It’s All In The Words
A job description is not only about marketing an open job at your company—it’s your first point of contact with job seekers and the eventual perfect candidate. It’s a sales pitch to captivate the attention of professionals, and urge them to apply. You want to brand your organization as a lively, productive, and engaging one to work for, so be sure to provide the correct impression!
Writing a perfect job description can be tricky, but following these tips can help your description stand out from those of other companies and to market your job opening and organization in the most effective way.
Keep it cool with job titles: Using titles like Rockstar Biz Dev, Web Marketing Guru and Resident Hacker won’t generate more views or attract applicants. Not only will these confuse readers, they will most likely encourage applicants who are not the best fit. Instead, keep it succinct with titles like Business Development Manager, Digital Marketing Manager, and Network Security Engineer.
Simple job titles and search-friendly keywords will encourage more people to interact with your job openings and advertisements.
Define the career path: Make an impact! Highlight how a new hire will grow within this job. Market the position by illustrating how important this role is to the organization and how the position will grow over time. Describe and provide examples for what success will look and feel like in this role.
For example: Instead of writing, “The incumbent will provide leadership to the direct sales team,” try, “You’ll be responsible to lead and motivate a sales team to increase the revenue by 20% in your first year.”
Prioritize skillsets: Describing the main skills necessary to succeed is essential in attracting qualified applicants, but avoid a laundry list likely to confuse the applicant into not understanding which skills are a priority for the particular job.
Consider the industry background and duties. Note all skills, roles and responsibilities needed. Create two columns or sections for reference. Identify the mandatory requirements and nice-to-have skills, and decide which are important to include in the job description.
Share your company culture: Your job description should include a window into your organization’s culture and personality. Provide a snippet of your company’s vision and values so the applicant can envision themselves at your organization. Photographs and videos are often simple and effective means with which to illustrate company culture, if you have them to which to link.
Mobile first: Today, it’s all about small screens! More than 50% of jobs over LinkedIn are viewed through mobile phones, which means every word counts. Keep your description short, concise and bulleted for easy reading. Before posting, test the job description on your own mobile phone to ensure that it does not require more than three scrolls down screen.