Hiring great people is often hard for most employers. Finding the right person, with the right skill set, a good attitude, and at the right price can be a lot like searching for a needle (or perhaps a small to medium sized stick) in a haystack.
There are lots of options for sourcing candidates: using a professional recruiter, tapping your personal network, or perhaps the most common method–placing an ad. As an employer it is imperative that you write a compelling job description that will appeal to the top talent you are trying to attract (btw, besides just being an ad, this can also be sent out to your network too). So what are the key elements of a good job description? And how do you stand out among the sea of other jobs? Here are some tips that I have used in the past that have been successful:
- Have a catchy title. Like a newspaper headline you need to both summarize and standout. You need to catch a candidate’s attention by being different, but still being clear about the position. A title like “Software Manager” or “Software Development Engineer” does a great job summarizing the position but is hardly interesting. Whereas “Do you want to work on the bleeding edge of technology?” sounds interesting, but doesn’t really convey the position (this could be anything from a tester to a biotechnologist). Try to pick something that clearly describes the position and is interesting — for example “Rockstar Software Engineer Wanted for Newly Funded Alternative Energy Start-up”. This title is much more appealing; it describes the field (alternative energy), the company (newly funded startup), the position (software engineer), and it adds some character with the word rockstar (and what candidate doesn’t want to think of themselves as a rockstar?).
- Clearly spell out the “must haves”. Are there any facets of the position that are non-negotiable? Clearly spell out what is required and what is desired. Also seriously think about if it is really “necessary”. If a candidate had 5 years of great coding experience and hosts their own website, is it really necessary they also have extensive experience deploying to the cloud? If it isn’t necessary then don’t make it a requirement. You could end up missing great candidates that could easily learn the skills you desire. You want to encourage these people to send their resume, so if something isn’t absolutely 100% a “must have” then list it as a desired skill (I typically separate out candidate skills into required/desired and use bullet points so the job description is easier to read).
- Add some information about the company. What is it about your company that makes it special? Is it the hard problems? The great people? A fabulous office space? Do you contribute to open source? List out some information about the actual organization and why you think people should want to work there. Make sure you include: a link to your website, any great articles or recent press mentions, and anything else that makes you stand out (for example, I worked at a company that won awards and was featured in high profile publications and I always included links to this info in the job post).
- What is the actual job? Sometimes this is obvious. Other times it isn’t. Sometimes you actually may not need to include this information since you could be hiring multiple people for more than one position, have too many projects, or your priorities might change–but you should try to give a clear idea of the job responsibilities. Of course sometimes being specific can help you target people, other times this can be a detriment since most jobs can’t be summarized in the 200 words or less devoted to this, so I tend to outline top level descriptions. Some examples might be: to write code, to help with releases and deployments, to write test plans, to collaborate on product design, to write technical specifications, to create infrastructure diagrams, to help support a 24/7 high traffic web application, etc.
- Why should someone want this job? When you think you are finished, read you posting and ask yourself this question. It should be obvious. If it isn’t totally clear then you need to add this information. You can even put this info in bullet points at the very top–you want to work here because…..(and hopefully you have good reasons, but some examples could be: challenging problems, lots of responsibility and opportunity for career growth, the chance to be part of the next big thing in [fill in the blank], great company culture, etc.)
- Add some character! One of my favorite things is to put pictures of our team at the bottom of the job posting–and candidates would constantly tell us it helped us stand out from the other job listings. We also would add little requirements and desired qualifications that were somewhat unrelated to what might be in normal job description like: “must be able to wash your own dishes” or “must like working around adorable dogs” (it was a pet friendly space). Each company is different (no matter how big or small you are) so use that to your advantage and make yourself stand out.
These are just a few tips that can help you write (or improve) a job description and that is usually the first step to attracting fabulous talent–I am sure there are lots more though! Do you have any other ideas or tips for writing your job descriptions that have worked well? If so, please include them in the comments! 
-kate
Recently a friend of mine suggested I take a look at a slideshow Netflix put together on their culture. The slide show is long (128 slides) but I definitely think it is worth the pass through as it embodies and codifies a lot of traits most organizations would like to adopt.
Some of these are familiar to me–encourage passion and innovation, give people a framework and let them have the freedom to grow within it, and keep your top talent (and let go of the others). But some of the methods they use were not ones I had encountered in my career. The innovations I found most intereting tended to pertain to their take on compensation:
- One of their philosophies is to pay top of market. I have yet to work somewhere where that is the case for any position. In fact, many of the places I am familiar with have paid below market for the “privilege of working on interesting problems” or some other such statement. I loved this idea because it means that no one is ever going to leave for financial reasons–so many people measure their worth based on compensation and so by paying the top market rate no one on your staff can feel undervalued or unequally compensated.
- Another approach they took was to treat compensation like a pile of beans–a person can then use those beans to buy stock, get health insurance, etc. Doing this helps employees see the value of things like good health care, or stock options. Doing this effectively does away with “golden handcuffs”, since the stock vests right away and your compensation year over year is your compensation. I think this is much harder to adopt for startups where you don’t have the flexibility of allowing employees to choose different health care options, and stock options are more optimistic–but it is definitely a good way to help employees see the value in the benefits that come with a job outside of raw salary. Maybe if you are a small company, you could actually list the costs as line items or something? Certainly food for thought.
- And finally, give generous severance packages. The reason they do this is that it allows managers to let go of an employee and not feel bad about the decision. I wonder how generous is “generous” though? I would think it would have to be at least 3 months if not more (since a lot of people need that long to find a new job). I am not sure if this makes sense for a small company though (since you don’t always have the money for those big cash payments). However, there is one thing I am sure of–as soon as you know a person isn’t the right fit or doesn’t have the right skills it is best to let them go. Sometimes coaching can help, but in small companies where there is little margin for error you don’t necessarily have the time to coach someone.
There is a lot of other great material in the slide deck on setting the right tone for your company and managing your employees. I would strongly suggest going through the presentation for anyone in a management role.
Early in my career I lived up to the mantra “work hard, play hard.” There were many days when I would come into the office after a late night of eating, drinking and being merry. Of course, when you don’t get enough sleep, and calling in sick is not an option (I don’t know about most of you but I save up at least some of my sick days for the purpose of recovery) it is important to know how to come into the office looking fabulous, and most importantly professional (and have it not interfere with your job performance).
If you are coming in from a flight, you can use the excuse of an airport delay (since it happens to everyone). Go home and freshen up and head in late. Just make sure you turn off your cellphone, so it doesn’t give you away in the event someone calls looking for you. You should also plan on being the last to leave the office, so pack plenty of caffiene.
If it was just a late night then head in, large sunglasses in tow and let your colleagues know you are feeling a bit under the weather. Clear your calendar of all non-essential meetings–afterall it isn’t like you can make important decisions in your condition. Try to prioritize tasks you don’t normally get to but may not require a lot of will power–filing, cleaning your desk, returning phone calls or emails, writing thank you notes. At least that way part of yoru day will be productive. Drink some tea and eat healthy foods (helps with recovery). Finally try to get out of the office a little early and get some rest, you will need to compensate for your lost day tomorrow.
Recently I started taking the bus to work. I did this for two reasons, one is that I lost my parking benefit at work, and the second was that I thought it would be a good way to help the environment (and save money). When I lived downtown I used to ride the bus everywhere and I really liked it. I could walk miles in my high heels, carrying several bags of things, and I would listen to my ipod–almost always dance music as I strolled down to the street stepping to the rhythm of the latest pop hits. Of course, now I live in the suburbs I don’t have to walk nearly as far, but this whole commuting without a care is forcing me to streamline my process. The good thing is that I know have about 30 minutes of free time to ride the bus. Yesterday I used it to start reading the book Results That Last
.
I have only read the first chapter so far, but I feel like I am really getting a lot out of the book. The first chapter is all about performance management and managing the team. It breaks up teams into high, medium, and low performers and explains the differences with each. It gives little anecdotes and guidance on how to talk to these individuals, coach them, and top grade your team (although it doesn’t use that term). None of it is *new* information per se, but I like the methods and ideas–and there are lots of little good tidbits. For example, one thing that struck me was how it described low performers as people who get results but occasionally have a bad attitude or don’t act as expected. I started thinking about this particular line item in regards to myself and my team. And the most shocking thing occured to me–as of late I think I fall into this bucket.
You see, I have been pretty discouraged lately with work (I think part of it is that I want to start my own company and I think another part of it is a long hours for the last 18+ months) and it has been reflected in my general attitude and demeanor in the office. This is really bad, because it has the tendency to impact those around me in a negative way. So needless to say I am now totally focused on improving my attitude towards work.
In the past I wrote an entry on the power of positive thinking. Being positive applies to lots of things, but when it comes to interacting (and leading) others being positive and upbeat can have a major effect on others. Just spend a few moments thinking of all the people you like to be around. For me almost all of those people are a lot of fun. They make me smile and make me laugh and of course they are people I can learn from. I aspire to be one of those people. My negative attitude makes me a little caustic rain cloud and I know I need to flip over a new leaf. So today, when I was getting dressed this morning I smiled, and I made a commit to myself to be positive.
Sending many smiles your way
I subscribe to a lot of newsletters. My email box is filled with around 25-35 new emails messages daily that come from various shopping sites to which I subscribe (you get advance notice of sales, coupons, etc), and a few other select sites. One of those sites is The Ladders. I used this site when I was helping a friend of mine look for a new job (it is a site used to search for $100k+ jobs). And while I don’t advocate working for someone else, this site and their newsletters has some of the best career advice out there.
Today one thing that caught my attention was an article written about creating your own brand. The author talks about building your brand and reputation both online and offline. He emphasizes the importance of being an expert, and making yourself known–networking is about quality not quantity:
Focus on real world interaction with people. Have the kind of conversations that will make people remember you, not run the other direction because you are hounding them. Be genuine. Be thoughtful. Find ways you can help people as much as they can help you. These tenets may seem natural to some, foreign to others, but in any case, they will go a long way in building your brand.
The thing I liked most about the article is that it gave some some useful tools and advice, namely:
- Get involved in your trade–speak at panels, attend networking events, write articles, etc.
- Build your network in a good way (not just collecting business cards)
- Even when you are working for your company think about how your contacts and interactions can work for you and your reputation
- Be memorable
In general I don’t think I am very good at these things. I am clumsy in social settings and I tend to be so focused on the task at hand I seldom think about myself in a larger capacity. Though to really use this advice I need to think through it all a bit more.
One thing though, is that is also made me think about my website and the fact that everything I write about is all over the board. I sometimes feel like I am not really an expert in anything I am just kind of good at a lot of things. Furthermore, I think I have so many interests and hobbies there isn’t one thing I am entirely focused on. I had originally hoped to move this site in a more concrete direction–focused on fashion and finance–since those are the things that interest me most but my entries are all over the board on everything I feel is worth sharing with the world. I will have to spend some time thinking about this too! Lots of food for thought!
Hope you enjoy the article (and there is lots of other good articles in the career advice section–I would strongly recommend checking it out).
So this weekend was the 6th weekend in a row that I had worked. And I am not talking a little email here and there, I am talking about full on sitting down at my computer and working for multiple hours. Normally I am not one to complain, and I truly love the company I where I work, but after all these hours and personal sacrifice one has to ask—is it worth it?
As I have mentioned previously I left my corporate job to join a startup, thinking that longer hours and less pay would have the chance at a larger return in the future because of the stock options. I still believe that to be true. However, given all my hard work I have been thinking more and more that I want to start my own company and become a founder. I work hard enough to be one (so I know the work ethic is there) and I know I am smart enough–so what is stopping me?
To answer this question I put together a list of everything I could think of as my excuses:
- The regular paycheck. I am not a one person household (if you are, and you are reading this, you should go and start your own company because things change when you have others who depend on you) and I worry about what not having a paycheck will do to the people who matter most to me. Part of this is because I am scared of what not having regular money will affect my life. It is weird but I have had this fear since I have been a child. This is why I have never even gone more than a week or so without a job. Yes, that is right the 3 times I have changed careers I haven’t taken a week off. In 2 of the 3 instances I quit on a Friday and started the new job on a Monday.
- Fear of failure. Again this is more related to the paycheck thing. I am worried that even if my idea is good and I am able to move it forward I won’t be able to make enough money to sustain our lives. It is kind of weird, since I am not as worried about the business and am more worried about my personal vitality. I guess I have a ton of confidence in being able to execute and build a successful business–it just always seems easier to do under the safety net of someone else.
- Lack of the perfect idea. I have a whole bunch of good ideas, and I have done enough research I know that they are viable. However, I still worry that it won’t be successful enough.
- Leaving my current position. I love the company where I work, and I like to think that I am important there. Needless to say that those are hefty reservations that would make it very difficult for me to leave.
So that is where I am at right now with my thinking. I am working on saving up a nest egg, so I have the option of taking time off and not working to start my own company. I really can’t do anything part time (other than ponder my ideas of course)–mostly because I work so much at my job and trying to do two things would mean spreading myself too thin (which for me typically means not doing a particularly good job at either endeavor).
In the interim I am going to keep blogging on my progress, but I am open to any suggestions or words of encouragement
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Often times when people move into management roles or power of authority they forget what it is like to be in the trenches themselves. One of the most important things a manager can do is to empathize with their employees and take the time to understand what it is like to do their jobs. This helps on many levels: managers can relate to employees easier, managers can earn respect, and managers will not make requests that they themselves wouldn’t want to do. The “golden rule” applies to many things in life, and leadership is no exception.
As a leader you should never ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. This means, if someone is working on crappy work for 6 months, you don’t continue to assign them that kind of work–assign them something they can get excited about. That is probably part of the reason Google implements their infamous 20% project time (every employee gets 20% of their time to work on projects of their own choosing). It gives employees something to get excited about. Everyone wants to work on projects that will interest them and to contribute to things they can get excited about it. Make sure your you understand the motivations for each individual on your team. Take the time to get to know their interests. Ask them about what they like about their jobs and what they don’t like. Make sure they have the right learning opportunities.
Another key thing to always remember is to never ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. Whether that is a project or even a work style. For example, I once had a manager ask me to come in on a weekend to complete a project. That manager didn’t come in, and on Monday we all heard about his great golf trip. He lost tremendous respect from all of us, since we had all sacrificed our personal lives for work and he wasn’t willing to do the same. I have spent many nights in the office for system migrations, software upgrades and product releases with my team. Pretty much every time they pulled the late night shifts, I would sit with them, keep them company, and pick up any refreshments they wanted–I seldom added any technical value or guidance. However, I knew that it meant a lot that I was willing to come in and stay with the team. Caesar fought in battle with his troops and he was one of the greatest military leaders–he even went so far as to force his troops back into battle if they chickened out at any point. So when you send your troops into battle, go along side them–it will illustrate your dedication and belief in what they are trying to accomplish.
Always remember that you are no better than your directs. You are simply a member of the team with a different role. And just like a waiter in a restaurant or the valet that parks your car–everyone deserves to be treated with respect. So before every request, decision or conversation take the time to think how you would feel in that person’s shoes.
One of the more interesting things I noticed when I moved from California to Seattle was the general lack of “dress” people employed. Now I am all for wearing things that are comfortable and feeling at ease in your clothing, but I also think that looking nice, and presenting yourself well can help you in all aspects of your life. Before 9/11, if you dressed up for a flight and asked politely to be upgraded–the flight attendants would give you a once over and if you looked like your belong they would often accommodate your request (smiling and having good manners also helped too). First impressions and they way you look affect how people treat you. If we lived in a utopia the only thing that would matter is who you are, but in the world we live in often times who you are to someone is defined by how you present your self.
Being stylish and well groomed is something we all respect and admire in others. Think about the last time you were walking down the seat, sitting in a restaurant, or having a drink at the bar. Who were your eyes drawn too? For most people this would be the good looking, well dressed person in the room. It is a natural human tendency (Blink is a great book about this biases written by Malcolm Gladwell, and one I really enjoyed) to have higher opinions of better looking individuals. So in that case why wouldn’t you want to dress nice?
Now not all of us can be a model from a magazine (goodness knows most people don’t win the genetic lottery), but style and class can actually take a person most of the way there. So how do you get style? How do you cultivate your look? Well there are lots of simple things you can do. First, make sure your clothes fit. No one looks good in something too tight or too loose. If you buy a shirt and it doesn’t fit you right have it tailored. One of my favorite tricks I learn was to get the buttons sewn shut on a blouse. For button downs, it seemed like they always gapped in the wrong places, giving people a mini peek-a-boo show–sewing them all shut meant I could walk around comfortably. Pants should fit the length of your legs. It isn’t becoming to watch someone walk on their pants, so get your pants tailored with the shoes that you plan to wear with them. I buy almost all my shoes in two heights, flats and tall high heels (approximately 3-3.5 inches is my sweet spot) and have certain pants (and jeans) that go with each. This goes for guys too–if you have short arms, have the sleeves taken up. A good tailor can work wonders.
Second, know what colors work well on you. Most people don’t look good in fancy patterns. If you are wide don’t wear horizontal stripes (remember those optical illusions where one circle looked bigger than the other because it had stripes across it). Vertical stripes are almost always flattering and slimming (everyone should own a pair of pinstripe pants in my opinion). There are all sorts of color combinations that work well on some and not on others. One thing that always stands out is when people wear a top that is the same shade as their eyes–this is almost always flattering.
And finally, know what styles flatter your body type. Capris don’t look good on everyone, and in fact make short legs look, well, short. If you have some extra weight around your middle, don’t wear a tight fitting top showing it off–wear something with a little bit of forgiveness. If you don’t like to iron (or can’t afford to pay someone to do it for you), don’t buy linen. You wear it once it wrinkles and you have to be iron them before you can wear them again (or you will look sloppy and messy). Just because something is “in style” doesn’t mean you should wear it (believe me, I wish I could wear skinny jeans). You should only spend your money on pieces you love and will wear all the time. Never buy something just because it is on sale and looks okay–you will never look great with those type of pieces. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got on putting outfits together was to page through magazines (and if you don’t want to buy them go to a bookstore and read them there). The stylists that get paid to put outfits together are usually quite good at it, and you can learn a lot by looking at examples.
There are lots of other tips and tricks for dressing well, but this is a great starting point and should give you some things to think about. After all, when you look good it boosts your self confidence and makes you feel good–so therefore it is money and time well spent
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received when I moved into a management role was to “never take credit, always take blame.” This entry isn’t going to touch on the first part of the statement about never taking credit–but I think the second part is more important for anyone in life and in a career. Taking responsibility and admitting your mistakes will get you much further than any alternative (lying about them, hiding them, or diverting attention are some strategies I have employed in the past).
Just think about when you have been lied to–would it mean more to you if that person had since returned to you and come clean? Most people would answer yes.
One of the most accessible instances of lying and then coming clean was on an episode of Sex and the City (season 4, episode 59). In this episode Carrie lies to her boyfriend about having an abortion. It is a serious topic no doubt, but when she sees his reaction, he doesn’t want him to look at her the same way. She doesn’t know why she does it, but she is worried that he will think less of her. At the end of the episode (and after some soul searching and gossip sessions with her girlfriends) she comes clean to him and tells him the truth. And while he isn’t happy that she lied, you can tell he respects her for bring forthright and their relationship is no worse off.
So what does Sex and the City have to do with your career? Probably very little. However, the lesson to learn from this is that if you make a mistake that the best thing you can do is be upfront and forthright about it. Even if it is hard to tell someone something, dealing with the guilt, maintaining a lie, and the fact they may eventually learn the truth–all of these are often much worse than being truthful from the beginning.
So at work, if you are a leader then you should always be up front about your screw-ups and your’s teams screw-ups (which are essentially your own). I always suggest to people that in the event of an emergency (you screwed up and your management knows it) the best thing you can do is face up to your mistake, let them know what happened and how you are going to address it so it never happens again. People, employees, we are all bound to make mistakes here and there and all management wants to know is that it is being handled appropriately and it won’t happen again. This means understanding causation (why did you lie about something? or what caused the system to go down? or what caused the build to break?) and how to detect or prevent it in the future.
I once heard a story that a man who worked for Bill Gates lost several million dollars on a failed venture. He was terrified to go face Bill afterwards, and supposedly all Mr. Gates asked was did he learn anything. The guy apparently gave Bill a satisfactory answer because urban legend says he was promoted and ended up being very successful. Now I don’t think if people screw up and cost the company money it means they will get promoted, I wouldn’t even necessarily say their job would be secure at some companies–but understanding your mistake, handling it, and showing that you are competent will get you much further than covering it up. After all, it is probably only a matter of time until someone uncovers it and then you will have a whole lot more problems to answer.
Take responsibility for your problems or any issues within your team. Show that you are handling them, and have a plan. If a person on your team is failing–it is not their fault it is your own–you need to manage your team so this doesn’t happen. Set your management’s expectations and if they give you an unrealistic deadline ask for more resources–don’t blame Billy when you end up slipping. Always take the blame, because as a leader it is your fault.
So I came across this article about “Heartache Leave”. Hime, a marketing firm in Japan, has instituted paid time off for employees for when they go through breakups. In your 20s you get one day off, in your 30s two days, and 3 days after that–the rationale being that going through a breakup is like being sick and as you get older (and relationships inevitably get more serious), it becomes more difficult to cope with a bad breakup.
As someone who has taken days off work for a breakup I can understand and sympathize with the policy. In fact, while I don’t plan on instituting a similar policy at my office, I prefer a bunch of PTO (paid time off) days than some sick days and vacation days. There are lots of reasons people need time off, and mental health sometimes it just as good a reason and physical health. Since if mentally you can’t focus or concentrate on your work, it is probably better to stay home and address what is ailing you anyway. I know that when I feel like lying on the couch with a pint (or two) of Ben and Jerrys, I am not going to be much use in the office. I would rather people who work for me be honest about what is affecting their job performance (or attendance) than to lie about it; I want to create an open and honest working environment. I think that Hime does a good job of that–they even give the ladies half days off for sales–since the alternative was to hide their shopping bags and take time off anyway. These sort of policies show employees that as a company you value openness and are willing to look at people as people–not just cogs in a wheel.
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