You can’t manage talent unless you have talent. In order to have talent, you have to attract talent. In order to attract talent, you need to have an interesting job and an exciting career path for them. And, unless you already know of some really good candidates that you think you can attract, because you have talent who has worked with these people before and is actively recruiting them for you, your only hope to attract the attention of talent is through a public job advertisement. And I can tell you right now that you’re not going to attract anyone if your job advertisement isn’t good.

For example, if you send out something like the following, which is along the lines of something that recently hit my inbox, don’t expect much. (A few details have been changed to protect the guilty.)

Here’s a superb opportunity for an experienced sourcing manager within the hardware and software domains looking to join a top tier investment bank. This is a permanent position based out of New York City that will pay a base salary of 150K plus a competitive bonus and benefits package.

This is an excellent opportunity for a qualified candidate who has had strategic sourcing experience looking to manage a high visibility, multi-million dollar project for a leading investment bank.

Now, many HR people are probably saying “what’s wrong with this?”. The answer, just about everything. There’s so much wrong that I don’t even know where to start, and I already wrote a long reply to the sender about how, in my opinion, their chances of finding a top candidate with this was pretty slim. But let’s take it from the top.

Top Tier Investment Bank
If the bank is so good, why are they hiding that they are looking for a talented candidate. Good brands attract good talent.

Based out of New York … will pay (a) competitive …
How competitive? An investment bank in new york is likely in the financial district where nearby 2-bedroom apartments go for 2,500 a month. (In comparison, in the North Dallas area, you can get a 2,000 sq. ft home for 1,000 a month.) New York has one of the highest tax burdens. In fact, it’s about 40% cheaper to live in Dallas than New York. So, 90K in North Dallas is almost as good as 150K in New York. A salary range should not be mentioned unless it’s better than average for the region and, if you’re looking nationally, attractive to top talent in other cities with similar talent. (And given that top talent in Dallas, Texas will probably be making 120K, it might actually be a pay cut for them in terms of their net cash position.)

manage Hardware and Shared Infrastructure Software sourcing initiatives, support the post contract supplier management of critical suppliers, and liaise with the legal department to ensure favourable commercial terms
In other words, what you would do in any sourcing job that managed the IT category. What is different or unique?

you must have worked as a hardware and software sourcing manager … within the financial services industry
So, unless you’ve worked for a bank, you haven’t done squat? Let’s ignore the fact that many multi-national retail companies need systems that are actually more complex as they have to manage a myriad of tax issues across multiple countries and states, manage global logistics, and allow for TCO calculations on products and services with a global footprint. And let’s ignore the fact that sometimes the best talent is someone from outside the industry who brings fresh insights on how to do things more efficiently and effectively. Like Alan Mulally who turned around Ford almost single-handedly with essentially the same team as his predecessor.

a multi-million dollar project
Well, duh. First of all, most financial institutions support a number of on-line, real-time systems that require banks of servers in geographically dispersed data centres. A 13U rack of high-density, low-power blades can easily cost 250K to 500K. So it’s obviously in the millions. It only gets interesting in the tens of millions or more.

high visibility … project
So, there might actually be something exciting to attract a candidate and you don’t at least drop a hint?

All I can say is if you write this swill, don’t be surprised if your applicant pool is full of swine. The vast majority of candidates who are going to apply to this are going to be out of work or not content with their current work, and probably a little desperate. Given that top talent saves an organization money, if a sourcing manager is out of work, there’s a good chance there’s a reason for that. Similarly, if a candidate is not happy, there’s typically a reason for that too. And these days, it’s because they’re overworked. But let’s not kid ourselves. Chances are that, given most corporate situations and the economy, they’re going to be overworked in your job too. And if they can’t stand the heat … (Now, sometimes they’re just unlucky and got axed in an across-the-board cut and sometimes they really do have a bad boss, but it’s not the norm, and most of the candidates that do apply will likely not be right for your organization.)