Smoking Cold Job Opportunities
by Miki Saxon
There was a time when the words used in job ads actually made sense.
These days the words used seem to have little relation to either the skills needed or the opportunities offered.
For example, courage
Courage is mentioned in a variety of job postings for minimum wage retail and service work. Companies like JCPenney (where an ideal employee will “show the confidence and courage to do what’s right“), Ann Taylor (in which one “has the courage to know who she is“), and Lululemon (wherein a worker “leads with courage, knowing the possibility of greatness is bigger than the fear of failure“) ask for it specifically in job ads.
Does that mean the employee can expect a positive outcome if they have the courage to report their boss, another executive or a customer for harassment?
Then there are the companies looking for passionate workers.
Lisa Cohen, an associate professor of organizational behavior at McGill University’s Desautels School of Management shared that passion is a common attribute that companies she’s spoken with want, but they struggle to explain why.
“They haven’t defined the term,” she said. “They don’t know why it matters and probably what they’re looking for—and they’ll put this in not particularly nice terms—is somebody who’s going to work like crazy for long hours, right?”
Hiring for intangibles is smart, but it should be for traits that actually matter, as opposed to smoke and glitter.
Image credit: Robert Nunnally
