Indeed’s Hiring Lab published their findings on how employers’ experience requirements have changed, based on data from job postings on the Indeed platform. The article presented the following key findings:
Key Points:
- As of April 2024, less than 30% of U.S. job postings on Indeed included year-specific requirements, a significant decline from around 40% in April 2022.
- The engineering sector, including civil, electrical, and manufacturing engineering, is one of the sectors with high demand for years of experience, and tend to have the highest tenure requirements, typically 5 years or more.
- The decrease in tenure requirements is most likely seen in high-paying, education-intensive sectors, suggesting employer’s shift towards skills-first hiring practices.
Employers traditionally require years of experience in job postings to filter candidates, reduce training costs, and avoid hiring mismatches. However, Indeed data reveals a recent decline in these requirements, likely due to a shift towards skills-first hiring. Reduced job tenure and formal education requirements may now open more opportunities for skilled talent who previously faced qualification barriers.
Job postings typically require a certain number of years of experience for a candidate to qualify. However, as of April 2024, less than 30% of U.S. job postings on Indeed included year-specific requirements, a significant decline from around 40% in April 2022. This is seen across a range of job postings that require limited and extensive experience.
Job postings requiring 2 or more years of experience have steadily declined since April 2022, and those with 0-1 year requirements also decreased after a brief rise in early 2023.
The trend of declining experience requirements in job postings may imply that employers may not only be decreasing the years of required experience but instead eliminating these requirements altogether.
Over the past year, the proportion of the U. S. job offerings that did not require any experience increased from 60% to 70%. Although some positions may still require an undefined length of experience, fewer employers are making it a strict requirement for applicants. Here are the factors that influence this decline:
1. Experience requirements vary widely across different occupational sectors.
Tenure requirements vary by sector due to differences in tasks, skills, and the focus of job postings. Some employers require experience in a specific role or industry, while others require experience in skills-related requirements. For example, tech job postings typically require 3 years of experience with Python programming.
Project management (49%), accounting (48%), and civil engineering (47%) are the most common sectors that demand specific years of experience.
Industries that often include experience requirements also tend to ask for more years of experience from candidates. 7 of 10 sectors with the highest experience demands require at least 2 years of experience. While 4 of these sectors, including civil, electrical, and manufacturing engineering, ask for 5 years or more. On the other hand, sectors with the lowest experience demands typically only require one year or less of experience.
2. The decline in high-education required job postings drives the decrease in demand for specific years of experience.
In April 2022, years of experience are typically asked for positions requiring high education requirements (66%), followed by mid-education (40%) and lower education (35%). Since then, the gap has narrowed down with just 44% of high-education positions requiring experience versus 29% for lower-education positions.
Data analyzed by Hiring Lab shows that employers are gradually eliminating formal education qualifications, with a drop in demand for college-educated workers, and more than a 12% point drop in demand for experience in each sector. It implies a strong correlation between the decline in education requirements and the decline in experience requirements.
3. Employers and workers’ response to labor market conditions.
The softening of job requirements is likely influenced by labor market conditions, with some employers lowering education and experience demands to attract a broader range of candidates and help control costs. This trend is more prominent in high-wage sectors, where experience requirements have dropped by over 20% points in April 2022, compared to the 10% points decline in the lower and medium-wage sectors.
4. Employers’ shift to skills-first hiring practices.
Another factor that influences this trend is the shift toward skills-first hiring practices. Employers are recognizing that years of experience don’t necessarily reflect job proficiency. A candidate who uses a skill daily likely has greater expertise than someone with occasional use, regardless of their length of experience.
Employers are starting to focus more on the essential skills needed for the job rather than the traditional requirements, which could lead to more inclusive hiring practices. Job seekers should focus on developing their skills and find ways to effectively showcase them to help access opportunities that were previously out of reach.
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As educational and experience requirements decline in some sectors, the demand for these requirements for engineers remains high. Connect with a SoloPoint Technical Recruiter today to help you find engineering roles that match your skills, experience, and expertise: