Why Job Listing Qualifications Feel Absurd

Lacking enough or the right experience, skills, credentials and/or education ranked second among the biggest barriers for jobseekers in 2022, according to McKinsey & Co. The cooling labor market has made it more difficult to find a job. Kory Kantenga, Senior Economist at LinkedIn, said that is felt acutely in the entry-level job market. Some workplace experts blame inflated job requirements and layoffs of recruiters, while others point to a skills miss-match between available jobs and recent graduate degrees. Watch the video to find out why job requirements have become so demanding and what that means for the entry level workforce.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:50 Inflated requirements
4:19 Entry-level jobs
6:12 Upskilling
9:57 Skills-based hiring

Produced by Juhohn Lee
Edited by Jack Hillyer
Narration by Andrea Miller
Animation by Jason Reginato, Christina Locopo
Supervising Producer Lindsey Jacobson
Additional Footage: Getty Images
Additional Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Brookings Institution, Harvard Graduate School of Education

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Why Job Listing Qualifications Feel Absurd

[soapa]

Job requirements today be like:
- Must be exactly 21 years old
- Master's Degree Required
- 10 Years relevant experience
- Able to bench press 300lbs
- No criminal history including Kindergarten

Salary: $15/hr, no PTO, no health care, no oxygen, no breathing

Benefits: Once a year pizza party.

Apply today! If you are accepted, you will proceed to our 10 round of interviews to see if you are a cultural fit.

[distortedrain]

"Need experience? work for free!"
Nice take CNBC.

[Ruth-osmi]

Employer : You lack experience.
Employer : You're overqualified.

[azisles]

I saw an IT position once that required 10 years of Windows 11 experience, when Windows 11 was out not even 10 months. I reached out to the company and asked if they meant Windows in general or specifically Windows 11. When they confirmed 11, I mentioned that requirement is impossible as it hasn't been out long enough to have even 1 year experience. The rep I was speaking told me I don't know what I'm talking about and I must not know anything about computers (been an IT for 10 years and used a computer for over 30yrs). They got a nice glassdoor review for that one.

[LokTar_Ogar]

i love how even internship prefers students with previous internship experience now

[tobiasexarchopoulos]

Let’s make one thing clear. Companies are removing college degree requirements to justify paying them LESS.

[hessZL]

Job hunting has to be some of the most demoralizing and depressing activities ever. I genuinely wanted to off myself when I was hunting for a job a few months ago. For what it's worth, I didn't land a job through it. I landed a job through a buddy of mine.

[johnmorgan]

Dear recruiter: senior-level workers don't appear from thin air. Get off your high horse and hire a junior.

[lololol]

We need to ban ghost job postings and jobs they are hiring internally. Make it illegal. You cannot auction something not for sale, so why is it ok to post something not truly available?

[Cballin]

imagine paying the insane tuition fees only to finish and realize that nobody wants college graduates

[KingLarbear]

People are leaving jobs because wages don't move unless you switch companies

[petedawg]

I took a cybersecurity bootcamp and got an industry certification. I looked for jobs for a bit, but I’d have to take a $10k+ pay cut, and they all wanted 2+ years experience.

Anytime people cry about how there’s a shortage in an industry now, I consider that the industry isn’t paying enough or is treating its workers poorly.

[RandomRay]

The more insane part is entry level jobs requiring 3-5 years of experience even if it's for an administrative assistant position.

[Caleb]

If employers don’t care about your degree, then they should remove it from the requirements.

[GhostAssault]

If you don't ever want to train someone for entry-level jobs, then you will eventually run out of experienced folks to hire from cause no one is willing to even train new people.

[la]

This is why I started my own business a year after graduating college. The entry level jobs all required 2-3 years experience but were only willing to pay $15 and with multiple rounds of interviews. HR employees are so clueless they wouldn’t know actual talent if they saw it because they don’t do any of the jobs they are hiring for. Now I make $60+ an hour using those same skill sets they wouldn’t hire me for, working for myself.

[keanuxu]

Companies: We want you to work like a CEO but we’ll pay you like a minimum wage employee with no experience

[axnyslie]

The most absurd requirement I always see is 5 year minimum experience using proprietary software exclusive to that company only.

[MrJ]

As a note, companies no longer see internships as "work experience"

[vijayswamy]

The ridiculous checklist for any job application is how a lot of people in HR keep busy and justifies the existence of their jobs.