When talent acquisition teams are tasked with attracting candidates for an open position, there are multiple components of the process that must be handled with care to get the best possible candidates in line for the job. We’ll provide some job description examples and good practice tips to follow when looking to avoid the common pitfalls of job description writing.
This includes everything from strengthening your employer brand to asking the right questions during the interview process, and having a fully developed and well-written job description is a critical component of succeeding during the hiring process. A great job description must accurately portray the role and weed out inappropriate candidates, while enticing appropriate candidates with just enough information. It also must have its data aligned with online job search platforms.
There’s quite a bit to consider when writing a good job description, so let’s get started.
1) Create unique job descriptions: Do not use templatized job descriptions
It’s never good practice to use a template for job descriptions. It comes across as divested and very bureaucratic. For jobseekers, there’s not much incentive to apply for a position that looks as if it’s not unique to the company they are investing their future in.
If a business is posting its jobs from an automated template, it reads as if they either couldn’t be bothered, didn’t have the resources, or just didn’t know how to write a good job description. Avoid this mistake.
Templatized job description examples would read like this:
Job Title: Communication Manager
Job Description: Full-time position organizing, developing, and distributing content in support of the marketing team….
Salary: fair market range
Required Skills: writing skills, management skills, organizational skills,
Experience Required: 5-10 years
Contact: (Business) HR department
2) Speak with the hiring manager BEFORE writing the job description
This tip is somewhat obvious, but sometimes there is a disconnect between the hiring manager and the HR teams tasked with writing job descriptions. Great job description examples would be ones in which the entire HR department has an aligned understanding of what they want from candidates. If there is a misunderstanding and little oversight is had by the hiring manager, a bad job description will be published and attract the wrong candidates for the position.
3) Include positive information about the company
There’s an opportunity to add in some information about company culture and what sets the business apart from others. The pedigree information about the role, responsibilities, and salary is necessary to have, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t any room for personable company information.
Here’s a job description example with positive information about the company and some insight into the company culture:
“The position included access to all the benefits (Business) has to offer! We’re located on the 23rd floor of a beautiful brand new office building with all the amenities you could as for. Beautiful views of Boston Harbor, Fun company retreats to the Berkshires, access to on-site gyms, and all the rideshare coverage you need”
4) Ensure your job description is optimized with Google for Jobs
An HR team could produce the best-written job description imaginable, but if the job description schema is not set up appropriately, Google for Jobs will not identify, rank, or share the job description. This correlates to lost-opportunity for job visibility online.
There are a number of Google for Jobs ranking signals, and optimizing Google schema is not an easy process. It requires a fair amount of technical know-how, which is why so many jobs on GFJ aren’t great experiences. You can rise to the top with your job descriptions by ensuring your job posts are optimized.
For departments that are overtaxed or don’t have the technical skills to optimize their jobs, consider partnering with a company that specializes in Google for Jobs to get better candidates, faster.
5) Reach the correct audience by using industry jargon
There is a balancing act of job description visibility and casting too wide of a net online. Bringing too many unqualified candidates into the hiring process is a waste of HR’s time, and often prolongs the hiring process. One way to avoid the inundation of unqualified candidates is to use business terminology and jargon that will help qualify candidates before they submit any information to HR’s door.
At the same time, be careful that you don’t include too much jargon. Candidates don’t need to know how you specifically refer to certain internal processes, workflows, etc. What your editorial team calls an “editorial priority system,” another company might call an “editorial queue” or something else. Call it editorial project management, or something more generic.
Learn how to improve the job signals that Google for Jobs looks for when ranking online job descriptions
6) Understand industry leading search-terms
There are commonalities between candidates a business seeks to hire and the keywords those candidates search for when looking for jobs online. An HR department that has a clear understanding of industry trends, and knowledge of the positions to be filled, can craft enticing and highly-effective job descriptions. Utilize popular search terms that are industry-specific with job descriptions to catch the attention of the most sought after candidates.
Indeed offers some guidance if you are posting on there. Additionally, Google Trends offers insight into search trends on any term you can think of. In addition, you can filter down to ‘jobs & education’ to get more detailed data.
What Are Your Job Description Examples Like?
Take a good look at your job descriptions. Chances are, you are already following a few of these examples and tips. But see what’s missing so you can improve your talent pool, reduce time spent reviewing unqualified candidates, and bring in top talent to hire faster.
Jobiak’s Google for Jobs technology makes online recruiting easier by getting your job posts to the top of Google for Jobs. This saves your team time and resources by getting the most qualified candidates in the door, faster. Contact us today for more information.
