In today’s global recruiting environment, you must be sensitive to cultural issues and the nuances of translation. Because we here at Roundup want to help further your career, today’s column is a primer on those essentials.
Let’s begin. Like Realtors, recruiters have their own language. You probably won’t ever see “purple squirrel” in a help wanted posting, but “detail oriented”? Indeed finds it in 15,000 jobs in California alone.
So common. So ordinary. So what does it mean? It could mean you don’t want your employee mistaking $75 for $75,000. More likely it means, “The boss is sloppy. Your job is to catch the errors.” Or, “You’ll never get to work on the big picture stuff.”
LinkedIn writer Maria Ignatova provides a translation guide for such common job description phrases as “some overtime required” (which means you’ll work late every night), and “duties will vary” (meaning you’ll be everyone’s gopher).
Now to the job interview.
Fast Company’s guide is conveniently presented as a split-screen video: What the candidate says vs. what you hear.
Example: When the candidate says her last company didn’t know how to take advantage of her skills, what you hear is, “I have no skills.”
Now, let’s put your own new skill at speaking job to the test. What are the job descriptions here on the Pied Piper tech site actually saying? And would you reach out to the few who posted their interest?
Give up? Clearly you do not subscribe to the right premium cable channels.
If you scored 100 percent on our quiz there or if you just read this far, I award you 10 HRCI points and the same for SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP.
Class dismissed.
