I once saw a job posting that said "must handle ambiguity." I'm still not sure what they meant, and frankly, neither are they.
After years in recruiting, I've seen job descriptions that read less like a roadmap and more like a riddle written by a committee with commitment issues. Somewhere along the way, clear communication gave way to corporate Mad Libs.
A short field guide
"Must handle ambiguity." Possible translation: "We haven't figured this job out yet, but we'd like you to." It's like being hired to build a plane mid-flight, with no blueprints, three copilots and a passenger yelling from row 17.
"Thrives in a fast-paced, exciting environment." You picture a buzzing office and brainstorms over lattes. Then you show up to a beige cubicle, a sluggish printer and a coffee machine nobody has cleaned in years.
"Wears many hats." Often means two jobs for one salary.
"Self-starter." Sometimes means there's no onboarding.
There's a line often credited to Groucho Marx, though it was going around as an anonymous joke by 1873: "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." Job descriptions can work the same way. Companies don't know what they want, but they want you to have it.
The real problem isn't the writing
Buzzwords are a symptom. Underneath them is usually one of three things: nobody did the work of defining the job, the people involved don't agree on what it is, or someone is afraid to describe the work environment as it actually is. The vague phrases get tossed in like parsley on a plate. Garnish, no substance.
That matters more than it seems. A job description is the first evidence a candidate sees about whether you know what you're doing. It also anchors everything that follows: the interview questions, the assessment, the performance expectations. If the description is fuzzy, every step downstream inherits the fuzz.
For employers: say what the work is
Be specific. Ditch the fluff. A good description answers four questions:
- What will this person actually do in a typical week?
- Who do they report to, and who do they work with most?
- How will success be measured in the first six to twelve months?
- What's genuinely hard about the role?
If the role really does involve ambiguity, describe it: "Priorities shift monthly as we enter new markets, and you'll often decide what to do first." That's honest, and it attracts people who like that kind of work.
Better still, have the hiring manager and someone currently doing similar work write or review it. That's job analysis in its simplest form, and it beats any template. For why the description deserves that effort in the first place, see Job Descriptions are IMPORTANT! Really!.
For job seekers: play detective
When you see these phrases, ask about them. "What kind of ambiguity are we talking about: unclear goals, shifting responsibilities, or something else?" If the interviewer responds with a blank stare or starts speaking in buzzword tongues, consider it a red flag, gift-wrapped in corporate speak.
Work will always involve some ambiguity. That's life. But if a job description sounds like it came from a jargon dictionary, an overworked marketer or an unedited AI draft, and not from the person you'd actually report to, it's time to get the hiring team in a room and describe the real job.
If you'd like help writing job descriptions grounded in the actual work, see our job description services.