Adrian Howard posted in his use.perl blog a text about antipatterns on writing jobs advertisements. It is a insightful piece of advice for those confronted with the need of writing a convincing call for new employers and entertaining for those wanting to know the mindset of well-intentioned people on the other side of the job interview desk.

The starting point of his recommendations is the existence of four groups of people: Qualified x Unqualified x Deluded x Liars and its different attitudes towards a prospective job. The objective of the game is to attract the qualified and avoid the others. Then comes a long list of how not to write a job advert and the expected effects of each item on these groups. Realise that, despite the best efforts, there’s very little that can be done to exclude the Liars from the playing field. I think that’s where intuition and relation networks come into play. But that’s when many positions end up filled with inappropriate people that only fake they know what they’re doing. It’s a tough world out there!

Adrian wrote this piece in reply to a request for guidance on hiring in PerlMonks site about two years ago. I am glad he brought this gem to surface again.