Dive Brief:
- While most job descriptions concentrate on responsibilities, the best role overviews should focus less on obvious information and more on outlining the employment experience, according to Monster's latest Workforce Mobility Report.
- The study found that out of the 990,922 job transitions analyzed, 63% involved an employee who moved from one employer to another employer but retained the same recorded job title. As a result, HR and talent acquisition teams need to understand that experienced candidates may be leaving the exact same role at another organization.
- That means a qualified applicant may already understand what the role’s standard responsibilities are. As a result, “[c]ompensation, scheduling, management, workload and advancement may be what distinguish one employer from another,” the report said.
Dive Insight:
Including basic job responsibilities in an employment listing is certainly necessary, but the report found that “it may not be especially persuasive to someone who already performs the role.”
Companies that are recruiting for in-demand positions, especially high-volume roles such as delivery drivers, may be trying to win over candidates who held or currently hold the same title elsewhere. Thus, hiring managers who want to find the best candidates for available roles need to respect the experience of qualified applicants.
“Employers seeking someone who already holds the title should ensure the hiring process acknowledges that experience,” the report said. “This does not mean skipping necessary evaluation or verification. It means avoiding friction that does not improve the hiring decision.”
Hiring teams should review their processes and determine whether they’re asking candidates to complete unnecessary tasks or demonstrate basic competencies, Monster said. A high-value applicant who is asked to endure too many interview rounds or who is asked to wait an unnecessarily long time for a decision may have a hard time seeing how the role being offered is fundamentally different than the job they already have. As a result, new opportunities may appear less appealing.
HR teams should also examine internal data such as exit interviews to better understand “why employees are willing to take the same title somewhere else,” the report said. By offering career development opportunities to existing employees, HR leaders may also be able to prevent sticky titles from becoming a retention risk for an employee who can’t envision their career advancing at their current company.
“Organizations that can clearly communicate better compensation, scheduling, management, stability and advancement may be better positioned to attract experienced candidates,” the report said. “Those same qualities can also reduce the number of current employees leaving to take the same title elsewhere.”
Meanwhile, employers who want to increase worker retention rates may need to prioritize learning opportunities for existing employees. Recent analysis from Indeed Hiring Lab found that 67% of U.S. employees said workplace learning was a personal priority, but less than half (48%) believed it was important to their employers. That perception gap can negatively affect long-term retention rates.
In addition, job seekers are looking for roles that align with their values and will examine what a company stands for before they accept a position, a chief client officer for public relations and communication firm Beehive Strategic Communication said in 2025.
