So many times we see the same type of job postings on job boards and newspapers and wonder why employers even bother posting them in the first place. Stating that a position requires X years of experience doing this, and Y years of experience doing that rarely attracts the top-quality people that employers want to hire, and ultimately only adds to the number of unqualified and overqualified applications employers need to process.

According to many HR experts, employers should be using job descriptions to attract the right people, rather than attempting to pre-qualify them. Employers can do this by focusing on the unique and exciting aspects of positions, the challenges candidates might face, the type of work that needs to be performed and other aspects of the job that prospective candidates might find appealing.

Though posting a job description that attempts to attract candidates may help prospective candidates better understand what a position is about, job descriptions still suffer from a fundamental limitation - they cannot provide all the information necessary for different people to determine whether the position is the right one for them to pursue. Therefore, rather than risking revealing their identities, which may have negative ramifications with their current employers, and going on tedious interviews just for the slim chance a position might the right one for them to pursue, most people choose to avoid applying to job postings altogether.

What if prospective candidates could read a position’s description and anonymously ask the hiring manager questions about it, allowing them to find out the information they need before revealing their identities or going for interviews, and what if employers could effectively collect and easily respond to these questions?

Open communication between prospective candidates and employers that can provide candidates with the information they deem important can assist employers in selling their positions better, thereby encouraging the better-fit people to apply, and limiting the number of least-fit people that apply. As a result, both employers and candidates can save substantial time and effort on the recruiting process, particularly in limiting the time spent on pointless interviews.

Job postings have been with us for quite some time, but in the 21st century employers seeking top- talent people must take the next step and offer effective and accommodating ways for these people to be able to explore new opportunities without compromising their privacy or having to commit much time and effort to the recruiting process.


Gil Shabat is the co-founder of Scopings, a new online recruiting service that puts heavy weight on the needs of employed professionals looking to advance their careers. You can visit the Scopings website under www.scopings.com.