College Candy: "BEWARE: Job seekers aren’t the only ones who sometimes get creative when it comes to selling themselves (i.e. resumes and cover letters that have been, shall we say, “tweaked” to make a person look like the ideal candidate). Some employers have a tendency to use verbiage that makes their open positions sound better than they really are.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
How to Translate Popular Job Descriptions
College Candy: "BEWARE: Job seekers aren’t the only ones who sometimes get creative when it comes to selling themselves (i.e. resumes and cover letters that have been, shall we say, “tweaked” to make a person look like the ideal candidate). Some employers have a tendency to use verbiage that makes their open positions sound better than they really are.
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3 comments:
Every posting I've seen for PM or SM lists at least 2 or 3 of these. Just a little reminder that we really are middle management keeping the talent making the product. When I look at job postings I'm always amazed and reminded of how much 'cleaning up other peoples messes' really aptly describes what we do.
The "shit-fixer" is the way that I had it described to me once. That and air-traffic controller - not flying the planes, just making sure they don't crash.
Dan's comment above feeds out of these coded phrases - these phrases give you a slight indication of the stock questions that you'll be asked at the interview. "Explain a negative work experience", "Explain a problem you faced and how you solved it", etc... these questions show up all the time, and these phrases in the job description may just indicate the ones that will be most prominent in the interview (and how prevalent they will be, as compared with info about the company and time for you to ask better questions than the stock ones).
These translations seem like a great tool to help you have a better understanding of what you're getting into, but I don't think that seeing any of these should make you run away. The most honest and helpful thing about this article is the bit at the end about how there are no perfect jobs or perfect employers. It's important to keep that in mind, especially as people who will be just going out into the workforce for the first time, or a second time for those of you with degrees. We tend to get a bit idealized about what our degree will do for us, but we need to remember that every job will be...work. Frustrating too!
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