Why are person specifications soooo long?!

[SnowfallSnowball]

Currently looking for a new job and saw one that I fancied but there are 28 separate items on the person spec! They never used to be this long. Granted, this is just one organisation in Higher Education. It’s not even a senior role. Imagine doing all that and then you don’t even get an interview, it’s really off putting.

Of course I don’t have to apply but wondered if others have found that they seem to be getting longer?

28 items!? That is bonkers. Sometimes when I've applied for roles with massive person specs (also in HE) I group similar points to address them together.

I think sometimes it's insecurity from recruiting managers, especially if they've had a bad hire in the past. They want to be sure they don't get it wrong so go overboard on the person spec. But still - it would definitely put people off applying.

Oh god yes and job descriptions too.

I blame cut and paste - it's the same mentality as all the FYI emails or being unncessarily cc-ed into things, some sort of 'just in case'.