The Recruitment Desk | The Recruitment Desk

July 15, 2015

Decoding Job Descriptions

All Job Descriptions are written in a corporate language that can, at first glance, be intimidating. Don’t fret. Part of leaning the Language of Job Descriptions, is learning how to take all of the information offered and make sense of it.

In order to understand what the Job Description is asking for, we have to do a bit of decoding.

Here is the abridged version of a job description from LinkedIn for a Sr. Network Administrator at a Fortune 500 company. It’s long and boring, but I encourage you to read it:

Perform performance trend analysis and manage the server/network capacity. Propose client configuration and implement technical solutions to enhance and/or troubleshoot the system. Work with others to define, coordinate vendor purchase needs. Responsible for support documentation as well.

Responsibilities
• Participate in the installation, monitoring, maintenance, support, and optimization of all production server hardware, software.
• Provides escalated 2nd level technical support for complex technical issues which may include leading problem management cases and providing management status.
• Manages escalated support cases and leads appropriate internal technical resources and/or 3rd party vendors to resolution.
• Managing a storage infrastructure of Oracle 7420 ZFS appliances
• Administration of production Active Directory forest, including group policy objects.
• Oracle Virtual Machine 3.x cluster management.
• Microsoft IIS 7.5 web farm management and troubleshooting.
• Assist with server operating system and application upgrades, bug fixes and patching.
• Working on standardization projects for both hardware and software under the Oracle technology stack; while providing consistent system uptime as expected in a SaaS environment.
• System support for both a MS SQL (Windows) and Oracle (Linux) database environment.
• Experience with Exadata Engineered Database systems considered an asset.

Other Responsibilities
• Must be able to provide after hours on-call support on a rotating basis.
• Light travel required in accordance with business needs.

Requirements
• Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or equivalent work experience.
• 8 years or more of related technical experience may be substituted for degree requirements.
• 8 years of experience in IT Infrastructure support and server administration in a mid-sized environment (200 – 1000+ server systems).
• 8 years of experience supporting and troubleshooting distributed, N-Tier applications, software, and operating systems.
• Experience administering and troubleshooting issues with messaging middleware and message brokers. Oracle AQ experience strongly preferred.
• Advanced knowledge of enterprise Linux OS and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
• Ability to quickly learn new technologies and keep up with the latest technologies.
• Advanced knowledge of network architecture and protocols.
• Strong experience with enterprise administrative scripting using a major scripting language (Powershell, Bash, Perl, etc.)
• Experience with software deployment.
• Outstanding organizational skills, ability to prioritize effectively, and experience with technical project management.
• Highly service-oriented, reliable, responsible, self-motivated, and enthusiastic.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to interact professionally with a diverse group of customers and staff.
• Experience providing client-facing, direct customer support and service.
• Ability to interact with all levels of an organization in a professional, and tactful manner.
• Ability to work productively in cross-functional teams or resourcefully and independently as an individual.

If you feel like you need a drink after reading that, you are probably not alone.

Which is why I am here to help decode this Job Description.

Begin Decoding Process…

When I look at a Job Description, I see three colours:

Blue

Perform performance trend analysis and manage the server/network capacity. Propose client configuration and implement technical solutions to enhance and/or troubleshoot the system. Work with others to define, coordinate vendor purchase needs. Responsible for support documentation as well.

Blue is the heart of the Job Description. It’s the entire job in one nice little paragraph. That is the person this company is looking for.

Red

• Managing a storage infrastructure of Oracle 7420 ZFS appliances
• Administration of production Active Directory forest, including group policy objects.
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• Microsoft IIS 7.5 web farm management and troubleshooting.
• SaaS environment.
• MS SQL (Windows) and Oracle (Linux) database environment.
• Experience with Exadata Engineered Database systems considered an asset.
Other responsibilities
• N-Tier
• Oracle AQ experience strongly preferred.
• Linux OS and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2

Red is the stuff that’s going to get you noticed.

These are Hard Skills. Whoever wrote this job description went to the Hiring Manager to ask what the Senior Network Administrator would need to qualify for the position and this is the laundry list he or she came back with.

These are the infamous “Buzz Words” so many career gurus speak of. They are the terms I as Recruiter am taking to a search engine in hopes of finding your resume. They are the words that online selection software is ensuring are on your resume before it gets passed to Human Resources.

You don’t need to have all of them, but let’s be realistic, the more the merrier.

Green

• Participate in the installation, monitoring, maintenance, support, and optimization of all production server hardware, software.
• Provides escalated 2nd level technical support for complex technical issues
• Must be able to provide after hours on-call support on a rotating basis.
• Light travel required
• Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or equivalent work experience.
• 8 years or more of related technical experience may be substituted
• mid-sized environment (200 – 1000+ server systems)
• Advanced knowledge of network architecture
• Strong experience with enterprise administrative scripting
• software deployment.
• Experience providing client-facing, direct customer support and service.

While demonstrated knowledge of the Hard Skills is going to be the essential to you getting hired, what is outlined in Green are the things we as Recruiters are keeping an eye out for. They are the basic things we want to have checked off before we agree to send your resume to a Hiring Manager.

Read them again. Select the ones that best apply to your background and elaborate.

For example:

Client Facing: If you’re going to be supporting CEO’s CFO’s CTO’s or any other three letter abbreviations, you need to be able to conduct yourself accordingly. You need to be able to communicate effectively, appear presentable and deliver quality service. Not everyone has what it takes to be put in front of important people and be trusted to deliver. If you’ve been in these scenarios before, make sure they are outlined in your resume.

Mid-Sized Environment: If your claim to fame is being Network Administrator for Joe’s Pizza Emporium, which had you tending to all of two severs, we can’t really trust to throw 198 more at you and expect success. If you have worked in Mid-Sized Environments before, make sure you be specific (# of users?, # of servers, etc.).

On-Call/Travel: I once worked with a Hiring Manager who would not hire anyone who did not have experience working rotating on-call shifts. Why? Because it’s a lifestyle. Not all people or significant others understand getting woken up in the middle of the night. If you show you understand that and are prepared for it, you are one step ahead of the pack.

These are the things that will show you know a little bit about what you will be getting into; That you have a little been there, done that before; That you could have what it takes to be the next Sr. Network Administration at our company.

What was left in black were soft skills. They are generic things. Anyone can say they have them and everyone does. They are of the lowest importance. As you get better at Decoding Resumes you will learn to tune them out entirely.

Read your Resume again. If it is composed largely of soft skills, you have some work to do.

Once you begin to understand what a job description is asking for, you’ll be able to tailor your resume to match it, and the closer your resume matches, the more likely someone will be setting up an appointment to discuss in further detail.

June 29, 2015

Learning the Language of Job Descriptions

One of the first exercises I was tasked with when I began life in the Staffing industry was to take a Job Description to the Workopolis database and come back with a selection of resumes I thought fit for the position.

After countless searches I had my stack and was ready to go.

paper stack

“Make sure you read the entire resume,” said my manager. “You need to know how to read them before you can browse them.”

Walk before run. Sound advice.

Five years later, the average resume gets anywhere from a 15 to 30 second browse before I’ve made my decision on next steps. But back then, I read every word. It’s how I learned the language of Technology and the language of Recruitment. It was in those resumes where I learned the basis of my profession.

I didn’t like it. But I did it.

And you’re not going to like what I’m about to tell you to do, but I think you should do it.

Just as I was handed the begrudging task of learning the language of resumes, I encourage all job seekers to sit down and become familiar with The Language of Job Descriptions.
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Most people view job descriptions as generic and forgettable. To a large degree, they are correct. A job description does not warn about the thing growing in the back of the kitchen fridge. A job description doesn’t say anything about internal corporate dynamics. And a job description definitely does not tell you about what happened at the Christmas party last year.

But there are a lot of things a Job Description does tell you. It introduces you to your potential employer. It tells you what you will be expected to do, what knowledge you are expected to bring and what you can expect in return.

And just as you expect me to read your resume, I expect you to have read my Job Description.

After all, if you haven’t read the job description, how do you know you’re a good fit for the job?

The good news is that, just as sitting down to build a template for your Cover Letter will save you countless hours during the application process, so will learning the Language of Job Descriptions. Once you understand how to read what a job description is asking for, you’ll be able to quickly tailor your resume to provide it.

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to Find Five Job Descriptions for similar jobs in whatever field you are looking to get into. Print them. And read every word of them. If you’re feeling extra ambitious, read them again. Every word.

What do you notice in all of them?

Start to see patterns. Make note of the way they are written and the language being used. Get familiar with looking at them. See the way they are laid out. See the way information flows. See yourself doing the things you are reading about. Think about how you’ve done similar things in the past.

Once you feel comfortable and familiar with the Language of Job Descriptions, I’ll be back to teach you how to read it and what to do with it.