8 Top Tips for Job Descriptions that attract HIGH CALIBRE Candidates!

There are thousands of jobs out there for candidates to sift through. In order for your one to stand out from the crowd, you NEED to write a job description that not only stands out... but attracts those high calibre candidates you want to work with.

Follow these 8 great tips to ensure your job descriptions are befitting of the candidates you are hoping to attract.

1. Make the job title understandable! Don’t use something that people don’t instantly recognise. It’s also worth remembering not to over exaggerate the importance of the job by using words like “guru”, “expert” and “ninja”. Ideally you want to use words that make it easily searchable AND easier for candidates to compare with other similar jobs.

2. Have an attention grabbing headline.

Most job boards have the job title as the headline, so ensure your job title is relevant and to the point.

3. Paint your company in a great light.

Remember, you’re selling the company image as well as the job vacancy. Don’t just show what you need from your employees – show what you can do for them and answer “what’s in it for me?”

4. Ensure you portray your company’s culture.

Show you care about your employees by offering regular reviews and appraisals, clarify if you’re more open-plan or cubicle based and if you encourage open interaction and out-of-the-box thinkers or regulated meetings and employees who can follow instructions.

5. Appeal to their career aspirations.

Demonstrate that your company encourages employee growth WITHIN your company. If you offer training towards a recognised certification, let potential candidates know.

6. Ensure that “Essentials” are just that!

There’s nothing worse than listing “a good sense of humour” or “must live locally” as essentials... they’re NOT! Essentials are those things the candidate MUST have in order to fulfil the job role effectively... everything else get’s listed under the “desirable” or “would like to have” categories.

7. Give examples of projects and tasks they will be taking part in

and clarify if they need previous experience in these areas. This will give them a clear picture of the type of work they will be undertaking, along with an extra opportunity for you to demonstrate how willing you are to train the RIGHT candidate.

8. Use plain English!

Keep the job description simple and to the point. There’s no point using technical terminology if you’re looking to recruit and train a relative newbie in your chosen field. Similarly, your uniquely named and designed software may be known company-wide, but if its ad-hoc, then your potential candidates aren’t going to know what it is or what it involves.

Did you find these 8 tips helpful when writing your job descriptions? What was the most useful tip for you? What one tip are you going to implement when you next write your vacancy’s job description? Share your thoughts and experiences.