Multitask. Neuroscience tells us it's actually impossible for the human brain to multitask successfully. By trying simultaneously to complete different tasks, we reduce our performance and effectiveness at each individual job. "Multitasking is an utter violation of reality. What they're trying to say is, 'We may switch up your job description without telling you and we want you to be okay with it,' " Fleming says. You'll need to be able to quickly prioritize initiatives and figure out which competing task is the most important, Ullrich says.
Self-starter. "It's saying, 'When we don't give you any sense of direction, we want you to pull it out of thin air,'" interprets Fleming. "Self starter is a code phrase for, 'Can you make ambivalence and lack of direction work?' "
Results-oriented or self-motivated. "What this really means is that they want someone with incredible drive, often used to opaquely reference sales positions where you will have to work to make commission," says Shawn O'Connor, founder and chief executive officer of Stratus Careers, a career counseling and training firm based in New York.
Early-stage or venture-backed. While these phrases legitimately describe startups backed by venture capitalists, it's important to understand the subtext. "There aren't a lot of resources; you may not get paid a lot; and we hope you're going to work for that Holy Grail of going public or some successful exit," Ullrich translates.
Experience in an entrepreneurial setting. Similarly, any job ad that describes an "entrepreneurial position" will demand a willingness to do whatever task needs to be done from the person who takes the gig. "This job is definitely not the right fit for someone who wants clearly delineated responsibilities or doesn't want to have to take out his own trash from his desk," says O'Connor.
Creativity for "out of the box" solutions. If you relish charting your own course, respond to the job ads that reference creativity, problem solving and "out of the box" thinking. "That's jargon for: we don't have it figured out yet," Ullrich says.
To be sure, any one of these phrases might appear in an ad for a position that you'd happily fill. But when you understand the hidden meaning, you'll be in a better position to decide whether the tradeoffs that come with this job make sense for you. And don't expect the jargon to disappear from help wanted ads any time soon.
"Job ads are full of jargon for the same reason sugar is part of good fattening food: it feels good," Fleming says. "There's a little bit of a high when you say the job you're looking for has impact and has a bandwidth that's powerful."
