I know there is a lot of career advice out there that suggests creating a cover letter that matches the job posting you are applying to as closely as possible. And while I agree with this in theory, the reality is that most job postings are useless and give very limited information about the position. Many are filled with fluff phrases stating that requirements include being a good communicator and a team player, and having a proven track record. Honestly, I’ve seen these phrases used on senior management and C-level postings. I don’t really need a job spec to figure out that these attributes are important components of the position…these are givens for any position. But few postings offer any insights into the strategic and tactical skills necessary to perform the role successfully. Scot Herrick of Cube Rules has a great post on this called Four Job Description Ingredients Candidates Would Love so please read it to gain some insight on the key elements of a solid job posting.

With so many poorly written job specs, it’s no surprise that hiring managers aren’t getting targeted candidates for their open positions. Instead, there is a conga line of strong communicating team players who feel they meet the requirements of the  job. As a writer, my first reaction to seeing these poorly constructed postings is “Who’s writing these? Are the descriptions simply recycled or cut and paste jobs from other descriptions? Did anyone take the time to interview the hiring manager to assess the department needs? Was the hiring manager under a tight deadline to get a job description over to HR so they could quickly evaluate it and benchmark the salary? What is the cause of such shoddy workmanship?”

Job seekers need to establish a compelling personal brand in order to communicate their  value to an organization. And employers need a strong employment brand to communicate their value proposition to potential hires. Part of that value proposition should be creating job descriptions that crystallize individual contributor roles and relate those roles back to the values of that company. Even if the position isn’t being posted in a very public forum, the company still needs to be able to articulate the “must haves” of the role they are trying to fill.

Having a poorly constructed job description is like having a poorly thought out business plan. You can’t launch a successful business without some sort of a road map. And you can’t source the best candidates for an open position if you can’t describe specifically what you want them to achieve.