We Need a Better Spec

John Sumser has a nice piece on Online Job Ads today. It has struck me as I have read various takes on this topic that the contrarian, Brand Talent approach would be to list more detail rather than apply more spin. We need a better spec, not a better sell.

 How about we define exactly what success looks like, the exact behaviors that would be exhibited by the targeted talent (not the previous job or education experience), the portfolio needed to demonstrate credible evidence of capability and the depth of references needed to prove that the spec was likely to be met? How about assuming that any idiot can go on the web and look up background information about your company, and if they don't or can't, that's a pretty good indication of lack of fit right there (why does every posted job description start with the boilerplate about the company)? And how about listing the bad things about your culture (system) that would prevent someone with certain qualities from being a success? As I have said before, “Good News is No News” so how about we stop trying to sell through persuasion and start trying to sell by delivering value to the buyer: in this case, the exact spec?

We all agree that present job descriptions are awful. But is making them more “prettiful” (a word that seems to be making the rounds in junior high these days) really the solution that we need?

 Job descriptions are bad because they lack value in a buy / sell transaction. They are the corporate equivalent of the resume: romance novels where the perfect island is inhabited by perfect tasks for perfect people. Yuck.

 As a buyer, here is my spec: I need credible information that will enable me to make a careful evaluation of whether I want the job you are offering and whether I am “quality” (as in “Do I fit your spec?").

 Think about this: it may not be that “passive” candidates aren’t looking for a job. It may be they don't like what they find when they take the chance. I don't know about you, but I never type in "ideal candidate" or "desired" or all the other clap-trap words that so often get used in job descriptions. So I don't get linked to a lot of job descriptions that I would want to pursue.

 Brand Talent will be looking for a better spec, and the companies that take the time that write such a spec will likely win their disproportionate share of the talent they are looking for (and their turn over will likely be lower too).

Comments

[JP Winker]

Better specs are available. The challenge is moving the market, or even one company, one job board, one ATS, one university, one resume - one anything - to try the better spec.

SkillCubes are one example - and probably the best of the available job specs, yet we don't see anyone integrating it into their core functionality. (http://skillcubes.com/)

Its not that we don't have better tools. Apparently we don't want to disrupt what we're doing.