Ambiguous ads

There was a thread a while ago about job ads that ask for every skill under the sun as a requirement. This one has almost no details at all.


The Role

As one of their Senior Industrial Designers you will be an integral part of the team and will liaise extensively with their manufacturers in China. Role will include but won’t be limited to:

Manage the delivery of design services from consultation to completion
Research and develop new or improved innovation opportunities
Planning of design team resources and new project scope
Managing budgets and reporting processes associated with your projects
Liaise with manufacturing team in China


The Company

This is a global firm with offices across the US, Asia and Australia. They have offices based in the Inner Suburbs of city, close to public transport and work with a range of high profile and widely recognised brands.


Skills & Experience

Several years experience in industrial design, namely POS, packaging and product design
Design and build experience is essential
Must be pro-active, able to work independently and as part of a wider team
Good hand sketching skills
Knowledge of Solid works, KeyShot and Adobe CS

I’d really like to ask if they’re trying to waste people’s time given that they’ve posted an ad that essentially says “This company that exists needs an industrial designer that can do industrial design”. They haven’t named the company or even the sector the products/brands are in, what’s the point of this?

How would you respond to a recruiter who has forwarded this through?

I’ve seen a few job listing like this in the past but never quite as vague!
It’s really annoying, I can understand that a recruiter doesn’t want you to apply directly and cut them out, but how can you be expected to tailor your portfolio/covering letter to suit the company if you know nothing about it? Most listings at least share the sector so you can take a gamble on that.

I’d call the recruiter and try and find out a bit more about the company if you possibly can, otherwise you would just have to apply with a generic industrial design portfolio that shows examples of what they have said and hope for the best!

It is likely not a very good recruiter! The better recruiter I have worked with have been all about building relationships, learning about the company and the applicants and trying to make the best matches and they never post on job boards. This doesn’t seem like that.

I would think they are going to get a wide range of random applicants with that and maybe miss out on some applicants who would have been a good fit.

My thoughts exactly. Recruiters are paid, often very very well, to find the best applicants possible for the position and company, and in this case they aren’t doing their job.

I’ve just said that there isn’t enough information about the role to make an informed decision. I won’t be applying.

Too bad that they are a ‘multi-national specialist recruitment agency dedicated to connecting jobseekers with employers in architecture and design.’ :thinking: