Jargon filled job descriptions are a ‘major barrier’ stopping young people applying for their first job

Confusing job descriptions are a ‘major barrier’ for young job seekers which are preventing them from entering the workforce, a study from Business in the Community and the City & Guilds Group has found.

Over the past year, Business in the Community asked young people aged 16-24 to rate the accessibility of over 65 companies’ entry level job adverts which between them collectively employ 1.2 million people across the UK. It found that young job seekers are being put off from applying for entry level or first jobs by impenetrable ‘business-speak’ which leaves them unsure about the suitability of roles and what their day to day responsibilities would actually be. The study found that:

• Two thirds (66%) of the young people who assessed the company vacancies didn’t understand the role they would be applying to.
• Over a third of the job descriptions assessed contain unclear jargon, acronyms or technical language which put young people off applying and over half of them did not have a clear job description.
• Some of the most confusing terms commonly used by recruiters in job adverts aimed at young people include “SLAs” “procurement”, “fulfilment service”, “KPIs”, “compliance, “mergers and acquisitions” – all identified by testers as jargon.
• Recruitment websites do not make it clear which roles are entry level positions, with many organisations ‘talking up’ roles, making them needlessly complicated and creating unrealistic expectations of what junior roles will entail that will not match the reality.
• Jargon also negatively impacts young people’s confidence, by making them feel they “don’t deserve” a role or are “not good enough” to apply as they feel “intimated” by the job descriptions or “unsure” of what they’ll be facing.

Despite overall improvements in employment rates in recent months, the youth unemployment rate for 18 – 24 year olds remains stubbornly high at 11.3% compared to 4.8% for the general population. Business in the Community says that jargon is not only stopping young people from getting into work, it also means employers miss out on young talent. It is calling on companies to cut jargon from their jobs to encourage young people to apply, and has today launched new guidance to help companies make their recruitment processes more accessible for young people, remove jargon and ensure that entry level roles do not exclude young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Grace Mehanna, Youth Employment Campaign Director, Business in the Community, said: “Understanding jargon is not a measure of a young person’s potential or indication that they are a better candidate. We’re concerned that the prevalence of ‘business speak’ in job adverts aimed at first jobbers is a major barrier that could inadvertently screen out young people without access to working role models and networks. These are the job seekers that are least likely to have support preparing for job applications, least likely to know someone who works in the company or sector they are trying to break into, and therefore least likely to be able to overcome these barriers.”

“We also know that employers are struggling to attract and retain young people into entry level roles. With the Apprenticeships Levy coming into force in April, there will be thousands more potential entry level vacancies opening up for young people. It is crucial that these new roles are accessible to all young people and that employers offer realistic expectations about the skills and experience they can expect to gain.”

Chris Jones, Chief Executive of the City & Guilds Group, who backed the research commented “From the Government, to large corporates, to small businesses – we are all guilty of using jargon and creating meaningless titles that either don’t mean anything, or are hard to understand. It’s bad enough for those with a few years’ experience, but even worse for young people who are just starting out in their careers. Using so much jargon not only risks putting them off at the first hurdle, but can also really knock their confidence. All businesses have a responsibility to support young talent into the world of work, and develop them once they are in the workplace. Unless we are clearer and communicate better, we risk missing out on a wealth of talent.”

Barclays was assessed by the young people and as a result have now made changes to their entry level job roles.

Mike Thompson, ‎Director Early Careers at Barclays Bank said: “Having had our recruitment assessed we’ve made a number of changes to how we write entry level job descriptions, trying to remove unnecessary technical language. It’s important that we do this to make sure our roles are accessible to a more diverse talent and make our roles attractive to young people. Sometimes it’s easy having been working in an industry for so long to forget how much jargon there is in your industry and how excluding this can be to people who are looking to take their first step. That’s why we’ve committed to removing all technical language and jargon from our entry level roles.”

John Salt, Group Sales Director at totaljobs, said: “Everything we do at totaljobs helps employers and jobseekers connect and communicate with each other. Effective communication is crucial at every stage of the recruitment process, so it’s frustrating when jargon in job adverts gets in the way. We encourage all our recruiters to think carefully about the language they use in job adverts, and to focus on the candidates they want to attract. What language would make sense to them, what information do they really want to see? Too often job adverts are a cut-and-paste of the job spec, and this can deter or even exclude people from applying. By including jargon in their jobs ads, employers can end up discouraging the very candidates they want to attract. Cutting jargon is a simple thing to do, but can have a huge impact on recruiter success”

Some of the other barriers found in the study included:

• Not including basic information about the jobs in the descriptions as 1 in 3 didn’t mention salary, 2 in 5 didn’t state working hours and 1 in 7 didn’t give a specific location
• A serious lack of transparency about the application process itself as over half didn’t outline the stages and 62% didn’t outline the timeframe of the recruitment process

Today Business in the Community will be publishing new guidance for employers that recommending that they take the following steps:

• Review their job descriptions to ensure there is no jargon and that all acronyms are explained in brackets, with a clear explanation of technical language and make sure all job descriptions contain a clear outline of the key day-to-day tasks and responsibilities.
• Have their websites reviewed by young people to help identify any further “hidden” barriers through Business in the Community’s Youth Recruitment Mystery Shopper Programme.

Business in the Community found in an earlier survey, backed by the City & Guilds Group, of 4,000 young people in 2016 that 43% said having access to a clear job description made the recruitment process easier, and 32% who had a poor experience of starting their current job said it was because it was different to what they’d expected, in part due to jargon in the job descriptions.

The survey was commissioned as part of Business in the Community’s Future Proof campaign to break down barriers in recruitment and create quality accessible jobs for all young people, backed by the City & Guilds Group. They are launching a social media campaign today to ask businesses to take action and encourage young people to share the worst examples of job advert jargon they’ve come across using #JargonFreeJobs on Twitter. For more information or to download the free guidance click here.

About Business in the Community: Business in the Community is the Prince’s Responsible Business Network.

Our members work together to tackle a wide range of issues that are essential to building a fairer society and a more sustainable future.

Responsible business is about how a business makes its money not just how it spends its profit. It is about managing growth responsibly while reducing dependency on natural resources. It is about how the business operates as an employer, supplier and customer and how as a neighbour it helps to create vibrant communities where people can flourish. We are a business-led, issue focused charity with more than 30 years’ experience of mobilising business. We engage thousands of businesses through our programmes driven by our core membership of over 800 organisations from small enterprises to global corporations.

About the City & Guilds Group: The City & Guilds Group’s purpose is to help people, organisations and economies develop their skills for growth.

Backed by a Royal Charter, the City & Guilds Group has more than 135 years’ experience in making sure that people are prepared to contribute to successful businesses and thriving economies.

The City & Guilds Group partners with more than 200 companies to develop the skilled workforces that they need, and invests in learning technologies to help people learn whenever and wherever they can.

The City & Guilds Group is made up of City & Guilds, ILM, Kineo, The Oxford Group, Digitalme and e3Learning:

• City & Guilds develops programmes of vocational learning, learning technology, certification and assessment, to support colleges, training providers and governments.
• ILM helps individuals, education providers and businesses improve the standards of leadership and management through qualifications and accredited training. ILM awards qualifications to over 95,000 managers across the world every year.
• Kineo is a global workplace learning company. It offers a fresh approach to elearning management systems and managed learning services.
• The Oxford Group provides bespoke management training, leadership development and executive coaching to the world’s leading companies.
• Digitalme designs credentials, using open badges, to recognise individuals’ skills and talent. It works with employers, training providers and over 2,000 schools across the UK.
• e3Learning specialises in online workforce management and elearning.

Combined, the City & Guilds Group operates in over 100 countries, through 10,000 training centres, delivering qualifications in 26 different industries.