Making sense of the epic Fjord job advert

Let’s put this straight first. This is not picking on anyone. Based on their website, Fjord seems like a [media]sexy workplace. However, if you read a recent job advert we bumped into, there’s a little chance they’ll find such a magical person who matches all the 78 – yes seventy eight bulletin points listed. I think there were 78. By the time I reached the end, my eye balls had turned and twisted so I probably miscalculated them. (Sorry, this is a little bit picking, but I don’t mean it in a bad way). I don’t recall Fjord having done recruitment marketing in such a poor way before. I wonder what happened. I always thought they were a pretty cool company. The advert in question does all to fight this assumption.

I have no relationship with Fjord, but I want to give you fjordians few tips on job advertising and especially profiling, because bad job advertising does bad for your brand.

#1 Job advert is an advert. This is not an advert. This is a shopping list of a mother who has 10 boys who all eat a lot

You are a design company for crying out loud. Is this a showcase of your knowledge? Think about who you are targeting. Think about the experience of reading this advert. Think about the feeling this advert generates.

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#2 The job is really about…

..client design project management. Within this framework, this person has a financial & resourcing responsibility over the client design projects. This calls only for the following 3 critical criteria:

  1. Very seasoned experience from delivering design solutions to clients (7,8,9,13, who cares about the numbers. Very seasoned.)
  2. Passionate about leading and inspiring people
  3. Experience from client project management including budgeting and follow up

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 #3 Why the 3 criteria is enough

A person equipped with ”8-12 years” of relevant work experience knows exactly what this job is about. It’s more of an insult to such a person to describe it out in such detail.  Furthermore, when the recruiter has the applications in front of them, yes-no -decisions will be made based on no more than max 5 critical criteria.

The more there are ”criteria” the more people fits into the equation, because there are no one in this planet that meets all the 78 and there are many people who fit some of the criteria. By not specifying what really matters, you leave the can of worms open and basically let anyone think they fit the criteria. Because most people do fit at least one of the bulletin points. The likelihood of getting mostly non suitable applicants is very high. This makes your recruitment process heavy, long, expensive and most likely affects the decision making and the job seeker experience in a negative way.

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Print Screens are taken form here >>

#4 And the type of person..

.. is most likely someone who:

  • Is socially fairly active and enjoys being in the company of other people; but not necessarily an extrovert (because they have limitations too)
  • Is strong in conceptual thinking equipping them also with fast decision making, risk taking and ability to understand relationships and connections between issues
  • Forms structure naturally, picks up the important details from a chaos and makes sure the outcome looks pretty with a bow
  • Has opinions, views and visions, and is not shy about voicing them; this comes most often also with a fairly strong goal orientation
  • Is lively as a person and therefore a natural source of inspiration to others about subjects they feel passionate about

It’s almost daunting to make sense of this description and the many requirements. There is no need to be so descriptive. Where’s all the fun about the work itself? What kind of workplace is Fjord? Job advert is a great place to sell the company vision, it’s people, the culture.

Experienced design people are a rare commodity in Finland. You gotta work your magic to make sure you get the best. This advert is no way to treat a respectful service design lead.

This advert unfortunately does no good for you Fjord. But perhaps my quick translation makes it easier to understand what it’s all about for anyone in this field. I do recommend also checking out Fjord Career. It looks like they have a good beat going on.

When I wrote this, I was making the morning porridge for my son. And the next morning I fixed few typos my twisted eyes did not allow me to see the day before.

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