Looking for the best new talent for your company? Start your recruitment process in the right way by following these steps to create the perfect job description.
An effective job description is the first step in finding the right talent for your company. Not only will it help you sell the role to prospective candidates, it will also allow you to make informed hiring decisions that meet the needs of your business.
But how do you craft a great job description? To help, we have created this step-by-step guide.
1. Job title
The job title is the first thing candidates will see. It is important that the job title summarizes the position. Avoid adding language and acronyms that are specific to the company’s internal structure, as it may put off external candidates.
In order to target the right candidates and avoid confusing prospective applicants, job titles should be concise and specific.
2. Company description
In order to attract talent, you need to present your company’s values, goals, and appeal clearly. Job descriptions should start with a clear description of what the company can offer candidates and how its culture enables employees to grow and develop their careers.
More candidates are placing importance on joining a company with similar values. Starting with a persuasive company description can catch a candidate’s attention and ensure that they keep reading.
3. Job summary
It is advisable to keep language in a job description as simple as possible while avoiding company-jargon. It may also be useful for line managers to enlist the help of their company’s marketing department or copywriter, as they should have the skillset to make a description sound more appealing to candidates.
4. Role requirements
A good job description will also need to have a list of skills critical to the day-to-day activities of the position. Such essential skills may include programming languages, software proficiencies, certain accounting skills, etc. This will attract candidates that will be able to transition smoothly into the role.
The list should be as succinct as possible and formatted as a brief list of bullet points. The short list format will make the job description easy to read on both desktop and mobile.
5. ‘Nice-to-haves’
It is possible you may wish to include “soft skills” that you would like a candidate to have. These may be things like “leadership abilities,” “ability to work in a multi-cultural setting,” etc. Such qualities may indeed be extremely valuable in picking a candidate; however, it is advisable to minimise how many you include in a job description. A long job description padded with an extensive list of soft skills can be intimidating and can turn away potential applicants.
6. Salary information
You should carefully consider whether to include the salary in a job description. Salary could be used by candidates to understand the level of the role, but companies may consider it to be very sensitive information. The decision to include it will largely depend on the role.
It is important to remember that including salary information may turn away candidates. The amount may be too high or too low for prospective candidates. Consider using a broad range or not including it at all.
7. Layout
Job descriptions need to grab the reader’s attention immediately and convey the necessary information in a brief and convincing manner. Long job descriptions or dense paragraphs should be avoided. Use bullet points and short paragraphs to ensure candidates keep reading.
And one other thing to remember…
Ownership
Generally, it is the line manager that should have the main responsibility for the job description. Although HR will certainly be of great assistance, the line manager has a unique understanding of what needs to be included in a job description to attract qualified candidates. Even something as simple as getting a template from the line manager can greatly improve the quality of any job description.
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