Scot Herrick of Cube Rules recently commented on my blog about his distaste for “corporate speak” on resumes and that got me thinking about where much of this “corporate speak” originates…from job postings. So I took a quick tour of Simply Hired, a job aggregate board, to review the different styles of job postings. The first excerpt is from a posting for an operations professional; the second is for a program manager professional. Which one do you think is easier to understand and which place do you think sounds like a more authentic place to work? “Responsibility to facilitate, develop and implement initiatives across the team that will result in a well organized, well structured execution of activities. Responsible for ensuring capability within a commercialization project to meet the customer demand fulfillment ramp plan in Manufacturing. Responsible for the delivery of robust and capable equipment, process and production lines to the Manufacturing Operations function. Ensure that there are clear deliverables in all interaction with the SBU’s.” Or… “You will have experience as a Lead Program Manager managing other producers. Passion for and knowledge of games. The first requirement is to love video games. The second is to understand what makes a great video game. Strong cross-team communication skills. You can talk to creatives (e.g. artists and game designers), technical people (e.g. programmers), and non-technical people (e.g. PR and Marketing) alike. Deal with ambiguity. There is no instruction manual on how to be a great PM. Exceptional organizational skills. Your never let anything fall through the cracks. You are clear, concise, and specific. When you participate in a meeting, you clarify, capture and follow up on all action items.”I vote for the program manager job. It’s time for hiring authorities to “cut to the chase” when writing job specs. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Write in plain English. You may just find that you are more successful at finding the right match for your open positions.
Just Say No to Corporate Speak
Great post, and so true! The program manager posting that you described will also yield enthusiasm and authenticity in return from job seekers. Imagine, for instance, reading tailored cover letters in response to the two postings. A candidate who is truly a good fit for the PM position will shine (“passion for games”, “managed teams of x to y producers”, …).
Yes! Authenticity! How refreshing! Thanks for commenting!
Barbara
A book I just reviewed on my site notes that many applicants don’t even remember the position they applied for when the recruiter calls them. I agree with that statement, but this blog post tells us why.
If you were to read 100 resumes for being a manager, 99 of them (my gut telling me this…) would read like the first description. If a recruiter was calling about the second job description, don’t you think a candidate would remember it?
When you go into a job interview and you have to ask what you actually do on the job, you know the job description failed.
I do humor based on Corporate Speak. That’s how bad it is out there. If you can too, you’ve read too many resumes!
An important post, Barbara. Company management doesn’t get great candidates if they can’t start with a good job description.
Humor based on Corporate Speak??? Sounds like a YouTube video to me! Thanks for your comments and trackback.