Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Why want ads don't work

It's really simple: not many people have the patience to dig through poorly-written want ads to find something they can apply for. Consider this list of headings for jobs listed under "education" in the local paper this past Sunday:
  • Education (six times)
  • Immediate Openings
  • Teacher (ten times, plus ten more for "teachers")
  • Position Available
  • name of district (maybe 20 times)
I give this discipline credit, though: computer programmers typically have to find interpreters to read an ad like this one:
...reqs three Software Engrs w/a BS/MS or equiv. in Comp Sci, Engr or Math.
&5 yrs exp in Fin'l, Insurance & mfrg. industry having relational d/base exp. w/Win & Unix environmt/data modeling & architecture design tools (e.g. Erwin, TOAD, etc). Must have good understanding & knwldge of d/base processes, utilities & func'ns assoc'd w/Oracle 9i & 10g. Extensive knowl. of Java, SQL, Unix-Shell, XML, SQL*Loader & exp. in devlpng complex PL/SQL req. Permanent position M-F 40 hrs/wk. Competitive salary. Travel or reloca. req'd.
Many people have complained about ads requiring more experience than even the best programmer can get in five years. But this ad should make readers' heads ache.

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posted by Ron @ 12:10 PM

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