Americans believe companies should be more transparent in their job postings

Job hunters have revealed their biggest complaints when looking for a new role - being turned down due to “no experience,” interview process being too long and lack of information on salaries being offered.

A study of 2,000 adults who've sought new employment in the past five years found they’ll typically spend four hours applying for a single job – with 33% of applications resulting in an interview.

But 75% find the entire process “stressful” and “time consuming” – with common frustrations including unnecessarily lengthy interview processes and misleading job postings.

And lack of clarity on the annual salary – for instance, large salary ranges – is a significant issue, especially for the 54% who’ve declined a job offer upon discovering what they’d be earning.

The research, commissioned by Adzuna and conducted by OnePoll, found 77% believe companies should be more transparent in their job postings.

This could be concerning to businesses as it could be detrimental to their reputation – impacting their ability to find talented staff.

Nearly a third (32%) said suspect the employer is hiding something if they don’t include salary information in ads.

Similarly, 28% said such practices make a business appear untrustworthy and 29% said they appear unprofessional.

While 56% revealed they simply wouldn’t accept an interview offer if they didn’t know about the compensation offered from a prospective employer.

"With all the time and effort that goes into applying for jobs, it can be incredibly frustrating and stressful to stumble across issues along the way,” said Doug Monro, CEO and co-founder of Adzuna. “From the research, it’s plain to see salary is a critical component of the job process with jobseekers clearly pointing to a lack of clarity or detail on annual wages being a major frustration when applying for a job.

“Employers should be encouraged to be more transparent and include as many details on salaries in their job postings as possible to give candidates the financial peace of mind they need, as well as the all-important information around whether a role is right for them.”

And it’s not just salary info those polled are keen to see beforehand - workplace location and employee benefit plans are also important to many.

The study also found 73% think greater transparency over salaries would make workplaces fairer.

Further to this, 55% would be happy for their colleagues to know what they earn – with 31% neutral on the subject, and just 9% unhappy.

“Jobseekers are increasingly concerned with finding employers that match their values and that they trust,” continued Doug Monro. “Being transparent by showing salaries on job postings is one way for companies to show they care about prioritising fair pay.

“But there is room for improvement and the onus is now on companies doing their diligence to present job opportunities that fairly reward candidates.”

TOP 20 COMPLAINTS WHEN APPLYING FOR A NEW JOB

Turned down because ‘not enough experience’ despite already looking at the resume
Interview process dragging out over multiple weeks or even months
Lack of clarity on salary, e.g. ‘on target earnings’ or very large salary ranges
Saying you’re overqualified for a role – even though they’ve seen your resume
Not hearing back/not receiving a reply after applying
Needing to update your resume for every application
Not being totally transparent about the role/company after reading reviews online
Waiting too long to hear back after an interview
Too many stages to the interview process
Realizing mid-interview that this isn’t the job for you
Being asked inappropriate or offensive interview questions
Having to work half a day in the office as part of the interview process
Lack of feedback following rejection for a role
No salary being listed on the Job AD
Being asked irrelevant interview questions
Unclear stance on remote/hybrid/in office working
Not offering desired staff perks or benefits
Misleading job ads
Unrealistic responsibilities/requirements
Rude or inappropriate interviewers
Survey methodology:

This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 American adults who have ever looked for employment in the last five years was commissioned by Adzuna between September 26 and September 28, 2022. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).