Fewer US job postings on Indeed are asking for specific years of experience, the jobs website reported. The number has fallen by 40% since April 2022, according to Indeed.
Specific years’ experience requirements were more common in job postings for sectors including project management (49% of all postings ask for some specific number of years’ experience), accounting (48%), and civil engineering (47%).
On the other hand, sectors with less defined experience requirements include beauty and wellness (16% of all postings), pharmacy (20%), and therapy (21%).
Driving the decline in specific experience requirements were job postings requiring higher education, according to Indeed.
More than three-fourths, or 66%, of job postings with higher education requirements — a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or higher — asked for at least some number of years’ experience in April 2022, according to Indeed. That compares to 40% and 35% for the middle- and lower-education categories, respectively.
“Since then, the gap between high- and low-education requirements has narrowed, with only 44% of high-wage jobs now mentioning experience requirements (versus 29% for lower-education sectors),” according to Indeed.
The data also shows employers are gradually removing formal schooling qualifications from job postings.
“For some employers, shedding requirements may be a way to attract new workers (both those with less experience and/or longer-tenured workers willing to accept a more junior position),” according to Indeed. “It’s also possible that employers are shifting their hiring preferences toward hires with less experience and education (who are also very likely to be less costly) to help control costs in a less-certain economic environment.”