Job Postings...a Necessary Evil?

I’m not convinced job postings are necessary...I’m not convinced job postings are necessary, particularly for Chief Financial Officers. But, I do think they are evil, particularly for any Senior Executive. Recruiter Kelly Blokdijk sums it up in her article ... “Are you using the most effective techniques to repel top talent.” Yes, repel!

Job postings certainly don’t ensure that companies get “top talent.” It does ensure that they get deluged with resumes from desperate job seekers, both qualified and unqualified. It’s also quite likely that in that massive pile of paperwork, the high-value candidate is either lost or non-existent.

Neither do job postings ensure that candidates get a fair shake or even a good fit. It’s a process that is nothing short of a train wreck. I talk about this in my article “Everybody Lies.” (Email me at Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, if you would like to receive it.)

Senior finance executives who get sucked into the job posting time warp may find it’s nothing more than a fantasy world filled with ineffectiveness and inefficiencies. Sitting in front of a computer responding to posted positions fosters the illusion of being productive. It isn’t. It’s fantasy. As soon as you hit “send,” you’ve lost all control as your resume goes who knows where and what or when your next step should be. Not only is it  an ineffective and inefficient search strategy, but it forces you - the candidate - to be what the company wants rather than playing from your strengths and interests. Because, in all likelihood, you’re revising your resume to incorporate key words from the job posting every time you send it out, right?

The reality is, a search strategy that focuses primarily on responding to job postings isn’t easy ... it only makes you think it’s easy. It isn’t convenient despite the fact that you can just walk to your computer and fire off a resume. It isn’t effective, because you have no control over your search ... you’ve handed complete control over to an unknown name / and face. It isn’t efficient because job postings force you to deal with the middle man - HR - whose sole job is to screen you out of the process.

So what do you think? Are job postings a necessary evil? Necessary? Or, just evil?