I am not sure how you view your company’s job descriptions, but I suggest you look at them as the first chance you have to sell potential employees on your company. Your goal is to get the right people to come to work for you—and to have a long tenure with your company.
That means your job description must accurately match the specific job the new hire will be performing once they come on board. Studies have found that one of the top two reasons people leave jobs is because the description of the job they were given during the hiring process did not match up with the realities of the job once they worked for a company.
Before you begin writing the job description, make sure you have a clear grasp of what the day-to-day responsibilities of the job are so that you can accurately describe the position. You’ll need to spell out the skills, background, and experience needed for the job and any certifications that are required. Hireology suggests you also include information on personality traits and work habits that will help employees be successful in the position.
Also talk about the company, its culture, and history and include information on any awards or recognitions the company has received.
However, you need to go beyond that to touch on what the career path for the position looks like, how the employee will be able to contribute to the company’s overall goals, and how the position can make a difference within the company. People want to feel like what they do matters and brings value to the company.
In addition, today it is important that you also include information on the social and ethical work your company does in the community. What a company is doing to make the world a better place is a very important criterion for younger job candidates as they weigh who they want to work for.
Another key is to keep Google search results in mind when writing your job description. According to Hireology, 70% of jobs searched start on Google. They suggest keeping job titles short. In Google results, standard job titles that are most likely to match what job seekers are searching rank higher in search results, Hierology said in a recent guide.
While you have a lot of information to cover in the job description, try to keep it to no more than 800 words. That means you will want to choose each word carefully, so you accurately but succinctly cover all the points that need to be included.
A few practical points: Include the physical address for the job and indicate whether the job will be on-site or remote. Also include an equal opportunity statement.
One final point, you will need to refresh the job posting from time to time as older job listings do not rank high on Google.
A well-written job description should bring in a good number of candidates. From there it is up to you and your hiring managers to make the rest of the application process go smoothly and to continue to sell potential candidates on why coming to work for you is a wise career move.
Jane Clark focuses on managing the member services operation at NationaLease as vice president of member services. She works to strengthen member relationships, reduce member costs, and improve collaboration within the NationaLease supporting groups.
