Tomorrow's my self-imposed deadline for deciding whether or not I want to offer to make a major shift in the programming platform I use day-in and day out. I'm normally pretty good with snap decisions, but the pros and cons are pretty steep and equally matched on each side. My sounding-board--who bears a more-than-incidental resemblance to my husband--made the brilliant suggestion of seeing what the mavens of that particular technology are pulling in these days.
I've so far (knock on wood!) had a charmed recession, so it's been awhile since I've really had to shake down the internet for this kind of information. Thus it re-surprises me how time is wasted by "the formula." Yes, I realize that when you need to bring someone new on board, the unknowns massively outnumber the knowns. No question. But it's no excuse, either.
But wouldn't it make so much more sense to pre-screen potential new hires by just letting it all hang out? And by "it all," I mean everything: Salary range, dollar value of the benefits, time off, overtime expectations, private-offices-vs-cube-farms, dress code--the works. To the disgruntled employee looking to better her/his salary with a competing job offer, the new employer becomes that more real and less an interchangeable playing-piece. To the person with a new baby on the way, the compensation/bennies rendered in hard numbers makes it a no-brainer to jump ships, something that a weasely "competitive" most definitely does not accomplish.
The formula, like all mediocrities, is a huge waste of time and resources. Largely because of the way in which it shifts the focus from people to process. And process, as we know, is more about consistency than it is excellence. Only the CEO of fools expects consistency in people.
So if you're in the position of writing a job ad for your company, pretty-please-with-organic-fair-trade-dark-chocolate-sauce-on-top, do not write yet another cookie-cutter job description. Meaning, do not write it for everyone. Picture the best person for the job, and make the ad your love-letter to them...preferably scaring off all their rivals in the process. True, I can't offer any hard data to prove that this will cut down on the time-wasters. But if tonight's research is any indication, I can guarantee that you will stand out in the wasteland of boilerplate blahblahblah.
