----- Original Message ----- > On 09/09/13 14:59, Dan Ritter wrote: > > What, as an experienced systems administrator, could actually > > attract > > your attention to a job ad? What holds your attention long enough > > for > > you to write a thoughtful cover letter and update your resume? > > > > Suggestions from this thread are likely to be used in an ad on > > sajobs in the near future. > > If you are trying to hire an experienced systems administrator, then > the > question is why is an experienced system administrator looking at > your > ad in the first place? > > A couple of possible reasons: > > - someone told them about the position -- word of mouth is very > powerful. In that case, since someone (presumably someone I respect) > referred me, I am inclined to read the ad, or at least take a look at > it. > > - I am moving, or considering moving, so I am looking for a job in > the > posted ads, not only through word-of-mouth. > > I'm not sure where I am going with that, but that idea seemed > important > to me. > > What do I need/want to know? As best you can, describe the position, > or > the work, or the responsibilities. What kind of place is it (both > technical and non-technical culture)? What technologies are you > using? > expect to use? what makes you special. or at least interesting? (try > and > avoid all the buzzwords and sounding just like every other startup or > wanna-sound-cool place). > > If you had to describe the position (or the team/work/what-you-do) > over > a beer, what would you say? Can you re-write that in one short > paragraph? > > Assume the potential applicants are going to look at the company web > site, do google searches, and ask all their friends for any info. > > Make it easy for potential applicants to get more information (and > the > right information) > > Not sure how much that helps, > > --david >
I guess I'm kind of starting to look at job ads again....now that I'm pretty much the only one left here. As I was reading this thread so far...my first thoughts were what are turn offs in job ads. The dry, we only want X, Y, Z or vague ones that beyond the title, or ones that make no further mention of Unix after the title. (we had an assistant director put out a job ad for our group that was like that once, another time he got the city wrong....) Though the two reasons sound very much like how I came to find this job, and the previous. When I went looking for my previous job...I worked in a small city where the only place to find unix jobs was because of the large military base next to it. The local college...had a unix server and a unix sysadmin....everything else was novell and VMS. FreeBSD 2.0 had only appeared (I was trying to start a FreeNet based on it.) But, it was getting harder and harder to get big defense contracts, so I was going to be moving.... wasn't until I expanded to consider anywhere...that I ended up finding something. And, I don't think, I actually saw the specific job posting or had applied for it. For this job...I wasn't really looking to move, though I didn't really have a whole lot tying me down (still don't...) But, a friend mentioned this position to me...and even though the posting was very dry and full of things that said I should probably not waste their time....it was the information I got from the web and from the friend (who I had never met in person until I showed up for my interview...) So, I thought there were lots of possibilities in coming here.....though its been mixed ... and not sure if things are getting worse or will get better. But, the last person that I thought would ever leave (my $boss)....gave his two weeks notice...two weeks ago. So, I guess I've been re-evaluating what my reasons for staying with all the stuff that goes on above....and whether its even possible for me to do the things that are important to me in this job. I got up this morning, wanting to finally look at the server that is randomly running out of space in the middle of the night....but once I came in....haven't been able to look at it until now. Now, I should've gone home 4 hours ago. Bad, because it means I missed taking my meds 3 hours ago....don't have $boss looking out for me anymore.... If/when I move again....I think I'd want to find somewhere cooler..... Lawrence _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
