[ninenot]

Yup.

As an HR pro, I can write a job description that you will NEVER match.

Further, the project managers always down-size their labor cost estimates to look good--thus, the salary pegs go down a few notches.

Since I am an 'outside' HR type, I've seen it hundreds of times---"we want X, Y, Z, A, B, C, all for $XX,000.00" And one finds rather quickly that the people they want are actually $XX,000.00 plus around 25%.

They manage to hire some yock that can't do the job--and wonder why the hell THAT happened...

[lelio]

Since I am an 'outside' HR type, I've seen it hundreds of times

Don't forget that a lot of people placing the ads or acting as headhunters don't know the space either. So someone somewhere once said in passing "We're using Brand X's Version Q of Product M" and then suddenly that's a requirement.

The people making up the ad to run in the paper or in the HR department that screen applicants aren't skilled enough to realize that someone with Brand Y's product of the same kind can probably catch on.

And to be fair to them, there's a lot of clowns out there that muddy up the waters. They're proficient in their narrow field but can't see the forest for the trees. So he makes it past a screener and then the project manager yells at them for sending them a moron. The screener walks away thinking "I've got to match this up exactly."

Course the easiest way to get around that as a job applicant is to tailor your cover letter to suit their needs exactly.