Why Software Development Job Adverts Suck

I used to think job adverts were a necessary evil.

A gateway to a recruiter, who might eventually put you in touch with someone who knows something about the role.

What the job advert says and the reality that unfolds in the rest of the interview process are normally worlds apart.

That’s why job adverts suck.

Here are the worst offenders, with a few examples I found online:

Recruitment agent bias

“I’m working with the biggest Fintech in London”

You must be a big-shot! But what’s in it for me?

Unnecessary city boy corporate speak

“High transparency, metric-driven reporting, and incremental handovers and a consistent focus on building our clients’ capability.”

Your big words don’t impress me! You’re speaking to a software developer, not presenting to a room full of investors.

Other problems

• not proving any detail other than a list of technologies
• using copy and paste terms like high performing team and experienced professionals
• describing complex software as a good thing
• not showing the salary

What’s most frustrating is that almost no job adverts give you the most important bit of information: the company name. At least the ones that go through recruiters.

That’s why using LinkedIn Jobs might be a better approach. The adverts avoid a lot of the mistakes I mention above, and you can often go direct to the company.

But there is another way that avoids job adverts altogether.

You can lay out a saucer of milk so sweet that companies will come direct to you.

Create your own software developer advert online by:

• talking about the technologies you love
• teaching others with valuable tutorials
• sticking with a topic long enough that people start to notice

You can even reach people in companies that aren’t even actively recruiting right now.

So, as a highly-leveraged and synergised professional top-tier software developer with multi-level experience, why don’t you give it a go?