Good Job Descriptions Get Good Employees

Having a well written and captivating job description will attract the best employees to your company. Many employers fail to grasp the need to sell their company and their companies benefits as in regards to drawing the best employees.

Creating an effective job description is a delicate balance.  You want to give potential employees enough information but you still want and need to keep the job description concise.

Studies have demonstrated that job descriptions that range from 700 to 2000 words will have a 30% increase in applicants than either less or more words.  Below is a list of keys that every well-written job description will have.

Title of Job

When creating a job title you need to be concise.  Vague job titles will not help the applicant to have a clear understanding of what your company is looking for.  Make a point of using phrases that are both clear and descriptive.

Job Descriptions

This is where you get to sell your company.  Your summation should include among other things a good overview of your company.  The summary should also be clear when explaining what you are looking for and expecting from the future employee.

The job summary is where you can capture the interest of the applicant and make your company stand out from all of the others.  The job summary should include details about company values and philosophy.  Lastly, this is the place to explain why and a candidate would enjoy working for you.

Duties

Spell out clearly the essential responsibilities of the position.  Your list of the duties of this position should be detailed and yet still be concise and to the point.  Should there be any unique duties attached to this position that may not be clear to this point in the job description make sure that you spell them out in the responsibilities section?

Another key is to outline the regular daily activities of the position.  By doing this you will help potential employees to understand the culture of the company and what the work environment of the company is like on a daily basis.  Doing this will allow the applicant to better decide if he or she feels that they are a fit for this job.  This, in turn, will help you to get the best applicant that you can.

Make sure that you are clear on who this position will fit into the hierarchy of the company. Spelling out clearly who the employee will report to and how the person will interact with upper management.  Be clear when explaining how this position fits into the company as a whole. Indicate who the job reports to and what the persona role will be within your organization, by doing this you will help potential employees to see the big picture.

Job Qualifications

Most employers will include the major skills that the company is looking for but where employers sometimes drop the ball is when It comes to listing assets that you would like the candidate to possess that may not be considered deal breakers but still could be very important in finding a proper fit.

Here is a partial list of what you may consider minor skills that still have value.

  • Enthusiasm
  • Good Communication Skills
  • Good People Skills

Here is another area where you want to keep your list short and sweet.  Creating a good job description is an art, so don’t be in a hurry take your time do your research and when you are done ask yourself this question, would I want to work for this company?