Don’t Underestimate a Job Description, Try This Recipe Instead

The modern job description needs reimagining. Job seekers could use a break from the uniform job postings, plus the personality of the position and company hiring could do without the cookie cutter.

In the recruiting industry, making sure candidates and hiring authorities are a good match takes priority in every step of the hiring process. That journey officially begins with a job description that informally introduces both parties, and here’s how we think the cookie crumbles:

Sugar: What are your company’s needs?

What’s lacking in job postings these days? A clear message about how the position and person filling it fulfills a company’s needs. If your client is looking for keepers, how you compose job descriptions makes a difference in reaching potential candidates. 

It’s easy to take the typical route of job descriptions by listing a handful of duties and responsibilities. That birdseye view of a position can be found in a bulleted list of day-to-day tasks and is great for any job seeker, but you should consider including why the position exists and its importance within the company. 

Sharing a peek at the bigger picture the potential role plays in the company’s overall success promotes an air of purpose and a hope for longevity.

Spice: Who are they looking for?

Again, there’s a standard for qualifications and skills that go into a job post, but what kind of person does your client really want working for them?

Interestingly enough, measurable knowledge and skill or talent outweigh the personal qualities or characteristics of an individual, and a list of unique traits is often missing in job descriptions entirely. 

Highlighting a list of desired certificates, levels of knowledge, and abilities required is essential for a candidate to perform their job well. Standout skills can even make a candidate more valuable to hiring authorities. 

Though, qualifications and skills don’t make a person.

The right combination of hard and soft skills, such as industry-specific certifications and communication skills, can pair nicely with personality traits like flexibility and a positive approach to problem-solving. Ask the companies you’re partnered with about the qualities they like in the top talent they already have so that you have a better idea of what to consider for your job post. Extending your job description to include high-value characteristics that you know your clients would benefit from will help you find stronger candidates to place. 

But remember, there’s a fine line between looking for high-character candidates and writing a discriminatory job post based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age (40 or older), disability and genetic information (including family medical history). Which is not just frowned upon but illegal to do.

Everything Nice: Why should candidates choose them?

It’s pretty easy to put together a list of company needs and qualities of who they may be looking to hire. Still, the difficulty lies in expressing why the company itself is a good fit for any particular candidate.

Along with the overview of the position, expectations, and responsibilities, there should be a few details about the significance of your client’s brand and company culture.  Job seekers should feel like they’re getting to know the company you’re hiring on behalf of.

Of course, confidentiality clauses may keep recruiters from sharing too much information about their clients in a job posting. If that’s the case, share facts about your client’s workplace that will get candidates excited about them without giving away who they are. 

Knowing how to sell a client company and their culture is a skill that recruiters must master in order to represent clients authentically and give them the best chance at being understood by future candidates.

The recipe for job postings is tired and outdated. It’s time to spice up job descriptions so that well-informed job seekers can more easily find the best opportunities, and companies can start seeing better results. Is the taste of success on the tip of your tongue yet?