That does seem pretty obligatory. We have the same thing on our irrigation (don’t want irrigation water backflowing in to the drinking water, and also it’s required).
We are at the top of a hill and everything flows down from us to the entire neighborhood, so that is another good check on the issue.
Thought I’d chime with a similar background to say that after a year and a half of sabbatical and occasionally putting in great effort (4 hour projects and 3-6 technical interview rounds per opportunity of which there were a couple dozen), I have a job again. And all it took was a referral and a 30min phone conversation with the hiring manager. I’ll make a little less than I did before, but have zero expectation of overtime or after hours or oncall bullshit, and I won’t have a bunch of smartasses constantly tilting at windmills and bike shedding everything.
Don’t worry about saying/writing whatever you need to get over hurdles. We’re not playing in a field where bona fides matter anymore. LinkedIn is a cesspool of fake ads and fake applicants, indeed and monster are just openings for recruiters that will mostly waste your time. And remember to treat startups like the ancap throwaway experiences they are.
I will say I encountered a situation recently where an opportunity vaporized due to “economic uncertainty.” I expect those will continue to increase in the next few months.