Industry-Specific Acronyms are often words that have nothing to do with Job Descriptions

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This new book takes its lead from Warren Buffet’s comment when he said that bad terminology is the enemy of good thinking.

His intention was likely a lot broader than this book takes with the same thought, but it’s the focus is on an area where this is particularly important.

On the one hand, your career history has to match the posting but the posting may be using job titles and words that didn’t even exist throughout most of your career path. Your first challenge will be to see where you fit on your next career move. This small book can help.

Industry-Specific Acronyms and Jargon Matters: You will need more than a book to Learn the Industry Specific Jargon

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Why write this book? Working with hundreds of people in creating their LinkedIn profiles, resumes, networking, and job search skills and trying to find the job posting that their skills and past job titles fit were experiences that showed clearly that words mattered and were often the source of perceived problems.  The search doesn’t always take you to what you’re looking for.

Warren Buffet said, "Bad terminology is the enemy of good thinking."

Industry-Specific Acronyms are often the result of creating words that don’t have much to do with job descriptions. They may have been created to expand or dilute the description for the company’s own reasons.

The job description is more important than the titles to find career matches. On the other side of the coin a simple jobskill-related title can diminish your perceived importance.

If you don't know these terms, it will make you look like an outsider, but many who know and use them still need to understand why they are used.

With many of my other books on personal reinvention, the importance of our own life stories, understanding the influence of choice and consequence, networking and finding a job or making a career change, a book about acronyms and business jargon may seem a surprise. Still, it is intended to add value to these to all these areas.

Sometimes when you look at a job listing, the required skills have industry-specific labels or are grouped under an industry-specific acronym. Everyone is expected to know the acronym, but it may need to be more straightforward if you consider applying from another related industry.

The first step is to inventory your job skills and know what you have. Jobs happen when the employer sees a good match of skills to needs. Understanding how to label and define your skills will be needed: Networking can help uncover what you don’t know. Getting feedback from more than the HR department on potential jobs is essential. Learning in advance about how skills are described is critical if you are changing industries and don’t want to walk into an interview not knowing that.

Job sites, recruitment consultants, CVs / résumés, and Google all have their uses in your career change. But they’re not the place to start. Focus instead on connecting with people. The power of being in front of people is to present the whole you – something a CV or résumé can’t do.

Industry-Specific ACRONYMS and Jargon Matters

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Acronyms Point to Networking Opportunities. Sometimes when you look at a job listing, the required skills have industry-specific labels or are grouped under an industry-specific acronym. Everyone is expected to know the acronym, but it may need to be more straightforward if you consider applying from another related industry.

The first step is to inventory your job skills and know what you have. Jobs happen when the employer sees a good match of skills to needs. Another step is understanding how to label and define your skills and Networking can help uncover what you don’t know.

I think it's essential to get feedback from more than the HR department at one company on potential jobs. Learning in advance about how skills are described is critical if you are changing industries and don’t want to walk into an interview not knowing that.

Understanding why goals and initiatives are chosen and sometimes are listed on the company website, will help you see where your skills fit, enable you to show your strength,s and communicate more effectively.

Goals, initiatives, and mission statements usually are listed on the company Web Site. In cases where a set of specific job skills is closely tied to those areas, it means someone in the organization has some passion for them, and if you can identify them, they likely will be willing to talk.

One website recently observed showed several company initiatives linked to an overall company goal and even listed committees assigned to the plans. (Interesting networking opportunities)

In this example, the initiative of “patient care” was recorded, and it caught the attention of a project manager from the aerospace industry who had recognized that his skills and processes seemed to be similar.

A call was made to the initiative committee chairman to discuss what project management of patient care consisted of. It was found that many items were indeed the same, with slightly different labels, and some of the processes were the same, with only another acronym used to describe them. This initial networking call enabled a meaningful interview with some background interest in what was happening from the committee chairman who had been met with.

Talking to others in the company is always advantageous, but this approach provided a natural opportunity to do so. Networking within the company and others help you understand the organization you are interested in and can also help you see your job skills from a broader perspective. Goals, initiatives, and mission statements always make the organization Web Site.

In cases where a set of specific job skills is closely tied to those areas, someone in the organization has some passion for them, and if you can identify who they are, they likely will be willing to talk.