Great Opportunity?

Great opportunity in……

Why? Why is this a great opportunity?

Every morning I start my day by going through email. Within these emails are LinkedIn Group notifications. I scan the notifications for interesting discussions, and pause and chuckle to myself every time I see a job posted as “Great Opportunity”. Seems like a very subjective word, “great”.

Michael Jordan was a great basketball player. Joe Montana was a great football player. Mohammad Ali was a great boxer. Describing these sports legends as great seems very legit. Each of these individuals was assigned the prestigious title of “great” based on a defined set of criteria generally agreed upon by sports analysts, other sports legends, and fans alike.

To the best of my knowledge the insurance industry has not created a defined set of criteria to establish what is a great opportunity. Therefore, the term is subjective and simply becomes an overused and meaningless word.

Truth is that this will be a great opportunity for someone. But that’s not why the recruiter posts as such. They are attempting to draw attention. But can every job opportunity be a great opportunity? Can you honestly tell me you have a great opportunity for me without knowing what my interests & expectations are? Perhaps a better way to tell the story is by briefly describing what makes this a desirable opportunity. Maybe it is with an A+ AM Best rated carrier. Maybe the company is experience significant growth. Maybe it is a newly created position. These are no guarantees that the opportunity is great, but at least the term “great” is not being overused.

Recruiters are using marketing 101 when they use terms such as “great” by trying to catch attention. But if you answer one of these, ask them what makes this a great opportunity. Because the reality is, if they don’t know about your interests and what’s important to you, then “great” is just an overused word. 

Scot Dickerson, CPC
President