Job Description Clarity

6 Job Description Red Flags To Watch Out For (Before You Apply): 1. It’s A Unicorn Wishlist If a job description asks for every type of experience under the sun, to the point where it’s not realistic? That’s a red flag. It means the hiring team likely doesn’t have a clear idea of their needs or who can fill them. That can make it hard for you to sell yourself into the role. But even if you land it, you might be walking into a situation where the criteria for success is unclear. 2. Vague (Or No) Salary Range In this day and age, salary transparency is a good indicator of a company’s view of their employees. Great companies have fair budgets and tend to include them in their descriptions. Other companies either don’t include them or play the game of the range being $50,000 - $450,000. If this job has the latter, make sure you bring up salary in the first conversation if you apply. 3. Buzzwords Instead Of Simplicity An over-use of buzzwords is indicative that the hiring team isn’t really clear on what they want. It’s also a sign of the culture you’d enter if you hired. Companies that use this type of lingo (rockstar, ninja, guru, etc) tend to have “less mature” cultures. These are places that tend to make it up as they go and look down on any sort of effort to regulate, oversee, or rein in that behavior. 4. Vague Responsibilities & Goals Great companies will be able to clearly communicate the specific skills, responsibilities, and goals for a role. Not-so-great companies tend to share vague job descriptions that feel like they could apply to a variety of skillsets and people. If reading the job description leaves you wondering what you’d actually be doing in this role? It’s probably best to pass on applying. 5. Short Job Descriptions Similar to vague job descriptions, short JDs are equally bad. Hiring is a HUGE decision. If a company can’t be bothered to write a detailed and comprehensive description of why this role is open? It means they either aren’t sure why they’re making this hire or they don’t care much about who applies. Either way, you’re better off focusing your efforts on companies who care about their employees and have rationales behind their openings. 6. Equating Employment To Family Companies that use phrasing like this are typically not in touch with their employees. Great companies realize that employees work to make a living as well as to grow both personally and professionally. Their language, mission, and values reflect that. If your company is using language like “we’re a family,” it’s usually a sign that they don’t really understand what their employees actually want and need.

After nearly 15 years in government, I’ve seen dysfunction. I’ve seen bureaucracy at its slowest. But I’ve never seen this: colleagues being let go without notice, badges deactivated while they’re out to lunch, entire teams gutted under the guise of “efficiency.” This isn’t just workforce reduction. It’s displacement with a smile. It’s “nothing personal” emails at 10pm on a Saturday. It’s morale by demolition. And here’s the thing—we didn’t come here for the paycheck. We came to serve. To help people. To make systems more human, more accessible, more just. And we’ve done it. Through budget freezes, shutdowns, and shifting political winds, we’ve shown up. Every day. But now? Every time I mistype my password, I wonder if I’ve been locked out for real. Every time a colleague hangs up the phone, we say “See you tomorrow,” with the full knowledge that we might not. And still—we stay. Not because we’re naïve, but because we believe. We believe in what public service can be, even when it’s breaking. But belief alone doesn’t translate on a civilian resume. So this is where you—our friends, colleagues, allies in the private sector—come in. 👉 If a federal employee reaches out for help transitioning into a civilian role, please understand: • Our resumes are long—because they have to be. We’re trained to write for compliance, not for recruiters. • Our job titles? Don’t map neatly to civilian roles. “Public Affairs Specialist” can mean ten different things. • Our language is bureaucratic—but our skills are real. Communications, crisis response, policy analysis, program leadership. It’s all there. We just speak a different dialect. So we need help translating. Not because we’re unqualified—but because the systems are different. And if you’re still in the private sector wondering how to help? Start here: ✅ Offer to review a federal friend’s resume ✅ Translate a job description or two ✅ Be a referral, a mentor, a second set of eyes ✅ Most of all: offer us grace This isn’t just about finding new jobs. It’s about finding our footing after watching institutions we served disassemble from the inside. Federal employees are not okay. We’re working under stress that is systemic and, frankly, strategic. But we’re still here. Still trying to make a difference. So if we reach out, we’re not looking for pity. We’re asking you to help us cross the bridge. We helped you navigate government once. We could use a hand now. #FederalWorkforce #JobTransitions #CareerChange #Disability #FederalGovernment

A senior hire is not a shortcut around an unclear role. Companies often hire experience when what they actually need is definition. The brief sounds ambitious: "We need someone senior who can own this." But ownership has not been translated into decisions. The outcome is vague. Authority is partial. Interfaces with other leaders are unresolved. The first 90 days have no visible proof standard. Then the company expects seniority to absorb the ambiguity. Sometimes an experienced leader can create structure quickly. But experience also creates more possible interpretations. Without a clear operating context, a senior hire may build the right system for a different version of the company. Before hiring for seniority, define four things: Outcome: What must be meaningfully different in 12 months? Not a list of activities. A business condition the role is accountable for changing. Authority: Which decisions can this person make without escalation? If every meaningful choice still returns to the founder, the role does not own the outcome. Interfaces: Where does this role begin and end relative to sales, marketing, product, finance and operations? Most leadership friction is not caused by weak people. It is caused by overlapping mandates. Evidence: What should be visible after 30, 60 and 90 days? The early proof may be a stronger diagnosis, a clarified operating rhythm, a corrected team structure or a small number of high-confidence decisions. It does not need to be a vanity metric. A strong leader can improve an imperfect role. They should not have to discover whether they have a role at all. Seniority creates leverage when the company supplies context, authority and a clear definition of success. Without those conditions, the hiring process transfers unresolved founder ambiguity into an expensive leadership seat. Which senior role in your company is carrying ambiguity that should have been resolved before the hire?

🚀 Why a One-Size-Fits-All CV Is Costing You Your Dream Job Let me tell you about Sarah. For months, she applied to dozens of roles with the same polished CV. Crickets. Then, she tweaked her resume for one job, aligning it to the role’s core requirements. Within 48 hours, she landed an interview and later, the offer. Here’s the truth: Hiring managers aren’t just looking for qualified candidates. They’re looking for candidates who speak their language. As an HR consultant with 6+ years in the trenches, I’ve seen why tailored CVs win: 1️⃣ ATS Bots Don’t Read Minds: If your CV lacks the keywords from the job description, it might never reach human eyes. 2️⃣ Relevance > Volume: Listing every skill under the sun drowns out what matters. Highlight the 5-6 competencies the job explicitly needs. 3️⃣ You Show Up as a Solution: Framing your experience around their challenges screams, “I’ve done this before and I’ll do it for YOU.” Think tailoring takes too much time? Ask yourself: Is 10 extra minutes customizing your CV worth skipping 10 more weeks of radio silence? 👉 Pro Tip: For your top 3 target roles, mirror the job description’s language in your summary, skills, and achievements. Did the job stress “cross-functional leadership”? Show how you led 8 departments to cut costs by 20%. Bottom line: A generic CV says, “I need a job.” A tailored CV says, “I want THIS job.” 📣 Your Turn: Ready to stand out? This week, pick one role you’re passionate about and rebuild your CV around their needs. Then watch your response rate shift. P.S. Struggling to start? Drop “CV” below, and I’ll share my quick-hit customization checklist! #JobSearchHacks #CareerSuccess #HRInsights #CVTips #CareerStory

We’re at lunch. You say, “My interviews keep fizzling.” I slide over a napkin and say, “Do this instead.” Think of the JD as the menu. Read it for outcomes, not chores. Circle the three results they care about. For example shipping on schedule, reducing incidents, lifting activation. Underline the verbs and KPIs. Turn each into a theme card: theme, metric, stakeholder. If it isn’t on the card, it isn’t a priority. Now let the “waiter” do the carrying. Strip names and identifiers, then paste the JD and your three themes into your favourite AI. Ask: “You’re a hiring panel for a Sydney [role]. Generate 12 behavioural questions weighted to [A], [B], [C]. Add 1–2 follow-ups per question that probe STAR detail and metrics. Prioritise stakeholder, delivery, and commercial or technical impact. Output a table.” You’re no longer guessing. You’re training on the questions they’ll likely ask. You'll also feel a lot more confident. Plate three to four stories for the interview with one per theme. Use STAR or CAR so the signals are clear in your answers: set the Situation in a line (company, team, baseline), state the Task you owned, list three concrete Actions with strong verbs (led, designed, negotiated, shipped), and land the Result with numbers and a timeframe. Close the loop in one sentence: “This maps to your JD theme of delivery reliability.” First person “I,” not “we.” Outcomes, not activity. If you don’t have the perfect story, build a bridge. Start with the nearest adjacent win. Name the gap in one clear line to preserve trust (“That was B2B; yours is consumer with PCI”). Surface what transfers. Things like runbooks, rollback plans, 99.95% uptime across three regions. Then show how you’d apply it on day one: partner with Risk, map PCI scope; week two, pilot canary releases. Draw the straight line from what you’ve done to what they need and let them picture you already doing the work. The test is simple: mirror one JD phrase in every answer so the mapping is obvious; speak in ownership verbs and finish on a commercial result; close with “Why this matters for your role is ___.” Do that and you stop auditioning and start operating in their mind. Specific beats generic/fluffy and unrelated examples every time. If you want more napkins like this, follow me (Eli Gündüz).

As AI takes on more routine execution, roles don’t disappear. They evolve. It’s not just that repetitive tasks take less time. The mix of work changes. What remains are higher-value interactions and more complex decisions that benefit from human perspective. A recent Fast Company article captures this shift well. As AI moves from assisting to acting, resolving issues, triggering workflows, and executing routine decisions, leaders can’t anchor roles to outdated task lists. They need to redesign them. That means clarifying: ▪ What the job now requires ▪ How success is defined ▪ Who owns the outcome when AI takes action This isn’t simply about efficiency. It’s about redefining how work creates value. Simply adding AI onto existing job descriptions won’t unlock its full potential. Thoughtful role redesign, with explicit accountability and clearer expectations, is what turns AI adoption into meaningful impact.   Worth a read: https://lnkd.in/eNqx2wYJ

“Hey, can you handle this ASAP?” If you've ever gotten a message like that, I'll bet you had no idea what it really meant. Does "ASAP" mean by end of the day? End of the week? In the next hour? Or should you drop everything else that matters to focus on it? Messages like this are too common, and they can create tension and even resentment, especially cumulatively. They create more confusion than clarity, and confusion often leads to conflict. In a great piece by Wes Kao, she lays out why vague urgency — phrases like “ASAP,” “time-sensitive,” or even just “priority” — can raise stress without actually improving performance. And she offers concrete ways to do better. Here’s what that looks like in practice— Imagine your manager Slacks you, saying: 🚫 “This strategy doc is a priority. Let’s review it soon.” You’re left wondering, is this a drop-everything moment? A sometime-this-week situation? Now compare it to: ✅ “Let’s plan to review an initial draft of the strategy doc at our 1:1 on Thursday.” Extremely clear and actionable! Wes offers several simple scripts like this, and they make delegation smoother, reduce anxiety, and ensure things actually get done. One thing we've tried on my team is to label tasks as a 1, 2, or 3 to indicate level of urgency. 1 is something that needs to get done today, 2 means in the next week, and 3 means "when you can get to it" and we'll add a deadline if there is one. When we put clarity first, we're communicating better and building trust—a win for everyone involved. A link to the full article is in the comments.  Image alt text: a screenshot of Michael Scott from the office, saying "just tell me to call him as ASAP as possible"

Hiring managers, stop blaming the talent pool - maybe your job descriptions are the real problem. How often do we hear companies struggle to find the right talent?  What if the issue isn’t a lack of skilled professionals, but a lack of clarity in job descriptions? Take the Project Manager role, for example. Too often, job descriptions are filled with vague phrases like “strong communicator,” “problem solver,” or “ability to multitask,” which don’t explain what’s truly needed day-to-day. A clear job description goes beyond just listing soft skills. It should be specific about the actual tasks and responsibilities the role will involve, such as: 1. Managing 3-5 projects simultaneously, leading cross-functional teams (design, engineering, marketing) to deliver on-time with 95%+ completion rate. Creating and managing project timelines, ensuring 90% of milestones are met on schedule, with delays not exceeding 5% of the total timeline. 2. Coordinating with 5+ stakeholders and clients, managing scope changes, and achieving a 90% satisfaction rate in client feedback surveys. 3. Tracking and managing project budgets, maintaining expenses within 3-5% of the original budget, and identifying cost-saving opportunities worth 10% of the total budget. When you take the time to clearly define these tasks, you’ll attract candidates who are confident they can succeed in the role, rather than those who are simply guessing what the job entails. Clarity in job descriptions doesn’t just help you find better candidates, it saves everyone time and frustration. The more precise you are about what you need, the easier it is for both candidates and hiring managers to align. How do you ensure your job descriptions reflect what your team actually needs? Let’s discuss!

Hiring isn’t about filling a seat. It’s about solving a business problem. But too many CEOs and founders skip straight to the 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 Relying on 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐 titles and job descriptions Without asking the most important questions first: 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 36 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦? This is where misalignment creeps in. This is how mishires happen. And this is why clarity (AKA Windex) 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 you hire is everything. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭: 𝟏. 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 Forget titles. Forget LinkedIn filters. Forget AI prompts. What work is slipping through the cracks? Where are the fires you keep putting out? 𝟐. 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞 Are you hiring because it’s time? Or because you’re just tired? Burnout isn’t a job description. 𝟑. 𝐌𝐚𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 If this hire delivers, what’s tangibly different eight months from now? Think in traits and outcomes. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: If you want them to take ownership and manage up, that might look like: → Fewer bottlenecks in your calendar → You're only doing skip levels once a month → You've moved from spending 35% of your indirect reports to 10% → You have 25% more time to spend with key customers and prospects Clarity doesn’t take a 40-page strategy deck But it does take courage to interrupt the mishire pattern Most execs won’t slow down long enough to get this right. The ones who do? Hire better. Scale smarter. And avoid spending time cleaning up an expensive mess later. This is exactly the kind of mess I help clean up. If clarity’s missing, the ATP hotline is on ☎️ #BuildWithATP #TheHiringOSByATP #hiring