Mad Skillz Yo

I had a good conversation with a couple of ad agency big shots last week. One of the things we discussed was their challenges in finding qualified, local people for a couple of quite technical jobs they're filling. They were quite impressed with the resume of one individual in particular, though, who provided a simple three column chart showing: 1 - his skills, 2 - how long he's been doing each, and 3 - his approximate skill level for each.

This works great for programmers, Web developers, and other roles with very clearly defined skills. "Photoshop, 8 years, advanced. Flash, 5 years, competent..."

But, we said to each other, what about those of us who can't quite quantitatively describe our capabilities? A copywriter can't really say "Heartfelt drama, 7 years, excellent. Ironic quips, 4 years, proficient..."

During the hiring/job-hunting process, this is a challenge on both sides. Employers can't clearly and succinctly define what they need, and the candidates can't simply provide a measurable summary of what they can do. My wife recently showed me a great example of this - a posting for a "Strategy Manager" with virtually no details to say what the heck this even means, let alone how someone could possibly know if they're qualified.

Even beyond employment situations, this really brings home the reliance everyone with "soft" skills must place on their personality (or personal brand, I suppose).

Professionally, who am I?

Please Flag

I like Craigslist. Sure, it's ugly and its lack of fancy features sometimes makes it difficult to find what I want. But it works. Its best feature (aside from being free) is that it has such a large user base.

Not only does this large user base help the site maintain a large volume of content, it also helps keep the site "clean". Anybody using the site can "flag" any ad that they find inappropriate (or want to commend). After sufficient flagging, bad ads are removed.

But this only works if people are actively "flagging" the bad stuff.

Same goes for any social site that's based on consumer-generated content and user control. Facebook is only interesting or useful when people actually post information or make changes to their profiles or expand their network.

But back to Craigslist... I'm really tired of seeing bad ads. In some categories, you see the same ad being reposted over and over and over and over again. In other categories, there is always a huge volume of scams. As I've posted here before, the jobs/careers area is particularly bad ("sales" does not equal "marketing" darnit) for mis-categorized ads.

This tells me that not enough people are flagging. So, please, next time you're on Craigslist flag one or two ads that are"bad" in some way.

Branding Through Job Postings

It seems like job ads either bring out the worst in a company or expose just how many sham businesses there are out there.

Bad speeling; and grammar. And OVERUSE of CAPS and EXCLAMATION marks!!!
are bad enough.

But take a look through a site like Craigslist, and you'll see a horrible number of deceptive, immature, transparent attempts to con people. I'll ignore the ones that are just con artists trying to off desperate employees as badly as they rip off their customers. Beyond these, though, are plenty of organizations who should know better. Maybe it would be a good idea to have the marketing department review any postings before they go out. What you say to prospective employees (and how you say it) is just as telling as what you say or do in your "customer facing" activities.

Sure, a job posting might not reach the thousands of people who would be exposed to an ad campaign or your storefront or a press release or whatever else you do, but it's not exactly hidden away from the public either.

It's not just the way a posting is written, either. I think a lot of HR people, hiring managers, and companies in general need to re-evaluate who they're looking for.

Some common offenses:
1. Over-promising. If you say I'm going to make thousands of dollars a week in my spare time, I simply won't believe you. You lose all legitimacy to me. Same goes for lesser exaggerations.

2. Being too broad or mis-categorization. If you want a sales rep, don't say you need a marketing person. If you're looking for an administrative assistant, don't advertise under a customer service area. At best you look like you don't understand the definitions of basic terms. At worst, you're as bad as a spammer.

3. Mis-matched titles, job descriptions, qualifications, and compensation. I'm really tired of places that call everybody with more than six months' experience a "manager" or "director". And postings for senior positions that only want to pay a fraction of what that role is really worth. And employers that insist on certain qualifications (degrees or certifications, for example) even when perfectly reasonable alternatives are available (such as years and years of experience or an award-winning portfolio). Again, this paints the employer as either ignorant of reality, sloppy, misleading, or deceitful. Are you trying to trick your customers into thinking your staff are more experienced than they really are? Are you simply close-minded? Are you trying to take advantage of a desperate candidate?

4. Silly titles. I'm sick of every store clerk being called an "associate" or "advisor" or "partner". It's vague and, even worse, goofy. You aren't fooling anyone. The 16 year old who scans my groceries and puts them in a bag is just a clerk. Similarly, it's astounding that the advertising agency industry has decided that "executive" is the code-word for "our most junior employee". Unless you're a senior manager or sit on the Board, you aren't an executive. All you're doing is hurting the legitimacy of the real associates, advisors, partners, and executives.

I'm sure there are lots more.

I should close with an example of good branding in job postings. I love this one from Coast Capital Savings. It has the same voice and attitude of their advertising and in-branch branding. If they talk to job candidates this way, my immediate thinking is that they really mean it when they talk to me in the same way as a prospective customer.

Wanted: Marketing People. Also, donuts.

Coast Capital Savings is Canada’s second largest credit union, and we’re Canada’s number one employer of awesome people. We have absolutely no way of proving that, but we have no way of disproving it either, so we’re sticking with it.

Our business is growing fast. Last year alone we added over 30,000 new members, were named BCAMA’s Marketer of the Year and one of Marketing Magazine’s ‘Marketers that Matter.’ It’s the result of a work environment that people enjoy, where innovation and creativity is strongly encouraged. If that sounds good to you, we should meet. You don’t have to bring donuts, but if you do, we like the ones with sprinkles.