I hate browsing trough job descriptions. Why? Well, let me tell you. First and foremost, they don't tell you what you want to know. What I want to know is "What will it be like working at your toko" and none of the descriptions focus on that.
Questions like the following are mostly left unanswered:
Whats the environment like? Is it going to be the 'corporate grind'?
Personally I have some sort of fear working for 'large' companies. I've never actually worked at those large corporate monoliths, but I imagine a very impersonal style and lots of unifomity. Frankly that scares the living shit out of me.
What will I be working on?
Specifics please! Because "You will be implementing Initech's strategy on the web" doesn't tell me squat. What that does tell me is that there is a large chance developers will be treated as coporate drones and being micromanaged till they break. I bet turnover is pretty high eh? Nobody wants to be doing the bidding of whomever without having a little creative input. A feeling of personal accomplishment is very important and your company better have some sort of system in place to maximize this with your staff.
What kind of individual are you looking for? Character specifics.
Are you looking for evangelists, dreamers, readers, pragmatic folk or loyal followers? Personally I'd be looking for pragmatic readers. Those that get the job done while improving all the time. Job description never reveal this. Either companies don't think it matters or they just want to cast the widest net. I bet those companies get all the "mediocre" people and never the
free electrons. If you want to hire smart people, have a smart job description. Meta data matters.
How's nice is the location are surrounding area?
I've recently been to a job interview where the actual location of there office put me off the job, even before I entered the building. The appearance they have on the web was very nice. Yet the location of their office was really depressing. I don't like working at a company where you get depressed even before you enter the building. If you're going to tell the world that you're a young and dynamic company with a playful spirit, then make sure the surroundings reflect that.
How are the working conditions? Will there be a lot of noise? On average; how many people on a team? What 'development methologies' are being used? How great will you're personal input be? How are skunk works handled and thought of? How about training courses? What about conferences? How does the company handle personal development?
These things are usually answered in your first face-to-face job-interview, but wouldn't it be nice if you had these answers before you actually send out your resume?
Why haven't I focused on the hard requirements? Well, because they don't really matter now do they. The "x years of experience needed" or "Expertly skilled in Java or C#" doesn't tell you squat. It only weeds out the 'starters', but beyond that its just fluff. People send in their resumes anyway. They don't care if they're qualified. Its just spam. I call this tracer-bullet-style job-hunting. Just fire lots of resumes and hope one bites. Next to that recruiters contact people with absolutely no experience just as easily. I've had dozens of emails like this:
"We're a .NET shop and looking for experienced C# .NET developers. We've looked at your resume and want to schedule a interview. Please contact us if you're interested"
I've never done C# or .NET and its certainly not on my resume. Honestly, why the hell would you contact me? What, for heavens sake, were the criteria for selecting me out of the immense list of 'actual' C# / .NET developers? Was it the "experienced web developer" thing? Was that it? Did that make you hot?
Not only poor developer folk are using ye old tracer bullet to look for new work but the recruiters are firing that shit right back at them. The problem with this is that there is too much white noise. You can't possibly find the sweet spots, the companies that actually fit your personal taste. Because the information needed to select said companies is missing.
If you ask me "why can't I get any good recruits". Then my answer would be "because they can't hear you through all the noise". You might be the greatest company to work for, but if you provide only hard criteria, you'll never find the good people.
Companies like
Google,
SourceGear and
FogCreek don't get the best people because they select on hard criteria. They get the best people trough word of mouth and the knowledge that meta data concerning your company matters more then just the amount of years you've put into Java. The next web 2.0 startup I'm hoping to see is a recruiting site which puts meta-data
first on both sides of the equation; the people looking for a job and the companies looking for people. And then go from there.
