Most resume experts will tell you that customizing your resume is an essential part of getting an interview. The skills that are outlined in the job posting should be the ones highlighted on your resume. Even if they are not your strongest skills, they are the ones that the hiring manager or recruiting software will be looking for.
The problem with this approach is that job descriptions are often misleading when it comes to presenting the skills that will be critical to job success. In the tech world, experts say that job descriptions are often meaningless.
“I learned early on in my tech career that job descriptions are completely meaningless,” says Michael Gibbs, CEO of Go Cloud Careers. “Rather than listing strictly the skills that are critical to the position the company is looking to fill, job descriptions are stuffed with a collection of skills from 20 different tech positions. It would be virtually impossible to be competent in all of the skills that most tech job postings list.”
Gibbs and his team at Go Cloud Careers are experts at giving technology professionals the training and insight they need to land elite, six-figure cloud architect positions. They provide what Gibbs calls “certification plus,” which goes beyond a deep knowledge of cloud computing technology to impart business acumen and other critical business skills. This unique approach gives Go Cloud Career’s clients the expertise they need to excel at designing cloud-based business solutions.
The problem with tech job descriptions
Gibbs has found, in his experience, that job descriptions mislead applicants because they are overly broad. Tech managers, in an effort to comply with the requirements for job postings handed down by HR, frequently cut and paste skills from other job descriptions to supplement the small list of critical skills that they actually need.
“When I first began looking at tech job descriptions, I was horrified,” Gibbs says. “Not only did they want 15 years of experience, but they wanted the applicant to have knowledge of networking, programming, databases, and several other positions. I couldn’t imagine anyone learning all of those skills.”
After being rejected for many jobs, Gibbs decided to reach out to dozens of tech recruiters to discover what hiring managers were really looking for in his area of expertise. What they shared revealed to Gibbs that the tech job descriptions he was seeing were truly meaningless.
“For each of the five jobs I’ve been hired for in tech, I never had more than 10 percent of the skills that were listed in the job description,” Gibbs shares. “Today, I help clients all over the world get hired for elite cloud architecture positions every day and they never have more than 20 percent of the actual skills on the job description for the positions they are pursuing. The key is being competent in the handful of skills that are relevant to the position.”
How to find the real job description
Ideally, tech professionals looking for a real job description will have their recruiter contact the hiring manager. A quick conversation between the two can help to zero in on the key skills that the hiring manager is expecting to see on a resume. The insights learned during that conversation will help the applicant to craft the perfect resume.
Those working without a recruiter will need to do their own reconnaissance to find out what skills the position will require. This can include reaching out to employees at the company who are already serving in that type of position.
“You can use LinkedIn to find people who already hold the position and explore the job duties they list in their profile,” Gibbs advises. “For example, if you want to be a network architect for Cisco, you can search for network architects already working at Cisco and use the information they provide in their LinkedIn profile to discover the skills that are most important for that position.”
The value of learning the true job description goes beyond simply explaining how best to structure your resume. It also allows applicants to know if the job they will be expected to do will be a good fit for their skills, personality, and career aspirations.
“During the interview, the hiring manager will eventually ask you if you have any questions, which provides an incredible opportunity to find out exactly what the job description is,” Gibbs explains. “Say to the hiring manager, ‘I would like to know what your goals are so that, if I was on your team, I can be sure that I could help you achieve the goals that you and the company have.’’ Making that kind of statement will not only reveal the real job description, but it will also typically get you the job.”
Job seekers attempting to satisfy overstuffed job descriptions will find themselves developing new skills with no guarantee of success. A better approach is to take the steps necessary to discover the true job description and build a job search strategy around the skills it will require.
