Way late to this one, but here's my 2p for what it's worth: 1) No bullshit. I don't want vague promises, pandering or preposterous claims. Tell me what the company / division / team does (as appropriate) in no uncertain terms and what part the job takes in it (is it supporting other teams, is the role itself part of the product, as it might be in, say, the hosting industry.)
I'm not a customer, if your job advert includes lots of 'marketing speak' about your company it just makes me suspicious. I'm also not 5, so get rid of the stupid Ninja, Pirate and Rockstar references. If you use such references I'm likely to think you have a mental age of 5, however, with just as much business and emotional intelligence. If I have to be a Rockstar that makes me think it regularly involves lots of long hours saving the company from near disaster. 2) Ideally at least a vague ballpark of what you're thinking about for salary. I don't want to waste your time or mine, or put you in a potentially embarrasing situation. (on a side note, if you ask me my salary preferences please pay attenion to it before arranging multiple phone interviews.) 3) Some idea of the technology the role involves using. Usually job adverts are pretty good on this front. Even the check-list stuff gives some insight into the environment. Just make sure they're not "YOU MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH X,Y,Z", unless I really must. I love "Must have, useful to have, added bonus to have" type lists. That gives me more of an idea how well suited I am to the role and how to pitch myself to you. 4) On call responsibilities, if there are any. How frequently, how long for? Paul On Mon, Sep 09, 2013 at 03:59:06PM -0400, Dan Ritter wrote: > > [I *think* this is the right list. Arguably, lopsa-profession would > be better, but it appears to be completely defunct, or so the archives > would have me believe. Please redirect me if warranted.] > > I'm the lead sysadmin, network engineer, and occasional HVAC tech at > a small software shop near Boston. We're a combined IT and operations > team of three, and we need to be four, and that means writing a want ad. > > The majority of want ads fall into a few easily sortable > buckets: > > - the large company where everything about hiring is controlled > by HR. The ad features an acre of boilerplate text, legal reassurances > that mean nothing because violating them really would be illegal, and > ends with an invitation to submit a resume at a website which either > asks you to complete a dozen-page profile or mangles the parsing of > your uploaded resume... or both. > > - the startup buzzword factory looking for a SuperNinjaRockStar DevOps > person. > > - the non-technical company which wrote a job description by > summarizing what people think Bob did, and wants somebody just like Bob. > (Sometimes this works out well. Other times, it turns out that > the reason Bob left is that nobody recognized what he was really > doing to hold the company together.) > > - the recruiter who has a list of technological skills that must > be checked off, but no actual understanding of the company or the job. > > Please assume, for the sake of discussion, that we can avoid > most of the above traps. > > What, as an experienced systems administrator, could actually attract > your attention to a job ad? What holds your attention long enough for > you to write a thoughtful cover letter and update your resume? > > Suggestions from this thread are likely to be used in an ad on > sajobs in the near future. > > -dsr- > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.lopsa.org > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.lopsa.org https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
