For many job seekers, it is not uncommon to come across a job advert asking for an “entry-level” employee with five (5) years of experience, a university degree, someone who can work under pressure in a “fast-paced environment”, and a host of other requirements.
These familiar phrases are not just recruitment jargon; they are symptoms of a hiring culture that is pushing qualified people away while employers complain about a shortage of talent.
This is the observation of career coach Dickson Assan, who, in a commentary on the situation, argued that some employers in Ghana have become their own worst enemies by creating unrealistic hiring expectations and opaque recruitment processes.
The criticism of the hiring system in the country comes at a time when youth unemployment remains a major national concern, with thousands of graduates entering the labour market every year while businesses increasingly lament their inability to find suitable employees.
Dickson Assan believes the problem is not simply a lack of talent. Rather, he says, many companies are searching for what is essentially a “finished product”. This means someone with years of experience, multiple qualifications, and a willingness to accept modest pay for an entry-level position.
Among the biggest contradictions, he pointed to employers advertising entry-level positions while demanding five years of prior experience. To many job seekers, he suggested, the requirement raises an obvious question: How does someone gain five years of experience before getting their first job?
He also took a swipe at the widespread use of vague expressions such as “competitive salary.” According to him, many employers avoid disclosing salary ranges during recruitment, only for applicants to discover later that the compensation is far from competitive.
The career coach also decoded some of the most common expressions found in job advertisements.
When employers say applicants “must be able to work under pressure,” he argued, it often means the organisation is understaffed, poorly organised and expects one employee to perform the duties of several people. He added that a “fast-paced environment” could also mean constant firefighting rather than a dynamic workplace.
The phrase “must be flexible,” he suggested, frequently signals poor work-life balance rather than genuine adaptability.
Another practice he criticised is anonymous recruitment. Many companies advertise vacancies without revealing their identities, industries or locations, yet require applicants to submit detailed personal information before knowing who is hiring. For job seekers, he argued, that creates an uneven relationship where employers demand complete transparency while offering very little themselves.
He also questioned why some employers insist on bachelor’s degrees for jobs that traditionally required far less formal education, suggesting that qualification inflation has become increasingly common.
Even workplace culture, often promoted as a selling point, came under scrutiny. When companies advertise a “great culture,” Dickson Assan humorously intimated that it sometimes amounts to little more than free tea, occasional pizza and annual staff parties, while neglecting meaningful investment in employee development, recognition and wellbeing.
He argued that businesses cannot continue to complain about talent shortages while maintaining recruitment practices that discourage capable candidates from applying or accepting offers.
Instead, he urged employers to write realistic job descriptions, stop inflating experience requirements, disclose salary ranges upfront, communicate recruitment outcomes promptly and invest in developing employees instead of expecting every recruit to arrive fully formed.
He also offered reassurance to job seekers who have faced repeated rejection. Not every unsuccessful application reflects a lack of ability, he argued. Sometimes the problem lies in a hiring system designed more to filter people out than to identify potential.
His comments have reignited conversations about recruitment standards in Ghana, where many graduates have long expressed frustration over what they describe as impossible job requirements, limited transparency and lengthy hiring processes.
