generic job ads

Tania, 49, is considering returning to work after raising a family and after checking out the job ads she is amazed at the incredible amount of waffle and political correctness that's out there.

"I see nothing discriminatory in wording job advertisements towards the exact type of person a company wants for the job," says Tania. "They aren't paying any extra for space on the Net -- like they do for an advertisement in a newspaper -- so they should put as much effort into writing a job ad as job hunters put into answering it."

"The job ads of my day were very clearly designed to deter unsuitable people from wasting their time applying for the job," explains Tania, "and that makes good sense to me."

"I don't want to waste my time applying for a job that's suitable for a 20 year old male -- not a 49 year old married woman with kids," adds Tania, "and I'm sure a young male doesn't want to waste his time applying for a job that's more suited for a mature woman."

"In that employers are bombarded with hundreds if not thousands of applications for every job advertised online," says Tania, "it makes sense for them to be as specific as they can be in their job advertisements -- and they should be able to do this without breaching legal guidelines regarding discrimination."

"I've seen some job advertisements that get their message across quite nicely," says Tania, "so it's not impossible to do. They don't have to cover all angles with a stupid generic ad."

"If employers don't want to hire smokers or older people or fatties -- as most don't these days -- they simply state in their ads that employees enjoy a smoke-free working environment, a vibrant young working team or a junkfood-free canteen. Sure it's discriminatory, but it's legal and truthful."

"If an employer specifically wants a male employee, the advertisement will use a lot of strong male words or company perks such as company football or golf teams -- which may or may not deter females -- and the same goes for an employer specifically wanting a female employee, only perks such as child-minding facilities and afternoons off for shopping will be emphasized."

"Except for single fathers," muses Tania, "I think that few red-blooded males would want to respond to a job advertisement offering such obviously female slanted perks. So it can be done and I want to know why it's not done more often."

"The online job advertisements I really hate -- because there are so many of them -- are the wide open ads that do not actually say anything."

"These ads are always placed by the recruitment agencies and I can't believe that any real job exists where skills and experience are not specified."

"Instead of the usual requirements -- must be able to type 80 w.p.m. or be proficient in a particular computer package -- these advertisements rave on about character traits."

"In that just about everyone seriously looking for a job is going to be friendly, enthusiastic, or have a can-do attitude -- or imagines they do," laughs Tania, "this type of advertisement must get hundreds of thousands of applicants."

"I honestly feel that this sort of wide open advertisement is specifically designed to attract a mass of applicants for no other reason than to build up a recruiter's database of job seekers."

"Yes, it does happen," says Tania, "and so does the practice of placing bogus advertisements for jobs that do not exist."

“There is a trend these days,” says Tania, “to place an enticing job advertisement and then direct all applicants to a particular website or recruitment agency where you will be run through the mill and possibly charged for services you do not need.”

”Nobody in their right mind chooses a mate from an advertisement,” laughs Tania, “so I guess the smart thing to do in order to avoid the pitfalls of job ads, in newspapers and especially online, is to find a job the same way we go about finding a mate."

"I found my husband through friends," confides Tania, "and I'm pretty sure that family, friends, community organizations, clubs and all manner of people out there are going to be ready, willing and able to help me find a job when I am ready to get serious about looking for one."

"And the first thing serious job contacts are going to want to know is what I can do -- not how nice and enthusiastic I am," laughs Tania. "So if any return-to-work mom out there wants my opinion it's to avoid any job ad that raves on about personal character traits because it's a trick to get your personal details on a database and there's no job!"

job ad buzzwords

Priscilla is a single mom who, like a lot of women, was introduced to the Internet by her young son. She is currently looking for a job and thinks that the Internet is fantastic for refining a job search and researching buzzwords.

"My son nagged me for ages to get online at home," laughs Priscilla, "and I finally relented when I realized how useful the Internet is going to be for my job-search."

"I still read the newspaper ads, of course," says Priscilla, "but the Internet is so much faster. My main problem, though, with both newspaper and Internet job advertisements, is that I'm overwhelmed by all the jargon and buzzwords.”

She has simplified her job-search by finding out exactly what some of these buzzwords really mean.

"On the Internet I can refine my job-search by excluding certain buzzwords that I know are misleading," explains Priscilla, "and you can't do that with newspaper ads."

"A popular buzzword is team player," says Priscilla. "Unfortunately, just about every workplace these days seems to be run on team principles. If you are not willing to sacrifice your individuality for the common cause of the team - as I am - then you will not make a good team player. I don't apply for such jobs but I bet some really nasty people apply for team role jobs and actually win them."

“The trick for them is to pass the interview, get the job and then make everyone on the team miserable,” laughs Priscilla.

When Priscilla sees the team player buzzword, she reads a menial job, a job unsupportive of your well being and advancement.

"The only people who thrive in team environments are the manipulative types who get everyone else to do their work, and the sweeties who effectively have the same motive," says Priscilla. "So when a job advertisement includes the buzzword team player, I know they are looking for someone submissive and easily bossed around."

What about attention to detail? In the publishing and banking profession we are required to be hawks, but Priscilla wonders why it is required so much of other professions. And how does one gauge whether one is good at paying attention to detail?

"Everyone makes mistakes," says Priscilla. "and most workplaces have some sort of quality control in place to pick up errors before they cause major trouble. So why is it necessary to advertise for a hawk-eyed person?"

Priscilla believes that either they are discriminating against people with poor eyesight or the work is so boring that previous employees have fallen asleep on the job.

“Of course, recruiters these days cannot be blatantly discriminatory in their advertisements,” says Priscilla, “but if you look closely at advertisements you can read between the lines about the type of person they want, such as young environment or recent graduate. Nobody over 30 is going to want to answer an advertisement geared towards a younger applicant.”

Conversely, mature person turns off the under 30s although maturity, per se, has nothing to do with age.

Leadership skills is a buzzword that often describes a tough person, someone capable of firing their own mom. So, someone with the quiet leadership skills of a Nelson Mandela wouldn’t stand a chance.

“And that’s a shame,” says Priscilla, “because that’s the type of leader workers do admire.”

”I don't enjoy working late," says Priscilla, "so I avoid any job advertisement using drive, initiative and deadlines as buzzwords."

"Smoking is prohibited in all workplaces and public venues so I wonder about advertisers who feel it necessary to add non smoking workplace to their spiel," says Priscilla. "I think it could be a disincentive for social smokers to apply. The employer hates smokers!"

Priscilla admits that she spends more time surfing on the Net than using it for job-hunting, and this is probably true for anyone who uses the Net to find a job.

"I'm mixing business with pleasure," laughs Priscilla, "or should I say 'background researching' the job-market."