I last did a survey digging into the state of [public service digital] job descriptions in July 2020 though I did do one in 2022 just about why/how people use the newsletter. In 2020 257 people responded ~ but it was peak Covid era and nobody had anything else to do! This time I got a very respectable 216 responses so thanks to everybody who contributed.
The TL;DR is that everything I wrote in my Top 10 tips for more successful job ads / descriptions based on the previous research holds up today – if anything the recent trends strongly reinforce those findings.
The massive change in the job market is of course the prevalence of AI in the mix and almost a third of people who responded said they had used AI to help them apply for roles. This still feels lower than the media might have you/me believe but I suspect that has something to do with the make-up of my subscribers.
Though only 15 individuals said they’d used AI in supporting hiring for roles. Now this question was clumsy and I had less people from the recruiter side of things reply this time but 93% of people saying they didn’t use AI in hiring felt broadly positive.
LinkedIn remains far and away the most popular site for job searches (83% of responses) with Civil Service Jobs (66%) next – I wonder whether that will stay the same when the Beta goes live! Personal networks continue to be important (49%) and good company jobs pages are still vital (57%).
Remote work as an option remains a big pull for people with 63% ranking it a 4 or 5 (with 5 being Very Important to them). This is pretty much the same as in 2020 so that mindset switch has definitely stuck.
This one remains a no-brainer I guess but being transparent about salaries is extremely important to almost everyone! More than 90% of people placed it between 8 and 10 on a scale where 10 was; this is the most important thing to consider applying for a role. I do feel there are fewer salary-less job ads out in the wild these days but there are still a lot of them. Most weeks I still ended up including something without a salary. Though at least the BBC have finally got their act together.
On that topic though – 60% of people said I should NOT stop including roles with no salary if I thought they were otherwise interesting enough. Which is more than 2022 (when it was the cursed ration – 52/48).
People desperately want job descriptions with specific information about the role – not generic information about the organisation or boilerplate role descriptions with no detail. After salary information it is accounts for around 70% of the information people are looking for most in their decision making process – and finding least.
Here are a few quotes from the question – What is the most off putting thing you find with job descriptions?
Ambiguity about what the job actually is!
If it’s very generic
Generic info on the role and expectations
Errr – non specific? Something that reads as if it has been written by a committee of people who don’t like each other, eg overlapping or competing requirements
When there isn’t any detail about what the job actually is !
High level information /jargon that could mean the job could be anything. Lack of specifics about location, what the work involves, pay and benefits
Generic fluff
Generic business speak rather than specific aims and activities of the role.
Fluffy jargon-y language that makes it hard to figure out what the role would actually be
Long generic descriptions of the org, but little about the role itself. The reality of what the organisation is really looking for and what it would like to work there is missing.
…and job seekers want links to more information. More than 77% said they go looking for blogposts, repos, social media about the orgs and teams recruiting. This is more than in the past and there seems to be less of it out there than ever. Particularly in public service you still have to make the case for people to apply – show how interesting, important and exciting it can be.
If you get those ads right people will work for it. More than 80% said they customise their CV and cover letter for each application (better than me!)
More than 85% of people will only apply for roles if they meet 75% or above of the Essential Criteria for a role – so be careful with those shopping lists there.
For the newsletter it is just mainly the curious that makes up my subscribers (66%) but almost a third (30%) are job hunters which is a rise from last time in 2022.
51% of people had applied for a job they’d discovered via the newsletter with 20% of those being successful.
Civil Service (28.5%), contractors (20%) and consultancy staff (19%) make up the majority of subscribers. I still haven’t made many inroads into Local Gov or the NHS – despite an effort to include more roles from both.
Most subscribers identify as Product Managers (49%) > Service Designers (35%) > Delivery Managers (26%) > User Researchers (17%) > Content Designers (13%). With a smattering of Choose Your Own Adventure roles. I suspect this aligns pretty closely to the % of roles I include – but I must do better with Content Design still.
People are still very London/South East based (34% / 14%) though it has dropped a bit and there is a wider spread across the UK than ever before.
That is about it. I guess it is mainly interesting in how little things have moved on in five years. Few lessons have been learned and some things have gone backwards a little but it is okay because AI will save the day 😵💫
Digital by Default 