This is even worse than not listing their names. Most companies these days are getting away by simply stating: salary is negotiable. The sentiment is understandable. Yes, salary should indeed be negotiable depending on an applicant’s skills and experience. But the least they can do is mention a minimum salary or a salary range. Otherwise, it is a waste of time for both parties.
For example, anyone who already has a job and looking for new opportunities might want to apply somewhere only if the pay is better than his present job. How is he supposed to know whether or not the pay can be better if they do not list a salary range in the advertisement? (Unless they are hiring for telepaths and mind readers, in which case I totally understand). Imagine if they apply and the salary is significantly lower; it will be a waste of time for the applicant as well as the recruiter which could have been easily avoided.
Not listing job description or responsibilities
This is a smaller issue and often can be taken care of if the applicant is called for an interview. But still, the companies should clearly point out what they are expecting the applicant to do for them. As it happens more often than not, specially for the smaller businesses, a company hires one person to take care of diverse responsibilities that normally require two or three people. The companies are doing this to cut down the cost but it’s not fair to the candidate. But then again, the job market is not easy either and the industries are taking advantage of that fact.
Ridiculous experience requirements
Training a new and inexperienced employee takes time, money and resources that many organisations can not spare. Besides, there is no guarantee that the employee won’t leave after the training is complete. So naturally companies want someone experienced working for them, which is a fair demand. But some of those job recruitment ads out there are not only unfair but borderline ridiculous.
Take this one ad for example: The requirement was 6 years of experience in FastAPI, which even the creator of FastAPI did not possess at that time given that FastAPI was launched only 5 years ago. (ref link added) Many companies want the experience of a senior executive while they are hiring for a junior officer- a trick to make sure they find the most experienced employee for the lowest salary. But they keep forgetting that experience and salary are proportionate, if one increases the other one should increase as well.
I imagine recruiters and HR Officials won’t be very happy reading this article and they will want to justify themselves. That should be welcomed. Constructive discussions should always be welcomed since that is the first step towards improvement. But I implore them to think from the point of view of the other side of the table for once, or even better- reach out to the applicants to learn their views on these issues. It’s easy to overlook the issues from the position of power. But please keep in mind that the younger generation are more sensitive about these issues and sooner or later, these need to be addressed.