Based on my post last night about unreasonable job descriptions, the company in question – a startup in Pittsburgh named Cardeeo, Inc – was responsive to the feedback that my readers made in the comments section.

Unprecedented in my experience, and a good sign for the company.

Anyone who is willing to take community feedback in how it’s approaching its own candidates needs to be taken seriously. Also, if the company is this interested in how the job listing is authored and perceived by the technical community, chances are that they really are looking for qualified, talented, and rock-solid people that can make a difference. I could be wrong, but my gut tells me otherwise.

Please take a moment to look at the new job listing, and see how quick feedback allowed this company to refine it, and focus on what their core needs are.

From what I hear over and over again, the one opportunity that companies miss out on is putting a teaser in a job posting. Some tidbit of the work a candidate would be doing to really entice the passionate ones to contact them.

Let’s try an experiment. Two job postings describing the same job. Which one sounds more interesting?

Software Engineer / User Interface Designer

Widgets Conglomerate is a Fortune 100 company in need of an experienced, self-starting software engineer for our corporate billing department. Qualified candidates must have at least 4 years of experience developing enterprise class software solutions, and have a Computer Science degree, or equivalent.

We are an equal opportunity employer, offer great benefits, and competitive compensation.

Target skills include, but are not limited to:
- .NET framework technologies such as C#, ASP.NET and SQL Server
- HTML and Javascript experience is also highly preferred
- SOAP/REST web service experience
- Experience in full SDLC and comfortable working with multiple teams to ensure specifications and end product are correct
- Must be a self-starter who is capable of running a project with minimal supervision
- Some experience doing mobile phone development is a bonus

Software Engineer / User Interface Designer

Widgets Conglomerate is a large, pioneering company who needs to enhance its cutting edge development team with a solid, talented and well rounded software engineer. If you have at least 4 years under your belt designing and developing high quality, enterprise software, and can identify issues, opportunities, and pitfalls at that level, we want to talk to you.

We’re looking for someone to help us build the next generation of responsive, social billing applications that engage employees and customers by providing real-time messaging and data. You can expect to work with the latest technology, lots of creative input and a challenging project.

Here’s what you’ll need to be considered:
- At least 2 years doing C# and/or ASP.NET development for developing efficient and attractive user interfaces.
- Full understanding of SQL Server and can do your own table modeling and can write your own stored procedures.
- Advanced experiences working with HTML/Javascript frameworks to create lightning fast and responseful Intranet pages. Knowing SOAP and/or REST will get us even more excited.
- iPhone development would be ideal. Part of this application will be used by our field personnel on their iPhones every day.
- You need to be able to communicate with business users, and be able to produce technical and functional specifications before you start designing or writing a single line of code.
- You need to know how to write efficient, scalable code that won’t break in a year and can be enhanced as more features are implemented without breaking the whole thing.
- Have you ever led a team, or been a supervisor, or want to be in a leadership role? We need someone who is a leader with vision, and has the ability to share that vision with a team and lead them towards it.