75% of Americans Dissatisfied With Job-Hunting Process, Transparency Needed From Employers

For many Americans, finding work in today’s competitive job market can be painful and can bring unexpected obstacles.

As such, it comes as little surprise that people have gripes tied to job hunting. A new survey of 2,000 people searching for work in the past five years revealed that it took around four hours to hunt for one position. While 33% of the applications lead to an interview, a colossal 75% of those surveyed found the overall job-process “stressful” and “time-consuming.”

Being denied a job because of “not enough experience” and the long interview time frame were among the largest complaints. Erroneous job listings were mentioned as another dissatisfaction.

Some 54% of people rejected job offers after finding out about their potential pay. Another setback was not getting enough information on their annual compensation, including very large salary ranges.

The study, done by the advertising search engine Adzuna and carried out by OnePoll, declared that 77% of respondents felt employers should be more transparent in their job listings. That could be troubling for employers, as it could hurt their reputation, making it tougher to hire talented workers.

Around 32% of individuals believe employers are “hiding something” if they don’t reveal wages in job ads. And 56% indicated they would refuse an interview offer instantly if they didn’t know the income potential a company was presenting.

“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,” stated Doug Monro, CEO and co-founder of Adzuna via Talker.

He added, “From the research, it’s plain to see salary is a critical component of the job process with job-seekers clearly pointing to a lack of clarity or detail on annual wages being a major frustration when applying for a job.”

The fresh findings are a big deal for companies, especially those trying to secure top talent now. Over 90% of business leaders revealed their firms would not meet goals without the right talent. In fact, they cited finding top talent as their biggest human resources (HR) challenges this year. The findings are from the iCIMS 2022 Workforce Report.

Observers say the challenge is made even more difficult as applicants are likely to find a job that meets their needs, putting more pressure on competitors. Onlookers suggest that those hiring must reconsider their strategy in areas such as talent acquisition and retention to keep their personnel competitive.