The order in which to relax member recruitment requirements | Which requirements to remove and which to keep when applications are not coming in.

1. Each additional condition reduces the number of people who can apply.

When posting a call for band members, you'll often find yourself wanting to narrow down the criteria, such as "experienced only," "20s only," or "male preferred." It's natural to want to find people who fit the band's musical style and pace of activity, and there's nothing inherently wrong with having these conditions. However, with each additional condition you add, the number of people who see the ad, decide they're not suitable, and stop applying quietly. When you're not getting many applications, or the number is lower than expected, the first thing you should review is this "narrowing down of conditions."

Even in general recruitment activities, it seems that it is not uncommon for companies to post job openings but receive no applications. In a 2020 survey of companies conducted by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT), among companies that answered that it was difficult to acquire talent, the most common reason given was "there are no applications in the first place" at 56.5%, followed by "there are applications, but none of them meet the necessary qualifications" at 22.5%, and "we cannot agree on terms and conditions" at only 5.1% (JILPT Survey Series No. 193) . This was a survey of companies targeting full-time employment, and the target is completely different from recruiting members for an amateur band, but the structure that many cases stumble at the stage of "the act of applying itself does not occur" rather than "they are rejected because the conditions do not match" is useful as a reference. In band recruitment, we have broadly addressed the issue of not receiving replies in the section on how to revise when no replies are received , but in this article we will focus on "conditions" and organize which ones to remove first and which ones to stick to until the end.

Furthermore, as a trend in the overall job market, Mynavi Career Research Lab's August 2026 report indicates that the number of job postings was 121.3% higher than the same month of the previous year, while the number of applications was 103.0% (Mynavi Career Research Lab) . This is also about general job postings, and the same ratio cannot be applied to band recruitment, but the situation where "the number of people posting job openings is increasing, while the growth in the number of applicants is slower" suggests that writing job postings that are not too restrictive is becoming relatively important. Things that should be decided before posting a job opening are summarized in "Things to decide before forming a band," so please refer to that if you are not yet forming a band.

2. Actual Measurement — To what extent were the conditions narrowed down for the 3,312 job postings?

Now, let's look at the recruitment data that has actually been collected on Membo . As of September 24, 2026, there are 3,312 active member recruitment posts (including urgent and ongoing recruitment). Of these, 3,287 were collected from multiple Japanese websites, and only 25 were posted directly to Membo . The following figures are calculated using these 3,312 posts as the denominator.

First, we look at which conditions are "narrowed down" and to what extent. Here, "narrowed down" means that a value has been entered for that item, and it is not "not specified" or "not relevant".

Next, we have the distribution of how many of these five conditions are combined in each job posting.

The most common combination is two conditions, accounting for nearly a quarter of all applications. On the other hand, only 63 applications (1.9%) have all five conditions met. Adding conditions is not inherently bad; the main point of this article is the order in which to relax the conditions to broaden the pool of applicants without adding an unnecessary burden.

There are three important limitations to keep in mind when interpreting these figures. Firstly, only 25 job postings were directly submitted to Membo , and it is impossible to draw general conclusions from a sample of this size. Secondly, 3,287 of the postings were collected from other sites, and their proportions are influenced by the design of the input forms on each source site—for example, if many sites require location as a field, the rate of regional filtering will be higher due to that design. Thirdly, this data does not show any causal relationship that "loosening the conditions increased the number of applications." I want to reiterate that what we see here is merely a distribution of "what combinations of conditions are most common right now," and it does not verify the relationship between that distribution and the number of applications.

3. There are five conditions: region, part, genre, age group, and gender.

The fields that can actually be filled in on Membo 's member recruitment form are title, detailed description (free text), prefecture, activity location, genre, part, desired age group, desired gender, and website/SNS. Of these, the five fields that function as "conditions" are region (prefecture/activity location), genre, part, desired age group, and desired gender. Note that in the calculations in the previous chapter, "region" only counts the prefecture field (the activity location field is not included in the calculations).

Conversely, conditions such as "experienced only," "available hours," "equipment availability," and "skill level" do not exist as structured input fields. If you wish to include these in your recruitment, you will need to write them as text in the free-text field for detailed description. Similarly, there are no dedicated input fields for roles other than performing—such as scheduling, managing finances, transporting equipment, or handling publicity. As discussed in the article on roles other than performing , you will need to decide how much detail to include in the detailed description field.

Some argue that having many options doesn't necessarily lead to an easier choice. A famous experiment published in 2000 by psychologists Iyengar and Lepper compared a supermarket tasting corner with 24 types of jam versus one with only 6 types. They reported that only about 3% of customers purchased jam when there were 24 types, compared to about 30% when there were 6 types (Iyengar & Lepper, 2000) . This was an experiment on the decision-making process of the person making the choice, and it cannot be directly applied to recruitment conditions, but it is a study that is often cited as an example of how "too many options can actually paralyze people." This may be relevant to recruitment conditions as well, as narrowing them down too much may make it less likely for people to apply in the first place.

4. Order of loosening ① What to remove first

From here, in chapters 4, 5, and 6, we will list the five conditions in order of how easy they are to relax. The criterion is the degree of risk that the band's activities themselves would cease to be possible if the condition is not met. First, the genre and the fineness of the time period are relatively low-risk and easy to manage even if removed immediately after application.

In the previous chapter's measurements, genre accounted for 38.6%, the lowest percentage of narrowing down the criteria among the five conditions. While it's understandable to want to strictly specify a genre, in reality, once you start working together, it's not uncommon for the band's direction to change depending on the musical styles each member brings to the table. Rather than narrowly fixing the genre at the time of recruitment, it might be better to keep the general tone to something like "People who like [genre] are welcome," and leave the actual adjustment of musical styles to dialogue after joining, as is how to deal with differences in musical style .

Regarding age groups, the most common type of recruitment, with 432 applications, narrowed down to just one age group from multiple options. While the desire to recruit "only people of the same generation" is natural, fixing the age group to a single category mechanically excludes applicants from adjacent age groups. Even broadening the age range by just one level increases the number of eligible applicants. The detailed impact of narrowing down the age group will be discussed again in Chapter 9.

5. Order of loosening ② Items to loosen carefully

Next, while it's possible to remove them, it's worth pausing and considering before doing so. 41.2% of applicants narrow down their search by instrument and gender, making it the most frequently combined condition among the five. Instruments are often included as a condition to fill a missing sound in the current band; there's no point in recruiting a guitarist when you're short on vocalists. In this sense, loosening the instrument condition isn't as simple as "loosening it will increase applications," and it's strongly tied to the actual needs of the recruiting party. How to find each instrument is covered separately in articles on finding vocalists , guitarists , and bassists . If there's room to loosen the instrument condition, it's to reconsider whether you're also including conditions like "years of experience with that instrument" or "equipment owned." The process involves keeping the instrument itself unchanged and first removing the implicit conditions associated with it.

While gender accounts for the lowest percentage of the five criteria at 23.0%, it differs in nature from the other criteria, so it cannot simply be said to be "easier to loosen." This will be discussed in detail in Chapter 8.

6. The order in which to loosen things ③ Things that you can keep until the end

Rather than saying that you should stick to the criteria until the end, in many cases, the region is the most difficult criterion to remove. The region accounts for the highest percentage of filtering at 66.8%, and this is no coincidence. Most band activities are based on the premise of actually gathering in a studio to practice, and as we have covered in the sections on how to use a 2-hour studio practice , how to conduct your first band practice , and how to proceed with daily practice , being within commuting distance is a condition close to the foundation of the activity. Even if you try to exclude the region and accept applications from far away, you will end up with another problem, "not being able to meet," and the activity may come to a halt.

However, this doesn't mean that the geographical restriction can never be relaxed. One approach is to conduct the initial meeting and discussion about musical preferences online first, and then decide whether to meet in person afterward. As explained in the article on online meetings , even for applicants from distant locations, you can broaden your reach without completely removing the geographical requirement by first talking to them online. Even if you want to maintain a geographical location, it is possible to strike a balance between the requirement and accessibility by "keeping the geographical location the same, but creating initial contact online."

7. "Experienced applicants only" might not be a requirement, but rather a matter of word choice.

As mentioned in Chapter 3, there is no dedicated field in Membo 's application form to specify "experienced applicants only." In other words, the condition "experienced applicants only" appears as text within the free-form description, rather than as structured data. This is completely different in nature from the other five conditions. While prefecture and part-time status are searchable and filtered by applicants, the phrase "experienced applicants only" is not searchable and is only seen by those considering applying after reading the main text.

In other words, "experienced players only" is less of a requirement and more of a matter of word choice in the job posting. There's a huge difference in the impression conveyed by "experienced players welcome" and "experienced players only." The former prioritizes experienced players while not discouraging applications from inexperienced players, while the latter clearly excludes inexperienced players. We've covered how to handle inexperienced applicants in our article on whether you can join a band even without experience , so if you're struggling with the experience requirement, please read that as well.

8. Things to consider before specifying gender

Gender is the item with the lowest filtering rate among the five conditions (23.0%), but it requires some care in its handling. First, let's look at the actual data in more detail. Of the 1,206 cases where some value was entered in the gender field, 445 explicitly selected "Not specified" (gender irrelevant), and the remainder were the actual filtering. The breakdown was as follows: male only accounted for the largest number with 506 cases (42.0%), followed by "Other" with 141 cases, female only with 113 cases, and both male and female with 1 case.

I don't intend to categorize recruitment solely by gender. However, while recruiting members for an amateur band cannot be equated with hiring activities based on paid employment contracts, there are some points that can be considered. Article 5 of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act states that "Employers must provide equal opportunities to workers in recruitment and hiring, regardless of gender" (e-Gov Law Search - Equal Employment Opportunity Act) . Recruiting amateur bands does not fall under "recruitment and hiring of workers" to which this law directly applies, so there is no legal obligation to make it gender-neutral. However, the idea of "ensuring equal opportunities regardless of gender" as shown in the hiring selection rules pamphlet published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare "Equal Hiring Selection Rules for Men and Women") aligns with the practical objective of broadening the pool of applicants, regardless of whether it has legal force or not.

In fact, some studies have observed a numerical correlation between gender and the difficulty of applying for jobs. An experimental study on LinkedIn, involving 2.32 million users and over 100,000 job postings, reported that displaying the current number of applicants on job postings increased the overall application rate by 3.6%, and particularly in jobs where over 80% of applicants were male, the application rate for women increased by 11.7% (there was no significant change in the application rate for men) (Gee, 2018, Management Science) . While this was an experiment on a job site and may not directly apply to band member recruitment, the tendency for women to hesitate to apply in environments that appear to be predominantly male can be a factor to consider when deciding whether or not to include gender as a condition. If there is a clear reason for wanting to include gender as a condition, keeping it as such is one option, but if it's just a "hunch," leaving it unspecified will broaden the range of potential applicants.

9. What happens when you narrow down the time period to just one?

As mentioned in Chapter 4, the most common recruitment pattern is to "focus on only one age group." Of the 1,255 recruitments specifying an age group, 432 focused on only one age group, followed by 202 with two age groups, 188 with three age groups, 141 each with four and five age groups, and 84 with eight age groups (these are representative combinations and do not cover all possible breakdowns).

A useful reference for considering the impact of limiting age groups to a single category is the age-group-based data on "playing musical instruments" from the Social Life Basic Survey (2016 survey) published by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Here, "participation rate" refers to the percentage of the population aged 10 and over who engaged in the activity of playing a musical instrument in the past year.

This data is published as a statistical topic by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (Statistical Topics No. 105) . Detailed survey results are summarized in the PDF document published by the Statistics Bureau (Statistical Topics No. 105 PDF) . To reiterate, this data covers "playing a musical instrument" in general, including individual practice of classical music, and does not represent only the number of people participating in band activities. While the participation rate gradually decreases with age, the average number of days of activity (the number of days per year on which an instrument was actually played) does not necessarily decrease with age. Some age groups, such as 55-59 and 65-69, record the same number of days as or even more than younger age groups. This suggests that even if the participation rate decreases, those who continue to play tend to continue playing consistently.

Given this structure, narrowing the age range to just one category carries the risk of mechanically missing out on people in adjacent age groups who have actually been playing instruments for a long time. In particular, for bands of working adults who continue their activities while balancing work, the pace of activity, as discussed in the article on balancing work and music, is often the deciding factor in matching rather than age. Working adults who are just starting out in a band should also check out the article on getting started as a working adult . If you want to use age as a condition, we recommend giving it some leeway by including at least one age group before and after, rather than narrowing it down to just one category.

10. What you can do instead of loosening up — Write in detail in the description / Expand your reach

As we've seen, the structured criteria you can specify in Membo 's recruitment form are limited to five: region, part, genre, age, and gender. Much of the truly important information, such as available time, experience level, desired personality, and assistance outside of performance (scheduling, equipment transport, etc.), can only be written in the free-form description section rather than in the structured fields. This is both a constraint and a space to "communicate" rather than "narrow down" the criteria.

Rather than strictly fixing the conditions, conveying enthusiasm through detailed descriptions is covered in detail in the section on writing recruitment advertisements . Also, if you are considering having someone involved for a one-time live performance or recording rather than as a full member, the article on support members will be helpful. If you are wondering whether to accept applications from people who are in multiple bands, the article on applications from people in multiple bands will be helpful. Sometimes, you can broaden your reach by devising the "form" of the recruitment itself, rather than narrowing the conditions.

For applicants, detailed descriptions are crucial for making a decision. Even if they don't perfectly meet the recruitment requirements, reading the detailed description might make them feel like they could do the job, leading them to apply. Conversely, even if the requirements are lenient, some people might hesitate to apply if the passion in the main text doesn't come across. We've compiled a guide on how to write a self-introduction for applicants, so please use it whether you're recruiting or applying.

Have places to reach out to people outside of recruitment websites.

If relaxing the requirements doesn't increase applications, the problem might not be the conditions themselves, but rather that the "areas where the job posting is reaching" are too narrow. In the survey of companies conducted by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT) mentioned at the beginning, the reason cited by companies that said they had difficulty acquiring talent was "no applicants despite posting job openings" (56.5%), far exceeding "unsatisfactory treatment/conditions" (5.1%). While this is an employment survey and cannot be directly applied to the bands, it is worth considering the possibility that "the job posting isn't even reaching the right people" before considering "the conditions aren't right."

Besides recruitment websites, there are several other places where you can be approached.

• Using social media to share information —by regularly showing glimpses of your practice sessions and song snippets, you can convey "what kind of band it is" before you even post a recruitment notice. Social media strategies for bands.
• Session bars and jam sessions —you can actually play together before inviting someone, allowing you to check compatibility beforehand, something that can't be conveyed through the conditions section alone. How to start a jam session
• Performing at a live music venue —It gives you the opportunity to meet other bands playing on the same day and people who have come to the venue. A complete guide to your first live music venue performance.
• Street performances —a way to use your performance itself as your calling card. An introduction to street performances .

The advantages and disadvantages of each method are compared in the Complete Guide to Finding Band Members . Recruitment websites are just one entry point, not the only one. Membo allows you to search information from multiple recruitment sites all in one place, so you can use it to get an overview first and then fill in the gaps as needed.

11. Resubmit, or change only the conditions.

When you feel that you're not getting enough applications, you might wonder whether you should resubmit the job posting from scratch or simply revise the conditions of the existing posting. As a general guideline, if it seems like you only need to adjust one or two of the five conditions covered in this article, it's easier to edit the existing posting. On the other hand, if there is room for improvement not only in the conditions but also in the title and the way the detailed description is written, it is often more effective to review other elements as well—such as the clarity of the writing, the specificity of the activity image, and the level of difficulty for applicants—as discussed in the section on how to revise when you're not getting replies. This article has focused solely on "conditions," but if relaxing the conditions doesn't change the number of applications, we recommend moving on to revising the entire job posting.

Relaxing the requirements can sometimes result in a wider range of applications than expected. If you're unsure how to proceed with the selection process after receiving applications, please refer to our article on how to select applicants . Relaxing the requirements doesn't necessarily mean lowering the quality of applicants; rather, it increases the options available and provides more opportunities to reassess whether they are a good fit for you.

12. Common Failure Patterns — Points where people tend to stumble when reviewing conditions

Here, we'll summarize typical scenarios where you might stumble when revising your conditions, based on the data in Chapter 2 of this article and the mechanisms discussed in Chapters 4-11. These aren't anecdotes from actual recruiters, but rather a collection of common pitfalls. Before revising your own recruitment process, please compare your situation to any of these examples to see if any apply to yours.

What all these situations have in common is that the problem lies not in the conditions themselves, but in "how to communicate the conditions." How to structure the entire recruitment message is covered in the Complete Guide to Writing Member Recruitment Advertisements , and how to review your message when you don't receive applications is explained in 5 Points to Review When You Don't Get a Reply to Your Recruitment Message .

13. Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Should I remove all the conditions and set it to "No specification"?

No, not necessarily. As we saw in Chapters 3 and 4-6, there are conditions, like region, that, if removed, could undermine the very premise of the activity. The point of this article is not to "remove everything," but to prioritize reviewing conditions that are easier to loosen (genre, fineness of age range), and not forcibly change conditions that are difficult to remove (region, part), and to compensate for them with other methods such as online meetings if necessary.

Q. I think that if you narrow down the criteria, only people who are a good fit for your band will apply.

That way of thinking isn't wrong in itself. However, as the data in Chapter 2 of this article shows, the main reason for not receiving applications may be that "they don't apply in the first place" rather than "they are rejected because they don't meet the requirements." If you narrow the requirements too much, you lose the opportunity for people to even decide whether they are a good fit.

Q. Are there any legal issues with using gender or age as criteria?

As mentioned in Chapter 8, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act applies to the recruitment and hiring of paid employees, and recruiting members for an amateur band does not directly violate this law. However, regardless of whether or not it is legally enforceable, it is worth considering how much the conditions narrow the pool of applicants.

Q. What should I do with job postings that have already been submitted with specific criteria?

Many recruitment sites and services allow you to edit the conditions after posting. If you've posted your recruitment directly to Membo , you can also review the conditions later. Start by reviewing the five conditions, beginning with the ones that are easiest to relax.

Q. How should I communicate conditions other than the performance itself (such as cooperation with scheduling)?

As mentioned in Chapters 7 and 10, these will be written in the detailed description section rather than in a structured conditions field. For details on roles other than performance, please refer to the article on other roles .

14. Summary | Conditions exist not to "narrow down" but to "communicate".

In this article, we examined the order in which membership recruitment requirements should be relaxed, based on actual data from 3,312 recruitment posts on Membo and several public statistics and studies.

1. The criteria can be categorized into five groups : region (66.8%), part-time job (41.2%), genre (38.6%), age group (37.9%), and gender (23.0%), in that order of increasing filtering rate.
2. The first things you can eliminate are genre and timeframes : both are conditions that offer plenty of room for flexibility and adjustment once you start your activities.
3. Consider part-time work and gender carefully : part-time work is tied to the actual nature of the work itself, while gender is a different perspective, related to the range of applicants.
4. The community should be protected to the very end ; however, it is possible to supplement it with alternative methods such as online face-to-face meetings.
5. "Experienced applicants only" is not a condition, but a matter of wording : given the lack of a structured field, it's more accurate to treat it as a choice of words.

Conditions aren't just there to "weed out" applicants; they're also a way to communicate what your band is doing. The data used here is based on job postings on Membo , and with only 25 direct postings, it's too early to draw definitive conclusions from this analysis. Nevertheless, the structure where adding a condition reduces the number of potential applicants is likely common to many job postings. If you're currently considering revising your recruitment conditions, start by checking if there's room to loosen the genre and age range criteria. When searching for new members, Membo allows you to search job postings from multiple Japanese websites at once, and the detailed description field lets you share information outside of the structured conditions. If you're unsure how to use it, please also refer to Membo's help page , announcements and user guides , app usage page , and author information page.