There were over 29,000 job postings for tech jobs alone in the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area in 2022, but many of them went unfilled — not because the region doesn’t have qualified candidates, but because many employers don’t recognize them.
Why? In part because too many employers are looking for unicorns when trying to fill open positions. This is a major contributor to the labor shortage, not just in tech but in so many other businesses as well.
Entry-level job descriptions now come with qualification requirements that are a mile long, and employers wonder why no one is applying. This tendency to specify more, oftentimes far more, skills and credentials than are necessary to carry out the tasks of the position is called “over-spec’ing.” It creates a job description that few, if any, interested workers can meet. Many don’t even apply for jobs for which they’re fully qualified.
The employers want unicorns. As a result, they don’t even get the horses they need.
It’s not just a business problem. It affects the job market; the number of workers employers can attract. That in turn affects both the people looking for jobs and everyone else who benefits from companies being fully staffed.
Over-spec’ing comes in three forms: Defaulting to a degree requirement without considering if it’s truly necessary; asking for years of experience instead of finding out if a person has the specific skills necessary; and adding new required credentials to job descriptions when the tasks associated with the job haven’t changed.
Why do people do this? Why do they demand qualifications they don’t need, which only harms their business?
A primary driver of over-spec’ing is that many managers and hiring committees see little downside in putting up a long wish list. They believe they can be flexible about what they want, once a candidate is sitting in front of them.
They fail to realize that the long list of required qualifications discourages many people from even applying. They eliminate otherwise qualified candidates from consideration, who don’t apply because they do not have the requested experience or credentials. Over-spec’ing unrealistically and unnecessarily restricts the pool of candidates for a job.
According to research on workforce and learning trends my company has done, the concept is still unfamiliar to the people doing the hiring. Nearly two-fifths of HR professionals don’t know the problems with over-spec’ing. Addressing the problem is absolutely critical to solving today’s workforce shortage issues, especially given that 73% of HR executives expect hiring to become even more challenging over the next 12 months.
A proper solution involves several components. Companies need to focus on the actual skill sets that are required for different positions, then determine how best to assess whether individuals have those skills.
Are there positions that require certain levels of educational achievement, or can the skills be adequately developed through on-the-job experience? What skills can be learned quickly, and which ones take multiple years to hone appropriately? Does the job require technical expertise, which often can be obtained relatively quickly, or more intuitive knowledge that develops over multiple years?
There also needs to be more interaction between those looking for employees and those preparing people for the workforce. Both parties need to be clearer about the “hard” technical skills and the “soft” interpersonal skills necessary to perform successfully in a variety of workplace environments.
Educators and trainers should adapt their curricula accordingly. Even within a traditional liberal arts educational model, for example, there can and should be a more explicit recognition of the importance of developing clear verbal and written communication skills, as such skills that can be adapted to multiple industries.
Without such concerted re-thinking, both employers and prospective employees will be held captive to the quest for unicorns. And people will go without jobs. they could do and businesses will go without good employees they could hire.
Angel L. Piñeiro, Jr., lives in Pennsylvania and is the vice president of strategic academic relationships for CompTIA, an IT trade association.
First Published: January 26, 2023, 5:00 a.m.