The Purple Cow Job Description – Should I Apply?

The Purple Cow Job Description – Should I Apply?

Purple Cow Job Description?

I guarantee you have read a purple cow job description. It’s one of those that, when you finished reading it, you said to yourself:

I am not qualified for this job but…is anyone?

They are looking for the purple cow. The ideal candidate does not exist!

I am going out on a limb to say that most job descriptions are badly written.

In my last corporate job, I had an open position to fill. I had to write a job description.

Did I know how to write a job description? NO!

I went onto Indeed.com and searched for openings with the same job title. When I found one I liked, I copied it!

I was expanding my team for a training and certification program. I wanted a technical trainer who was familiar with the program and was already certified. We had certified less than a thousand people worldwide.

The candidate needed to have five years of technical training experience.

I wanted someone who was already located in Austin, Texas.

The odds of finding someone who was certified in the topic, had five years experience as a technical trainer, AND lived in Austin was close to ZERO!

I was looking for the Purple Cow!

Did I write the job description saying I wanted everything? YES!

Dissecting the Job Description

We will want to look at:

  • High level job description
  • Responsibilities
  • Requirements/Qualifications
  • Education

(More: Is the Resume Still Relevant? )

High Level Job Description

Can you honestly see yourself with this title? One of the problems with high level job descriptions is they have become so vague. Do not write yourself off even if it does not look like a fit just yet.

Responsibilities/Description

Read through this section carefully. Have you actually performed more than half of the responsibilities described?

Requirements/Qualifications

Check out each item in the requirements/qualifications section of the job description:

  • How many of the requirements/qualifications do you have? Make sure you meet at least half of the requirements/qualifications.
  • Do you have equivalent requirements/qualifications? Do you have existing skills that you can map to what is in the job description? How long would it take, given your current experience, to attain what is needed?

(More: Perfect Fit for the Job? Expect to Lose! )

Education

  • Do you have all of the required educational credentials?
  • Do you have the preferred educational credentials?
  • Do you have experience that can be substituted for any of the credentials?

One way to get around having all of the educational credentials is to put in your resume a statement like the following:

20 years of experience in xxxxxx…in lieu of an MBA.

This will often get you past the applicant tracking systems and at least get you a phone interview for your to prove your worth.

(More: What Does Your Resume Say About Your Age? )

Gender

Havard Business Review recently published an article Why Women Don’t Apply for Jobs Unless They’re 100% Qualified. Basically, the author opens the article with the statement:

You’ve probably heard the following statistic: Men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them.

Women appear to be especially susceptible to the Purple Cow job description and will tend not to apply.

Ladies, is this true based on your experience?

Do Not Be Afraid of the Purple Cow

Lastly, if you are following a targeted job search strategy, you will have an internal contact within the company. Ask your contact to find out what the hiring manager is really looking for!

The Purple Cow Job Description - Should I Apply? was originally posted in Augustof 2014 on the Career Pivot blog.

Marc Miller is the founder of Career Pivot, which helps Baby Boomers and others design careers they can grow into for the next 30 years. You can follow Marc on Twitter or Facebook.

Marc authored the book “Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers.”

TARAH HOILE

Senior Credit Controller

9y

Learned from this. I'm one of those who really look into the details prior to submitting my resume if it does fits me 100%. Thanks for the info.

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Silvia Basilis, PMP, PMI-ACP, DASM, ITIL, HUCMI CP

Service Delivery Project Manager with extensive experience in global IT projects implementations.

9y

Great article!, this is something everybody should read.

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I love the purple cow description. It gives me the opportunity to highlight my abilities and shape the position into what I want it to be. ..All I have to do is convince the employer! Piece of cake!

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Kathy Schaefer

Independent Broadcast Media Professional

9y

Luz... greetings from Miss Taffy Productions now located in Danville Kentucky on a 44 acre horse farm for 10 years... ahhahaha.... I am not doing TV , since 2010 but may have to get back into the game...you were always a great team mate... positive...and it was great knowing you... need a break... I mean total break come to Lexington and stay in my guest house on VRBO.com click Kentucky, Danville and I think I am the only one...take care, Kathy

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Diego Robledo

Vice President at Santander | Yale MBA Candidate | ECNY Fellow

9y

Very common in Latam. Fancy titles, unreachable jobs

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