Why are job vacancies so vague- hours/pay etc

Soconfused14

I am looking for a part time joba nd in the last month I have applied for 6 and interviewed for 3.
As yet no job. 
I interviewed today and the hours expected were days, evenings and weekends.
I can do days, and most weekends(Ie Sat or Sun, not both), but I cant work past 6 as I have 13 year old sat at home who I dont want to leave on his own all night.
Why does it not say this in the ad. I know I should have asked when phoned to set up interview, but why cant the actual shifts be part of the ad?

Since when have you needed to be so totally flexible in what hours you can work? What happened to school hour shifts?

oldernonethewiser

Soconfused14 said:

I am looking for a part time joba nd in the last month I have applied for 6 and interviewed for 3.
As yet no job. 
I interviewed today and the hours expected were days, evenings and weekends.
I can do days, and most weekends(Ie Sat or Sun, not both), but I cant work past 6 as I have 13 year old sat at home who I dont want to leave on his own all night.
Why does it not say this in the ad. I know I should have asked when phoned to set up interview, but why cant the actual shifts be part of the ad?

Since when have you needed to be so totally flexible in what hours you can work? What happened to school hour shifts?

If that's what you are after then you are going to have to ask upfront.  Some employers like to leave things vague and you're not going to change their habits unfortunately.

As an aside some jobs do require a large degree of flexibility of hours and shifts, nothing new there.

housebuyer143

If it's so important you need to ask before applying if it's not clear. I'm applying for part time jobs and they ones that seem suitable that are not clear I call up and ask. It is also good as the hiring manager might remember you then if you go onto apply.

Dakta

Some are vague intentionally because there's a few different gaps on a rota to fill, some are vague to sucker in a wider applicant base in the hope you'll flex, some just genuinely need a crap load of flexibility for business needs and so are unable to be overly specific as they just don't know what business will be like next week or the labour demand. 

It can be annoying, but I would just make a point of getting specific information before getting too deep in the process. 

Marcon

Soconfused14 said:

I am looking for a part time joba nd in the last month I have applied for 6 and interviewed for 3.
As yet no job. 
I interviewed today and the hours expected were days, evenings and weekends.
I can do days, and most weekends(Ie Sat or Sun, not both), but I cant work past 6 as I have 13 year old sat at home who I dont want to leave on his own all night.
Why does it not say this in the ad. I know I should have asked when phoned to set up interview, but why cant the actual shifts be part of the ad?

Any number of reasons. The employer genuinely needs total flexibility; they are useless at planning so aren't going to commit themselves until they have to; commercial sensitivity (don't want competitors or current employees to see what they are offering new hires); they want the widest possible pool of applicants; oops, forgot to put it in; gives them something to discuss at interview; provides a possible reason for turning down a candidate on wholly spurious grounds; they might be paying for ad according to its length....

Soconfused14 said:

Since when have you needed to be so totally flexible in what hours you can work? 

For some businesses that's always been the case. For many, the 'since' is 'COVID'.

Soconfused14 said:

What happened to school hour shifts?

COVID, recession and discrimination legislation.

As you say, it's up to you to ask - so do so, but probably not when you arrange the interview. Wow their socks off when they interview you and your ability to negotiate what you want shoots up.

housebuyer143

Marcon said:

Soconfused14 said:

I am looking for a part time joba nd in the last month I have applied for 6 and interviewed for 3.
As yet no job. 
I interviewed today and the hours expected were days, evenings and weekends.
I can do days, and most weekends(Ie Sat or Sun, not both), but I cant work past 6 as I have 13 year old sat at home who I dont want to leave on his own all night.
Why does it not say this in the ad. I know I should have asked when phoned to set up interview, but why cant the actual shifts be part of the ad?

Any number of reasons. The employer genuinely needs total flexibility; they are useless at planning so aren't going to commit themselves until they have to; commercial sensitivity (don't want competitors or current employees to see what they are offering new hires); they want the widest possible pool of applicants; oops, forgot to put it in; gives them something to discuss at interview; provides a possible reason for turning down a candidate on wholly spurious grounds; they might be paying for ad according to its length....

Soconfused14 said:

Since when have you needed to be so totally flexible in what hours you can work? 

For some businesses that's always been the case. For many, the 'since' is 'COVID'.

Soconfused14 said:

What happened to school hour shifts?

COVID, recession and discrimination legislation.

As you say, it's up to you to ask - so do so, but probably not when you arrange the interview. Wow their socks off when they interview you and your ability to negotiate what you want shoots up.

It seems crazy to me though that they expect someone applying for a 12 hour a week job go be flexible, and be available to work 8am-8pm. Like who do they think their target candidate is? It's clearly someone who has other commitments 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♀️

Marcon

housebuyer143 said:

Marcon said:

Soconfused14 said:

I am looking for a part time joba nd in the last month I have applied for 6 and interviewed for 3.
As yet no job. 
I interviewed today and the hours expected were days, evenings and weekends.
I can do days, and most weekends(Ie Sat or Sun, not both), but I cant work past 6 as I have 13 year old sat at home who I dont want to leave on his own all night.
Why does it not say this in the ad. I know I should have asked when phoned to set up interview, but why cant the actual shifts be part of the ad?

Any number of reasons. The employer genuinely needs total flexibility; they are useless at planning so aren't going to commit themselves until they have to; commercial sensitivity (don't want competitors or current employees to see what they are offering new hires); they want the widest possible pool of applicants; oops, forgot to put it in; gives them something to discuss at interview; provides a possible reason for turning down a candidate on wholly spurious grounds; they might be paying for ad according to its length....

Soconfused14 said:

Since when have you needed to be so totally flexible in what hours you can work? 

For some businesses that's always been the case. For many, the 'since' is 'COVID'.

Soconfused14 said:

What happened to school hour shifts?

COVID, recession and discrimination legislation.

As you say, it's up to you to ask - so do so, but probably not when you arrange the interview. Wow their socks off when they interview you and your ability to negotiate what you want shoots up.

It seems crazy to me though that they expect someone applying for a 12 hour a week job go be flexible, and be available to work 8am-8pm. Like who do they think their target candidate is? It's clearly someone who has other commitments 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♀️

Not necessarily. One target market for some employers now is retired people who find that they are short of cash, and/or bored with 'nothing to do'. 

Exodi

We are one such business that does not provide specific hours in our ads, but this is on account of the fact that, as a manufacturer, we are relatively flexible in the hours that can be worked.

E.g. If we have 1000 demand hours a week, and we're averaging 960 output hours, then we might hire one or two people to make up the difference. In this vein, it doesn't necessarily matter where their hours fall in the week.

I obviously don't speak for all employers, and I've likewise been frustrated in the past, particularly with salary information, or lack thereof. I just don't think it's acceptable for jobs to omit pay information, as it wastes every ones time.

Exodi

Marcon said:

housebuyer143 said:

Marcon said:

Soconfused14 said:

I am looking for a part time joba nd in the last month I have applied for 6 and interviewed for 3.
As yet no job. 
I interviewed today and the hours expected were days, evenings and weekends.
I can do days, and most weekends(Ie Sat or Sun, not both), but I cant work past 6 as I have 13 year old sat at home who I dont want to leave on his own all night.
Why does it not say this in the ad. I know I should have asked when phoned to set up interview, but why cant the actual shifts be part of the ad?

Any number of reasons. The employer genuinely needs total flexibility; they are useless at planning so aren't going to commit themselves until they have to; commercial sensitivity (don't want competitors or current employees to see what they are offering new hires); they want the widest possible pool of applicants; oops, forgot to put it in; gives them something to discuss at interview; provides a possible reason for turning down a candidate on wholly spurious grounds; they might be paying for ad according to its length....

Soconfused14 said:

Since when have you needed to be so totally flexible in what hours you can work? 

For some businesses that's always been the case. For many, the 'since' is 'COVID'.

Soconfused14 said:

What happened to school hour shifts?

COVID, recession and discrimination legislation.

As you say, it's up to you to ask - so do so, but probably not when you arrange the interview. Wow their socks off when they interview you and your ability to negotiate what you want shoots up.

It seems crazy to me though that they expect someone applying for a 12 hour a week job go be flexible, and be available to work 8am-8pm. Like who do they think their target candidate is? It's clearly someone who has other commitments 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♀️

Not necessarily. One target market for some employers now is retired people who find that they are short of cash, and/or bored with 'nothing to do'. 

You must have seen our recent bout of delivery drivers... often seen chilling by our goods in entrance trying to make small talk with passers by after loading, got all the time in the world.

To be fair, it's stopped now, I think there was a big drop in drivers at the start of this year which caused a lot of 'emergency recruiting'.

DullGreyGuy

If a recruitment agent is involved they may also decide to remove details as to grow their book of candidates so if the this one doesn't work for you then you're in our db for the next job that comes along. 

Not listing monies is about trying to lowball people, if you say a job is £150-£200 a day you get 100 applicants wanting £200-£220 day and maybe one or two at £199. Say its "competitive" or "market rates" and you'll probably get a spread from £120-£300 a day. According to analysis into "unconscious bias" women in particular tend to ask for lower money when no range is given but similar money to men when a range is given.

Mark_Glasses

I get the salary issue from an employers point of view but there's not much sense in not advertising work hours. You generally assume 9-5 unless specified otherwise but my daytime working hours have ranged from 9-4:30 to 8-6 and they do feel very different to each other.