How To Write a Perfect Job Description?
Before you hire great talent, you must first attract the right talent.
An effective, engaging & inclusive job description is pivotal in landing the choicest of people. With some advance preparation, you can craft the right description to drive a wide range of top-tier candidates into your pipeline.
The best job posts combine a bit of marketing, an accurate overview of the role, necessary skills & competencies, and your firm’s culture. All these factors come together to present an open role to the market. Emphasis must be placed on company culture, mission & values to avoid making a wrong hire.
It’s no secret that diverse teams perform better. To ensure you attract a diverse pool of quality applicants, your description mustn’t alienate women, differently-abled or the LGBTQ+ community. Give all applicants an equal, unbiased opportunity to showcase themselves. This ensures you get the best talent from all walks of life.
Let’s read further to understand how to write a job description.
The right job title
Your search for that Data ‘guru’, DevOps ‘ninja’ or PHP ‘rockstar’ is probably hitting a dead end. Using these terms can confuse candidates & put them off from applying – especially women and underrepresented minorities. Job seekers search for roles that match their skills & experience, so include the universally accepted job titles when you craft your job description.
Make sure you pick a title that is free of gender or age implications, and generic enough to be compared to other similar jobs in the industry. Sounding too technical or exaggerated in your job description can cause more harm than good. Keep your job description easy to read and understand.
Keep it skimmable
In an attempt to include all necessary information, your description runs the risk of being overly stuffed with text. By making it lengthy, and complex to read, you are pushing the candidates away. To attract high-quality applicants, we suggest you keep your job descriptions skimmable.
Use short paragraphs, bullets & headers to distinguish critical information. This makes it quick & easy to peruse and helps applicants self-filter themselves out in case they’re not fit for the position – improving the quality of the applications you receive.
Sell the job
Simply sticking all relevant information in your job post can only take you so far.
If you want to attract high-quality candidates to the role, you need to showcase how the job can be exciting & why it’s worth their time. If your description doesn’t ring with enthusiasm, you’ll receive lacklustre applications.
But overselling the role can be your downfall. Misalignment of expectations is a serious reason for attrition which usually starts with the job description. Include exciting details & benefits about the daily operations within your company along with growth opportunities – all the while staying true to yourself.
Show your brand personality
When you showcase your brand personality, not only will you attract people who fit into your company culture, but also add to it. Infuse your job description with your brand tone-of-voice & messaging to distinguish yourself from competitors & stand out. A personality in your job description can also create excitement and make you memorable. Be creative, but don’t forget to stay professional.
Know your keywords
Job boards are rigged to respond to keywords, which is also a reason to keep straightforward job titles. You must consider the keywords the professionals will search when looking for open roles. And if your job description is not optimized, your post will not show up & get lost in the mix.
Study the keywords you wish to target before posting about the open role. Optimize your job description by including these keywords naturally throughout the post’s body, headlines, and job title.
Bust your biases
Biased language deters applicants from applying. Removing gendered language attracts a diverse pool resulting in the open roles closing about two weeks faster.
The choice of words greatly matters; if you are not careful, you may hurt the sentiments of various groups of the candidate population, including women, older individuals, and ethnic minorities. Adding gender-neutral language to the job description can embolden people who typically wouldn’t consider applying to your company.
The devil is in the details
A job description often is the first contact between the employer and the employee. Just as you judge cover letters & resumés, candidates are also forming impressions of your firm on the tiniest details. Make sure you run spell-checks, grammar checks & proofread your description at least twice before it goes live.
Furthermore, avoid spewing too much jargon or clichés. Pay attention to the aesthetics of your post. Curate all the key information using bullets & lists so candidates can quickly & easily scan through.
A powerful call-to-action
You can’t end your job post abruptly.
You’ve spent time & effort in curating an exciting presentation about the vacant role, therefore you must keep the momentum going. With a strong call-to-action, you’ll encourage high-quality candidates to submit their applications.
Include an appropriate prompt at the bottom of your job description. Push the applicant to get in touch and remind them of how they can apply. Ensure it is blatantly apparent where a candidate is supposed to apply. Do not make it complicated or convoluted to apply because that will reduce your applicant pool for the wrong reasons.
Conclusion
If you’re unable to effectively pull candidates’ attention and get them excited to apply, you’ll find yourself browsing through a pile of unqualified or uninteresting candidates.
Job hunting professionals spend an extraordinary amount of time poring over job descriptions; if you add creative or innovative touches, you can catch their eye and their interest right away.
To attract the best tech experts, keep these 8 tips in mind the next time you wonder how to write a job description.
An easier way to lessen your burden is to partner with a recruitment firm like Anzy Global, which assists in drafting highly effective job descriptions tailored especially to your needs, in addition to providing end-to-end tech hiring solutions. We expertly filter through the large pool of applicants & send only the most qualified candidates your way for interviews.
