[Foundation-l] Wikimedia "Storyteller" job opening

[Delphine Ménard]

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 3:39 AM, MZMcBride <z at mzmcbride.com> wrote:
> Andrew Gray wrote:

>> (The actual job description did make my eyes roll a bit, though.
>> "Storyteller", oh dear.)
>
> Thank you very much for this post, Andrew. This post clarified the job role
> in a very nice, clear way and I really appreciate you taking the time to
> write it.
>
> I'd also like to apologize to the list (or to any members of it) for being
> excessively rude or stupid this afternoon. Some of the, er... cutesy wording
> in the job opening left me with the wrong impression about this role and its
> purpose.


That is (as is Andrew's eyes rolling), an extremely interesting
observation. So I looked at the other job openings to get an idea of
the "tone" employed.
Just for the fun of comparing, you might want to look at this job description:

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings/Fundraiser_Data_Analyst
Which tone really is _very different_ from the "Storyteller.

Without any pretence at thorough analysis, I guess job openings
(should) reflect both the person who puts them up _and_ the person you
want to have.
For something like statistical analysis, you probably are looking for
someone with less of a "dreaming" mind than for storytelling.

I guess what's interesting here is that you don't catch flies with
vinegar (is that an English expression?). So obviously, the tone
employed and the words chosen will try and catch the  attention of a
particular type of person, with a particular mindset.

Birgitte pointed out in this thread that some people should feel
repelled by a job offer if it's not for them, and I agree with that.
It does make a good job offer to be able to "talk" to the people you
are targeting rather than those who are not fit for the job.

While I find the cutesy a bit too "emphatic" and to say the truth, too
"American" [1], I can understand where this is coming from and I do
believe that it will draw the right kind of people to the job.

It's all about how you speak. If you are looking for someone who
thinks square, you probably want to have a job offer that is square,
while if you're looking for someone who needs to let their creativity
and words loose, you probably want to have a job offer that does
exactly that.

It's all a matter of communication, really. As a very good example,
Andrew was able to rephrase the job offer so that it actually makes
sense to those of us who need facts and rational explanations.
Achieving that is a rare talent, actually :)



Delphine

[1]  please forgive my generalisation here, words like "impressive"
and "exudes enthusiasm" are just not words you'd find in a job opening
even in the coolest, craziest, bestestestest company in France, for
example, no matter how creative the job opening may be. Let's say that
I am not convinced that this (over)use of words works efficiently in a
truly international environment.

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