In this post and the next I’ll share what I consider to be some low bars every employer should meet when posting a job. Meeting these bars, not only helps the applicants, it also helps the employer. They ensure you get thoughtful applications better targeted to your organization and the position. They also provide valuable information to your applicants, saving them time, stress, and effort.
And, meeting these bars increases the fairness, inclusion, and equity of your hiring process.
For starters every job posting should have an apply by date which includes date and time. An employer might choose to have a hard deadline, e.g., “The application deadline is Monday, March 11th, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.”
If you’re concerned that you might not get enough good candidates by the hard deadline, you should still let the candidates know when to apply by for full consideration. You might say something like:
- Position open until filled. For full consideration apply by Monday, March 11th, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.
- Position open until filled. All applications received by Monday, March 11th, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. will receive full consideration.
- First review of applications begins Monday, March 11th, 2024, 5:00 p.m.. Position open until filled.
- You get the idea.
Pro Tip – Be specific, include the time, e.g., 5:00 p.m. If you just say the deadline is Monday, March 11th, does that mean right when the clock strikes midnight, i.e., 12:00 a.m. Monday, March 11th? Or does it mean 11:59 p.m. on Monday March 11th? Or does it mean some other time you have in your head but have failed communicate, e.g., 8:00 a.m. or 12:00 p.m. on Monday, March 11th?
Applicants encouraged to apply immediately doesn’t cut it! That’s not a deadline. It sounds more like a panic button!
Here’s some language I just ran across from a recent posting: “Applications will be considered as they are submitted, so applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.”
This also sounds like a panic button. We’re so desperate and needy we’ll just take the first semi-decent application we get!
Failing to give candidates a deadline to apply by or using panic button language of apply immediately are not only counterproductive for you as the employer, they also introduce deep inequities from the get-go in your process.
Let’s break it down.
Benefits of a deadline to apply by
There are many benefits for both you and the applicants of including a deadline to apply by. The candidates know how much time they have to think about the job to make sure it is something they’re qualified for and interested in. They can then write a cover letter and resume highlighting how their experience and skills match your needs. They can also take some time to research your organization. This allows them to further highlight particular accomplishments, skills, or values they believe will be of particular interest to you, the prospective employer.
Without a deadline to apply by, applicants are left wondering how long has this position been open? Do I need to apply by 5:00 p.m. today? Are interviews already started? If so, will they even look at my application? Should I take the time to be thoughtful or just throw a spaghetti version of my cover letter and resume at the wall with my fingers crossed.
Benefits to the applicant – I imagine it’s pretty clear why having an apply by deadline benefits the applicant. Not only can they fit pulling together their application into their likely already busy schedule, they can take the time to craft it to catch your attention. And, if they take the time to think through the job description and research your organization and determine it’s not what they’re looking for, then they can save time and angst by not applying.
Benefits to the prospective employer – Essentially, you get the flip side of these benefits. You get more applications with more useful information by which to assess the candidates. (Yes, I know there is some percentage of folks who always throw pasta at the wall. And sometimes in a rush even a thoughtful person throws pasta. But, if you give people a deadline, you will get a higher percentage of well thought out applications.) You’ll likely also have less applications to review of folks who had they been given the time to think about it would have decided not to apply. This means your time is save too!
Fairness and Equity
You might be thinking okay that all makes sense but how is failing to have a deadline unfair or inequitable? Let us break it down.
Different tools are useful depending on the nature of the practice, policy. or system being analyzed. In this case, a very simple tool should suffice. It’s the thought experiment:
Who benefits [from x] and who is burdened?
which in our case becomes:
Who benefits from a lack of a deadline to apply by and who is burdened?
Anyone who lacks a flexible schedule, lacks control over their schedule, and/or has little to no free time will have to do some difficult juggling to find time to tailor an application and/or have to decide to throw some pasta and hope for the best. These people are burdened by an employer’s practice of giving no deadline to apply by.
Anyone who has enough flexibility in their schedule, control over their schedule, and/or free time will be able to quickly turn their energies to pulling together a strong application tailored to catch the prospective employer’s eye. While we might not say these people directly benefit from the employer’s practice, they are little burdened by it. Importantly, they indirectly benefit from the practice precisely because they can easily and quickly take the time necessary to tailor their application in ways that will help it stand out in comparison to the applications of those burdened by the practice.
Now comes our next step in the analysis. Are there any demographic generalizations we can make about the kinds of people who have more or less free time, more or less control and flexibility in their schedules?
You bet.
Women are still the primary care takers in the usa. Care-taking duties give one much less “free time” and results in less schedule flexibility. In marginalized communities there is often an extended network of extended family, chosen family, and community care-taking and mutual support responsibilities. Thus, many people of color, disabled people, queer and trans people may also find themselves with less “free time” and more schedule restrictions.
We also know that many low-income wage earners find themselves in jobs with very little schedule flexibility and very little time off. So, for instance, they are less likely to be able to come in late one morning, i.e., use the morning to put together an application (or, for that matter, attend an interview.) People of color, disabled people, queer and trans people, and women are disproportionately represented in these types of jobs. So this practice burdens them.
In a nutshell: Failing to include a deadline to apply by unfairly and inequitably burdens low-income wage earners, BIPOC folks, queer and trans folks, women, and disabled folks.
I am guessing you didn’t intend that consequence.
If you lift that burden by including a deadline to apply by, you’ll get more and stronger applications from all these folks, thereby ensuring you have a bigger, stronger applicant pool to choose from. Thus, even if you’re not motivated by fairness and equity, you should still want to lift this burden.
And of course, I hope the issues of justice, fairness, and equity, alone, are enough to motivate you.
Pro Tip 2 – If you can’t figure out what the deadline to apply by is, you’re not ready to post your job. Take a deep breath, calm the beasts of urgency, step back and think about how your hiring timeline and current workload can be woven together. It’s probably also good to think about how to work the onboarding of the new hire into your existing workload before you post a job. You shouldn’t be hiring someone if you don’t have the time and/or haven’t planned for how you will onboard them. This lack of planning sets them and you up for failure. Worst of all, you may find yourself right back in the time consuming hiring process.
Hot tip – Job postings are one of the main sources of information you, as a job candidate have about an organization’s culture If you run across one of these urgent, panic-filled, no deadline, start immediately type job postings, consider it a clue about the organization’s culture. If you like to operate from panic, urgency, and haste, good. If not, consider it a red flag. You may still decide to apply, you might just need the money, but consider yourself warned and prepare accordingly.
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