Attracting the Perfect Candidate with a Great Job Description

A great job description can make the difference when finding the perfect candidate. Check out this article for four tips to creating an outstanding job description!
Writer Better Job Descriptions

All successful businesses eventually face the same problem. No matter how competent or large the core team is, eventually all growing companies must hire additional employees.

Hiring employees may seem simple. Just place an ad on an internet site and wait. However, nothing could be further from the truth. For example, how does the person placed in charge of hiring determine whether a potential employee is competent or is compatible with workplace culture?

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5 Tips to Create a Great Job Description

An experienced hiring manager probably knows how best to vet candidates, but some companies don’t hire human resources personnel until they “get established.” In those instances, you may find yourself dealing with hiring a new employee along with your other duties. In that case, you probably will need all the help you can get. Fortunately, we at Mapertunity are here to help!

Without further ado, here are five tips to help you craft an amazing job posting that you can use in conjunction with our geographic information system (GIS) to achieve the best results.

1. Ensure You Understand the Position

While this tip seems like a no-brainer, jobs are now more technical and specialized than ever, and posting accurate requirements for a position is crucial. If anything seems unclear regarding job requirements, contact the appropriate department before you submit or post anything

Assumptions can be detrimental to the job filling process, especially if the job posting is asking for skills that you don’t understand. Consider the sad fate of a hypothetical hiring manager who assumed that JAVA and JavaScript could be used interchangeably in a job description. After a short and eventful employee search process, this person would most likely be working elsewhere, in a different capacity.

2. Don’t Allow Ego to Take Control

You may be a hiring manager for a great company. However, don’t let that cloud your thinking. Ridiculously low salary offers and/or overly demanding job descriptions only serve to weed out the honest, trustworthy employees, leaving you with the desperate and the dishonest.

Unless your firm truly cannot afford it, always try to offer a competitive salary for an open position. You are vying for employees with other companies in your area, and offering a lower salary immediately puts you at a disadvantage. Perks that the company may offer can help close this gap. However, realize that many top-notch candidates will bypass your company when they hear a low salary offer.

Low salary offers also tend to attract inexperienced candidates, who may assume that the offered position is entry-level because your posted salary is so low. These candidates may be passionate, but they may also be desperate. Desperate job candidates should be avoided by any hiring manager. A desperate candidate may accept a position at your company due to their desperation, only to resign later when they realize they dislike the job.

3. Don’t Make Disproportionate or Excessive Demands

Overly demanding job descriptions are common in many job postings. Examples of overly demanding job descriptions include listings of skills not needed for the position, such as demanding that an applicant have C++ knowledge for a position in web development. Unreasonable demands for skills should be vetted before the employment listing becomes public. If a department insists that certain skills are necessary, make sure they realize that employment prospects may be limited and expensive, depending on the skills required.

Another example of an overly demanding job description would be listing that an entry-level position requires years of job experience. Entry-level positions should never require more than one or two years of experience. Dishonest applicants may simply list your required number of years of experience on their resumes, thinking that you may not check. And even if you do check, they are inclined to think it’d be impossible for you to find an applicant with the required years of experience willing to work for an entry-level wage.

Finally, does your company want to hire someone who has been in an entry-level job for three or four years? Granted, there may be some very good reasons to be stuck in an entry-level job for years. However, there may be issues with the employee’s work ethic or performance that could have caused stagnation. While all applicants should be considered, creating a job description that favors applicants that have stagnated isn’t the best policy.

4. It’s All About the Content

As with any business document, a job posting should be concise. So, long paragraphs describing your workplace, or the position should be avoided. Remember, job applicants face many of the same pressures as the employed, and most applicants want to put their resumes in front of as many people as possible. So, be brief and make sure that everything you write in your posting has value.

Also, make sure to avoid heavy jargon in your job posting. Heavy jargon may put off qualified candidates and give the impression that your company is narrow-minded and pedantic. That probably isn’t the impression you were hoping for and should be avoided.

5. Don’t Discard the Job Description Once the Employee Is Hired

After you finally find the perfect employee, you probably will be tempted to discard the job description. However, it can still come in handy! Managers can use job descriptions when discussing performance with employees. The very definition of a job is provided by its description, and it may be useful for the new employee when navigating their new position. So, make sure to save that hard work.

Rising to the Challenge of Job Descriptions

As a business professional, you are up to the challenge of writing an excellent job description. Following these tips will help you ensure that the job description is treated as a business document. Then, the job description will almost certainly help you find excellent candidates for almost any position. So, what are you waiting for? Write a job description that will rise above the rest and impress any worthwhile candidate.

If you’re a hiring manager trying to find the best employee for your open position, contact us at Mapertunity! Our job search power tool will help you find the latest job market trends, as well as compete effectively with other companies for top-notch employees.

Picture of Lonnie Ayers

Lonnie Ayers

On a mission to help every job seeker find a job. Co-inventor of mapertunity, the most advanced graphical job search tool in existence. A 21st century tool for jobs and businesses.

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