Why advertise the obvious? Learning outcomes from analyzing advertisements for recruitment of Swedish IS/IT project managers

Abstract

When Swedish employers advertise for IS/IT project managers they tend to list almost obvious qualification requirements instead of describing those that are unique for their companies’ competitiveness, or more precisely, instead of expressing those that really matters. The research behind this paper studied job advertisements during four years (2010–2013). The findings point to an inadequate ability to understand and/or express the requirements that should be decisive for the appointment in order to grasp the essence of what the job actually involves, which brings on problems for both the applicants and the employers. The practical implications of the study pursue a need for employers to stop advertising mostly general requirements for the benefit of more specified ones, that take the sector’s, the organization’s and the project’s requirements into consideration. By doing so, the prospect applicants have a better opportunity to understand what a certain job entails and the employers have a better chance to appoint the right individual. The research implications point to a need for acknowledging, and set about solving, problems concerning qualification requirements in advertisements for IS/IT project managers.