I hate that a large percentage of job seekers read job posts to ensure they match every requirement, while recruiters copy and paste job post bullet points, then hit “go live.” It’s a complete imbalance of effort. People make life decisions - deciding if they will even take a chance at applying to a job - all because of this job post. All while the person on the other side checks another task off the list. You wonder why recruiters have a bad reputation… 

This is one of those moments where we have the opportunity to rewrite history. For the last 100 years, job posts and many other tactics we use to hire were created as an intentional barrier to wealth. The rich wanted to keep poor people poor. Today, especially while so many people are trying to build safety nets, we can change those barriers. Yet, most of the recruiters and HR people I speak with still treat job posts like another administrative task to parse off to some machine.

The strategy recruiters take when writing a job post - especially with the bullets - can be the thing standing between hope and another day of worrying away. Why aren’t we taking this responsibility more seriously? Instead of doing the work, we’re feeding it into AI that doesn’t know any better either, and perpetuating the problems we’ve always had. Bullets are one of the areas where I see people talk themselves out of opportunity most often, and exactly where we can make a tangible impact - on our pipeline and people. 

Well, What Is The Ideal Number of Bullet Points in a Job Post?

That’s why you need to use fewer than 7 bullets if you're working on roles up to VP and 10 or less for VP or higher. Why I target that number of bullet points in job posts is a little science, a little intuition. 

First, when you exceed 7 bullets or about ⅓ of a 8x11 page, you’ll almost instantly see fewer women and people from diverse backgrounds applying. That’s what happens when for hundreds of years you’re told you have to work harder than everyone else. You question if you’re good enough even when you are. I know that from first person experience. Imposter syndrome anyone?

The other factor? People don’t read. I know that because I accidentally had a comment go viral the other week on a news article and woof. Kidding. Kinda. But in all seriousness, attention spans are getting shorter. Write something they’ll read beginning to end. Even better, write something worth reading. More on that in my How To Write A Job Post with AI course (buy it here).

You Don't Need Bullets In Every Job Post: Entry Level Exceptions

While I know bulleted lists are every recruiter's favorite job post format, you don’t actually need them in every job post. Entry level roles, for example. If this is actually entry level, why is there a list of 13+ requirements? Time to hit backspace. 

Instead, try this. Just say "we'll teach you everything you need to know." That's the point of an entry level job, right? To learn what you need to know? Unless there’s a degree where you learn how to do the job or some physical requirement, entry level probably means no experience required. 

If you do use bullets, use them to describe a day in the life at the job to set expectations. Assume they know nothing. Spell it out from the moment they wake up until they go to bed. Frankly, I think even that can be done better with a day in the life video. 

Just remember to keep it simple, keep the bullets to a minimum, and be clear. Every job seeker deserves enough clarity to dream a little and enough information to know if they’re qualified.