Writing Great Job Descriptions
Learn how to write great job descriptions that accurately describe your company.
Why are good job descriptions necessary?
Nobody’s going to know about your role unless you write a job description, and it turns out that having your role get noticed is surprisingly hard:
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Technology talent is always in high demand, so it’s likely that you’re going to be competing with potentially hundreds of other companies for job seekers.
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You may only have tens of seconds to pique the interest of potential candidates when they read your job description. Even if you feel that the company that you work at is the best place you’ve ever worked, it’s likely they don’t know much about you.
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It’s easy to write a job description that repels the reader rather than attracts them, even if your intention was the opposite.
This section will help you write great job descriptions to give you the best chance of attracting as many applications as possible. We’ll show you:
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A reusable template that will help you write fantastic job descriptions
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How to write in a style that is gender-neutral and appealing to the reader
Once you’ve completed this section, you’ll be able to write job descriptions that are better than many companies out there. This is not a bad outcome, is it?
A job description template
Okay, let’s look at the rough template for job descriptions. Then, we’ll home in on each section and consider how you can write them. Each job description should take the potential applicant on a journey where they’ll learn:
- What your company is doing and why it’s interesting and important
- What the role that they could be doing is within the company and what kind of work it entails
- What you’re looking for in the candidate in terms of their background, skills, experience, and interpersonal traits
- The benefits of working at the company, from the salary, healthcare, insurance, and whatever other perks there are to the job
- How to apply with clear, unambiguous instructions
If you’re thinking this is a lot to cover in a lesson that will probably only take several minutes to read, you’re right! Crafting an excellent job description takes real skill.
Describing your company
The first part of the job description should describe your company. It may be the case that your recruitment team already has a description that you can use, but you should check to see whether it could be improved. The question that this part is trying to answer is why the company exists and what its purpose is. It should grab the interest of the reader and make them think, “Wow! I’d love to contribute to that!”
Here are some examples that show the kind of company description ...