IT job descriptions way out of line
August 4, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: IT staffing, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
It’s a new trend a lot of IT pros are seeing: job listings that make little sense and give candidates unrealistic requirements.
That’s the message in a recent article by niche job board Dice.com. The biggest problem: recruiters asking for candidates with experience in diverse areas that don’t normally go together — resulting in few or no qualified candidates.
What’s to blame? The article suggests it’s a lack of IT input when HR writes the job descriptions. The end result is more of a “wish list” than a practical list of qualifications.
As with all kinds of jobs, it’s important to go over the job description with the hiring manager and other people in the department. That’ll make sure what gets written is accurate, appealing and realistic.
Tags: Dice.com, hiring manager, IT manager, job description
August 12th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Maybe the job description is written exactly as the employer wants it written to discourage US workers from applying. Discourage US workers because they have a foreign national already on the job with a temporary visa. Employers who hire foreign nationals on a temporary visa often will apply for a permanent visa. One of the requirements in the process is to advertise the job to test the labor market for qualified US workers.
One sure way of not finding any US workers is to write the job description that is suitable for the foreign nationa but not for the typical US worker otherwise qualified.
August 12th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Two comments here…regarding the issue around hiring a foreign national; we have had to go through this and you have to use the job description at the time of foreign national being hired or be the job description the person is actually performing; so this I would find unlikely the case. Secondly, being a technology recruiter there has been a covergence of various technologies that make it ideal for an individual to possess skill sets that normally would have been 2-3 different professionals. An example of this would be in the networking, storage, and audio visual arena; being a company that provides solutions across each one of these areas and the fact that these three groups need to collaborate on their solututions in many occurances, it just makes sense to find someone that has experience across each area. So it may not always be that the position is way out of line, but the fact that as technology evolves so will the job descriptions.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I was an IT manager for 12 years and lost my job after a buy-out. I spent my days researching postings and sending in resumes only to find that I didn’t qualify because of some absurd reason. The interviewer asked “How are you with legacy software?”. I replied “Which one are you referring too?” They said “The Legacy one!”.. you get my point.
One company local to me posted for an experienced Desktop Tech. Must be experienced in both PC’s and Macs. Needs to have experience in programing switches, routers and telecom repair. Know any Desktop techs that fit that one.
These folks don’t know what they want so they want everything. It’s a wish list but the problem is that the recruiter can’t even submit someone that is close unless the company lowers it’s expectation down to reality.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:30 pm
It’s really amazing how some companies expect - or at least desire - an IT specialist to also be a programmer, SQL Administrator, Desktop Support Tech, Exchange Administrator, Webmaster, Telephone/PBX Technician and even a printer/copier repairman.
What HR needs to advise management is that most of these areas are specialties in their own right. Combine any two or three of the above and you have an exceptional hire.
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Interesting…. I never considered all these items to be too diverse. For my part, I don’t do much real programming anymore with all the cheap, canned packages out there. I thought it was fun to create a website to provide company information, but not too practical when we needed to do retail sales. I have learned enough to set up our (100,000 copy per month) network printer/FAX/copier as well as replace gears on its paper lift or calibrate the toner density. I have set up/programmed our 64 station PBX and voice mail system as well as run new phone cables and replace a 4-station circuit card. I have set up our managed Cisco switch as well as the building’s unsecured wireless internet access so as to keep our gigabit cabled local network secure. Most all of our employees still come to me for desktop support and IT questions even after the sale of our mid-sized company to a large corporation. The corporate IT people don’t really know what we do and how to make those things happen just yet, especially since we use both Macs and PC’s and both Windows and Linux systems. Email is always something for our people to contend with since we got on the corporate Exchange Server. And of course, there are times when a printer needs a new timing belt or a laptop needs a new keyboard. Sending these in or calling for service is so cost prohibitive in our rural location.
Since I’m not yet qualified on our corporate level of IT, I spend much of my time working on building maintenance and as commercial electrician here. It’s hard to find good people locally who are familiar with our 800 A, 480V 3 Phase power requirements, and again, cost prohibitive when we do.
Different companies need lots of different jobs done, and positions evolve accordingly. There is a lot to learn for each of them, and I am aware that there is a lot more out there that I don’t know than what I do. I expect that what the management of these companies is really asking for is someone who is very versatile and capable of learning according to the company’s future requirements. Certainly, this is a recruiter’s nightmare. I can just imagine what the posting will be for my job when I retire.