Job requirements are generally the first thing potential applicants look at – beyond the job title. It’s what lets them know whether or not they should even apply for a position. If they don’t meet the requirements, then they likely won’t be hired, and the effort expended to submit an application would be wasted.
This means that it’s a section of the job description that you should pay extra attention to. What exactly the job requirements are and how they’re listed will be a huge factor in who chooses to apply for your job. Lowering them is likely to lead to a more diverse pool, especially as women and minorities tend to only apply to jobs where they meet all the requirements.
Key Takeaways:
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Job requirements are a list of skills and other qualifications needed to be considered for a position.
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They typically consist of education, experience, hard skills, and soft skills.
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Written job requirements should be concise, bullet-pointed, and at the bottom of the job description.
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It’s a good idea to split them into actually required and nice to have, as that will broaden your pool of applicants.
What Are Job Requirements?
The job requirements are the listed skills, education, and experience typically included at the end of a job description. They are the nonnegotiable skills and experience needed to perform the job – at least, ostensibly.
The job requirements are what applicants need to have to be considered for a position. That means that it’s important to work out the difference between what qualifications you need a new employee to know and what you wish they’ll have. Your ideal candidate may or may not end up applying, but if you exclude qualified candidates in pursuit of them, you’ll slow your hiring down.
If you’re angling for diversity, it’s doubly important not to be too strict in your requirements. Likely due to expected discrimination, women and minorities tend to only apply to jobs that meet or exceed every requirement. Keep an eagle eye out for anything that could be considered exclusionary, as well, such as gendered pronouns.
How to Write Job Requirements
Job requirements should be pithy. This is an important part of the job description that most applicants will check before going further into the job description. If they don’t meet the basic requirements, there’s often no point in investing more time into looking into the position.
Therefore, job requirements should be;
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Short. Keep the requirements short. Extraneous language can make it confusing, difficult to follow, or make the applicant feel like their time is being wasted.
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Clear. Make sure that your requirements are easy to understand. You don’t want applicants to be unsure as to whether or not they’re qualified. You may then end up with applications for unqualified applicants, or qualified applicants deciding not to apply because they’re unsure of the requirements.
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Easy to find. The vast majority of job descriptions post them at the bottom, which keeps them in a similar place. This allows candidates to check the job requirements quickly so that they know whether or not it’s a job they’re qualified for or fits with their skillset.
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In bullet point form. It’s highly recommended that they should also be in bullet point form, which makes it clear and a quick read. It breaks it out into different sections as well, such as education, experience, hard skills, and soft skills.
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Adhere to the employer’s brand. The entire job description should hint at the employer’s brand and culture, and this shouldn’t be an exception. Don’t be too creative with it, as that can obviate the other advice listed above, but if possible, keep a similar tone and language style.
Types of Job Requirements
Job requirements break out into several different categories. Usually, these categories are listed separately and are a good way for candidates to get an idea if they’re qualified and a good fit for the position.
They roughly break out into:
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Hard skills. Skills that are teachable either through education or experience are considered hard skills. Which of these are required will vary depending on what sort of job you’re hiring for, but the more complicated the job, the more hard skills will be required. However, many of these can be implied by the candidate’s listed experience.
Here are a few examples of hard skills:
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Operating machinery. If you know how to operate heavy machinery of any kind, that’s a hard skill. It’s a learned skill that allows you to more easily segue into a similar position.
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Programming languages. Knowing programming languages is a hard skill that makes you much more attractive in computer programming positions, as well as databases and network management.
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Being multilingual. Depending on your job, being bilingual or multilingual can be a huge advantage. And, obviously, if you wish to be a translator, it’s a requirement.
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Soft skills. Skills that aren’t gained through practice or education are soft skills. Many of these are innate, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be fostered or improved. These are largely based on interpersonal skills and being able to get along with others. For example;
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Communication. Being able to communicate well with others is a very important skill. It prevents confusion, resentment, and misunderstandings. While rhetoric can be improved through education, it isn’t something that’s focused on in most modern education.
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Leadership. The ability to lead and have others willing to follow is a difficult skill to teach. Most people either have it or don’t – though there are things that can be done to improve it. But if you’re looking for a manager or other leadership position, having someone with leadership skills will make it work more smoothly.
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Creativity. While not an interpersonal skill, creativity is another one that’s very difficult to teach. It’s also extremely important in many careers ranging from marketing to writing, to engineering.
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Education. While it can technically be considered a hard skill, education is typically broken out separately. Education requirements generally shouldn’t be too specific. For instance, it’s reasonable to ask for a bachelor’s degree, but specifying what it should be may limit your number of applications.
Many requirements will say something like “a degree in psychology or a similar field,” which does leave it more open. Too much specificity can limit who will apply, especially for women and minorities.
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Experience. Like education, this could also be considered a hard skill. However, the level of experience is usually also listed separately, as it’s another major requirement. Experience is another place where many employers will be too specific.
There may be those who don’t quite have the listed amount of experience who will choose not to apply. In this case, you can either list a range or mention the minimum experience you’ll accept while mentioning the amount of time you’d prefer.
Some jobs will also have a minimum experience requirement that will replace education. This is a matter of preference, but the standard is to substitute five years’ experience for a bachelor’s degree – for the right type of job.
There are also less common requirements. These would be ones that aren’t necessarily a must include, but are either a good idea or are specific to certain types of positions. They include;
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Physical requirements. If a job is physically demanding, then it should be stated in the requirements. For instance, most retail positions make it clear that it requires being on your feet for hours and being able to lift 50 pounds.
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Travel. If the job is going to require regular traveling – or even if occasional traveling is expected – then it should be mentioned. Some people are unwilling or unable to travel and should be made aware of the requirement.
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Certifications, licenses, or accreditations. Any sort of additional certification, license, or accreditation should also be listed. This can be as basic as a valid driver’s license to needing to be licensed to operate a specific type of machinery.
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Language. It’s generally assumed that you have to be able to communicate in English to do most jobs in the United States, but if there are additional language requirements – speaking Spanish, American Sign Language, or Portuguese, for example – then it should be listed.
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Unusual workweek requirements. It’s a good idea to list the expected hours even if they are standard, but it’s especially important if they aren’t. If extended hours are required, or if it’s on an odd schedule like three days on and three days off, then it absolutely should be listed. Not everyone may be willing to work those hours.
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Full or part-time. Different applicants may be looking for either a part-time or a full-time job, which means that it should be clear as to whether or not this position will be one or the other. It’s a matter of pay, benefits, time, and expectation.
Job Requirements FAQ
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Should I include all the skills and requirements I want in an ideal candidate for the job requirements?
No, don’t list all of your ideal skills and requirements; a job requirements list isn’t a wish list. If you list all the skills and other requirements that you want in an ideal candidate, you’re likely to have two problems. The first is that your number of applications will be low, potentially weeding out qualified candidates.
The second is that it’s likely to end up lengthy. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with keeping your ideal candidate in mind, you may end up overlooking excellent candidates who would excel in the job.
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How do I foster diversity in my applicants?
There are two major ways to help foster diversity: the first is to be less strict on your requirements, and the second is to make an effort to avoid any exclusionary language. In terms of the first, women and minorities are less likely to apply for a job that they don’t meet all the requirements of, while men aren’t so constrained.
Exclusionary language can have two negative effects. The first is to make them feel unwelcome, as a woman might if the masculine pronoun is used exclusively. The other is that it might make it harder for them to envision themselves in the job, and that’s a harder-to-spot and more insidious problem to fight.
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How many requirements should be listed in a job description?
There is no magic number of job requirements that should be listed in a job description. There is a debate over how many job requirements should be listed for a job, but it largely seems to lean towards depending on what the job in question is and less is more.
There likely will never be a perfect answer, as some jobs require more skills, education, and experience than other jobs do. Especially if you’re looking for particular certifications or other more unusual requirements, your list of requirements can end up longer. So long as it’s clear and each item is concise, a longer list of requirements isn’t inherently bad.
Author
Di Doherty
Di has been a writer for more than half her life. Most of her writing so far has been fiction, and she’s gotten short stories published in online magazines Kzine and Silver Blade, as well as a flash fiction piece in the Bookends review. Di graduated from Mary Baldwin College (now University) with a degree in Psychology and Sociology.
