A Unicorn or A Rockstar or Both?!

Call me an old dinosaur, but looking at some of the adverts I see online these days, I wonder if I was a job seeker what I would think if I was actively looking for a new role. Some particular phrases that I’ve seen this week have got me thinking, hence my (please note tongue-in-cheek) thoughts below :

“Calling all Unicorns”

Now aside from in a mythical context, I’m not entirely sure what a unicorn is, but assuming it’s a unique, near impossible to find skillset, I wonder what the value of advertising for such a person would be. I’d imagine it’s unlikely that ‘unicorns’ would be scouring the internet for a new job and if I was a unicorn, I would have doubts about a company flinging out a job advert to procure my hard earned experience. One would hope that a more dedicated and imaginative process would also be underway to attract these types of candidates.

“Looking for Rockstars”

Now this one really gets me. Personally, I would have a grave suspicion around anyone who described themselves as a rockstar ( unless they actually were one ) – and hence I would have serious reservations around companies actively looking to hire such people. From an internal perspective I can only see the word Rockstar being used by a manager who thinks they are an even bigger Rockstar than you are, multiplying the issue. I imagine a conversation between Rockstars going something like this :

Chief Rockstar : Hey Rockstar, would you mind working until 3am to complete this repetitive and extremely time consuming piece of work?

Rockstar – Sure, no problem.

Chief Rockstar – thanks, you’re a Rockstar. I’m off to the pub…..etc etc

“Come and join our Crazy / Mad team”.  

In my experience both personally and professionally, self-proclaimed crazies are often in reality at best either dull or irritating, at worst a combination of the two. If you have an entire team of self-professed crazy people then you have a serious problem – in my mind the first things that came to mind on seeing the advert would be a highly dysfunctional collection of lunatics, or the quietest office known to man. Avoid at all costs.

Anything to do with Table Football / Pool / Bean Bags

Personally, I’ve never had a burning urge to hit the Pool Table, but least of all during a working day. In fact I’m not quite sure how I would respond if someone asked me to play Table Football when I was right in the middle of something, unless they were a Unicorn, or a Rockstar, in which case I might feel obliged to whop them into shape. And give me a sturdy chair over a beanbag any day of the week!

Unlimited On-Target Earning Potential

This basically means terrible basic salary, with the potential to earn a lot of money should you hit unattainable sales targets. Tread with caution.

On a more serious note and perhaps  more alarmingly  than these are the consistent flow of adverts looking for locals only, female relevant in certain locations, but in a world of increasing diversity and an increasingly mobile global work force, I find it amazing that certain companies consciously limit their hiring options through the adverts they place. Diversity in talent has proven to be a key component in the success of global businesses/ male only talent, or perhaps the under-current that only certain races / people of certain linguistic capabilities may apply. Admittedly these adverts are more prevalent, yet still at the front line of hiring, many companies still seem to be seriously diminishing their global candidate pools.

If you’d like to discuss any of the above or get some impartial ( and serious)! career advice, please feel free to get in touch. The Edge is a collection of normal people working across Singapore, Hong Kong Kuala Lumpur and India, with a single minded focus on finding and placing the best talent in the market across Banking, Supply Chain, Sales & Marketing, Legal, Technology and HR – we do like to play Pool after work though : )