In Defense of Hiring Managers and Job Descriptions
Over the last month or so, there has been tremendous pushback on LinkedIn about job descriptions and marketing roles.
Most of it is along the lines of “I can’t believe how much they want this person to do!” And all of it misses the mark.
Marketing has changed
There was a time in B2B marketing (especially in logistics and supply chain) where “buy ads in a few places, run PPC and SEO campaigns, attend a trade show, send some emails and then measure” was enough. You might have altered the frequency of messages. You might have tried out different display networks. And you might have bought a few keywords that were outside the company’s core practice area, as a way to test for the next vertical market.
A lot of marketing folks wax nostalgic for these days… and they’re missing the point.
What companies really want
Yes, some of the job descriptions on LinkedIn can be a little aggressive (full stack marketing roles with tech oversight, AI, video, SEO/PPC, dashboarding, vibe coding, etc). But all of the things these roles ask for generally fall into a more advanced version of yesterday’s marketing initiatives.
Marketing today should never be considered a cost center… it should be an investment opportunity (and the job descriptions are heading in this direction). It’s outcomes over outputs, and roles are being created with this in mind.
So, if you’re a company leader creating a dense, demanding job description, that’s OK. As long as you’re willing to look past the laundry list of tools to hire someone saying: “I can take capital, apply leverage, and return revenue.”
And to the marketing community, stop looking at the stack of requirements as a burden, and start looking at it as the keys to the boardroom.
That's how we approach it anyway.
