As I scour the web for job listings, I’ve come across quite an assortment of posts. They range from professionally-written and well-organized to a complete jumble, riddled with errors and not very representative of what the job may be. Some barely give me enough information to know if it’s a job I’d be interested in! What a waste. So here are some thoughts I had while reading dozens of descriptions…
1. What amuses me greatly are the ones that say “only serious candidates please.” It made me wonder if that actually works, and silly as it sounds to me, I bet it does, if only a little bit. There’s something about human psychology that needs a little reminding of the seemingly obvious things at times. That’s exactly why saying “please RT” on Twitter actually does work in increasing the number of retweets. It’s obvious that people would love if you retweet their stuff on Twitter, but sometimes when it’s a particularly important thing, writing it out gets people to take action. Similarly, having that warning phrase probably does do some damage control for the posters, decreasing the number of junk applications they get.
2. I appreciate it when the company tells you who they are! It amazes me how many anonymous job listings there are. After all, if I were the hiring manager, I would want to make sure the candidate not only fits what I want in the position, but aligns with the business objectives of the company as well. Don’t you want people who fit the company culture and truly like your product or service? I can understand individual people looking for personal assistants being more vague on who they are, but at least they describe themselves – “female executive working between home and office.” Companies rarely go into their company culture, usually saying something generic like “fast-paced environment.” What if I find out, like my friend Elle did once, that you stand for exactly the opposite things that I do?!
2a. Also, some descriptions are very similar and I wonder if it’s the same one I applied for. Though it doesn’t look the same, it’s the same job title, in the same general area, with the same pay. What if I’m wasting my time applying twice? If I know what the organizations were, that could be prevented.
3. What’s up with this whole “salary commensurate with experience” deal? I would much rather they put up a range so I can get an idea of where I fall. To me, job descriptions vary greatly between organizations and though I just about qualify to be a marketing director for one, I barely qualify to be a marketing associate/assistant in another! That’s where the issue of money becomes handy (and I begin to see why money came about in the first place). The standardization of worth is pretty accurately measured across these jobs, despite the descriptions. So a quick glance at the salary or hourly wage gives me a good idea of whether I’m too far off from a position or if it is within my range. Oftentimes the job descriptions don’t even tell me and technically I qualify, but I get the impression they’re looking for someone with closer to 7 years experience, or the like. I think having a solid number up there helps weed away people whose expectations are too far off.
I’m sure I’ll find other nuances that either entertain or annoy me as I keep looking. Such is the experience of being a job hunter! I’ve gotten much better at distinguishing between real listings and the fake ones though (well maybe they’re not fake, but they’re a bit of a scam and not the standard career job I’m looking for). I’ve got some promising leads and interviews to be scheduled, so that’s good. And the hunt continues…
