{"id":30413,"date":"2009-11-06T14:30:01","date_gmt":"2009-11-06T13:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/blog\/?p=30413"},"modified":"2009-11-03T11:42:29","modified_gmt":"2009-11-03T10:42:29","slug":"better-job-descriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/better-job-descriptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Simple Rules for Better Job Descriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I recently had occasion to look at a job description for an IT contract position.\u00a0 I could recognize a lot of the words, but the way they were put together gave me almost no clue what the company really needs someone to do.\u00a0 So I called a friend who\u2019s pretty far up the IT food chain and read it to him, just in case I was being dim.\u00a0 Neither of our secret decoder rings was up to the task, however, so we could only speculate about what the job might really be\u2014or who could do it well.<\/p>\n

This description came from a big company and went through a reputable recruiting agency.\u00a0 In this case, of course, part of the problem relates to the process itself, since in many cases outside recruiters cannot talk to the hiring manager in order to clarify the description and requirements.\u00a0 So if the hiring manager\u2014or whoever wrote the description\u2014is not very good at describing jobs, an HR intermediary may not know the difference, and the mystery document will just get propagated out to the recruiter(s) and passed on to the prospects.<\/p>\n

Internal processes can be just as problematic–and when a confusing or inadequate job description makes it onto the Careers site or the job boards, job-seekers are at a considerable disadvantage, since they have nothing else to go by.\u00a0 In these days, when applications are many and keywords often rule, applicants have to figure out how to highlight their qualifications; and that’s tricky when the requirements are not clear.<\/p>\n

In the description that prompted this post, I found several common problems, such as:<\/p>\n