[AusNOG] Looking for the right people

[Karl Auer]

On Mon, 2016-02-22 at 16:46 +1000, Gerard Clark wrote:
> Looking for the right people to join our networking team, please see
> attached and let me know if you are interested.

For the serious tl;dr drop to the end. For the rant, read on.

Wow. Are you sure that was the draft you wanted to release?

"Location: Sydney, Greater Brisbane Area" = useless, no real info

"Role: To be the best you can be" = meaningless

"Position title: High achievers" = meaningless

"Level 5 Leaders" - Thunderbirds are go! F.A.B., Virgil! (meaningless)

"personally offended by mistakes"  = unable to teach, intolerant of
learners

"personally offended by stupidity" - stupidity as defined by whom, I
wonder

"live our core values" = have no life outside work? BS at best. Are
these core values written up somewhere?

"extremely driven" = burn-out city, probably very difficult to work with

"ability to learn rapidly" - but apparently without making mistakes

"lay awake thinking about the stuff" When did this happen? Anyway, some
sort of compulsive disorder

"driven to be the best at everything you do" = doomed to failure

"turkeys need not apply" = arrogant. And pointless, because who knows
they are a turkey?

You will "throw people in at the deep end" but are "personally offended
by mistakes"? Not a good mix.

Plus lots of meaningless stuff like "the right attitude". Why not spell
out what you think is "right"? Or will you just know it when you see it?
A "passion for seeing people delighted by technology" seems an aim that
is most easily and cheaply achieved using readily obtainable
recreational drugs, and when achieved that way will have the same effect
on your business.

If your current people are anything like the applicants you seem to be
seeking, it must be an absolute hell-hole to work in. But it probably
isn't. Whoever wrote the ad got caught up in the fever, when they should
have been describing the tasks at hand, the people that they would like
to employ, and the skills they need them to have.

TL;DR:

A company that wants good applicants needs to spend time and effort
crafting a good ad. Ideally there will be a detailed set of selection
criteria available separately. It makes sense for both parties, because
these help candidates self-qualify themselves, and help you compare
candidates. Having selection criteria available separately lets you put
different ads in different media, pointing to the same selection
criteria. Those who apply can craft their resume so that it contains
exactly the necessary information. If you have only a hodge-podge of
vaguery and buzzwords, how can applicants possibly provide a useful
resume, and how can you possibly compare candidates fairly?

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer
http://twitter.com/kauer389

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