Do Employers Really Know What They’re Looking For?

I have seen scores of job postings for positions that seem to encompass multiple functions, skills, and backgrounds into one role within a company. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, corporate America and nonprofits, but you are highly unlikely to find anyone who has the skill sets to do everything from media relations to graphic design to copywriting to design of websites to strategic planning to media planning to social media well. The key word here is well.

I think it’s a great attribute for people to be generalists and to know a little about a wide range of topics. I may be familiar with how to use a drill and a hammer, but I don’t think anyone would want to hire me to design and build a house. Knowing how to use the tools in business isn’t quite the same as being knowledgeable about processes, communicating to your audience effectively, quality work, expertise based on years of experience, training, and understanding the rationale behind decisions.

Here are examples of some of the “Qualifications Needed” from recent job postings (these have been edited for brevity):

Director of External Affairs:

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in communication, business, marketing or other relevant field; supplemented by 3+ years of accomplishment in a multi-faceted external relations position.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite & Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and Acrobat). Graphic design skills required.
• Web and Social Media experience required.
• Knowledge of media sources.
• Capacity to create consistent messaging and to manage events for cultivation, awareness building, and celebration.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Preparation and periodic submittal of columns, letters to the editor, blogs, news releases and other public relations communications to ensure enhanced public visibility.
• Ability to comprehend and correctly use informational documents including budget reports, surveys and trends, and other reports and records.
• Ability to write for publication, conduct research on individuals and organizations, prepare statistics, and other job related documents using prescribed format and conforming to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction and style.

If you’re not looking for a job, it’s almost humorous. I envision one person with about 12 arms and a head that is constantly spinning. It’s one thing to oversee and manage others responsible for a tremendous variety of skills; it’s stupidity to imagine that one must be skilled in it personally in order to get the job done. Here’s another example:

Marketing Communications Specialist

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop, create, implement and manage communication and demand generation programs.
• Negotiate with, brief and manage external agencies
• Manage multiple campaigns across diverse channels, ensuring they are delivered on time and within budget.
• Collect, analyze and report metrics, including program effectiveness, lead generation and ROI

Requirements:

• 3+​ years of experience of designing and implementing successful B2B campaigns
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Experience in communicating benefits of technical products to internal and external audiences.​
• Knowledge and experience of multimedia development and editing capability (Adobe Suite, InDesign, etc)
• Excellent project management skills
• Creative experience:​ In-Design, video editing/​production
• Excellent English writing skills
• B2C writing experience is preferred but not required

And one more:

Marketing Manager

Marketing Manager will:

• Juggle dozens of projects, head off issues and put out fires at the drop of a dime
• Translate needs and ideas into workable solutions and effective programs; act with diplomacy and manage expectations
• Be comfortable managing relationships with all employees from entry-level staff to executive stakeholders
• Think out of the box and know how to make a big impact without blowing a budget; personally like to research and stay up to date on the latest marketing trends
• Possess excellent copywriting and creative skills, web 2.0 expertise, ability to navigate the Adobe suite and have print production experience

You Must:

• Possess at least five years of experience working within a corporate marketing department
• Demonstrate a track record of performance managing multiple marketing programs; bring your writing or design portfolio
• Be highly collaborative, you understand creative services and work well on team initiatives
• Have experience in strategic planning and execution
• Play in the interactive space; you Facebook and Tweet, of course you’re Linkedin and you’re always on the lookout for the next great web 2.0 experience
• Possess a Bachelor’s Degree

I'd be interested in hearing the comprehensive or unusual job postings you're seeing in your fields, too. Maybe that's a business opportunity...helping companies to write job descriptions and job postings.