If you want to attract and hire the best talent in your industry, your job postings need to portray the job accurately. Today’s business world is competitive and fierce, and the employees you want aren’t just sitting around waiting for you to come to them. They want to find the right job at the right company, and they want to shine.
Accurate job postings can also weed out candidates that will be a waste of time and resources for your company. Hiring managers face crucial challenges when it comes time to hire for a position, and the words used within your job posting can make your task easier or harder, depending on how they are approached.
Your goal may be to hire a top-notch employee from a different organization, or you may be willing to take someone with a little less experience for a certain position. Regardless, the way you portray the job makes all the difference in finding the right individual for that job.
Choose Words Carefully
When it’s time to create a job posting, words should be carefully chosen and placed. The following tips can help to simplify the process.
- Use specific wording that ranks high in job search engines, including keyword phrases that are relevant to the job and field.
- Salary information isn’t necessary, but benefits associated with working for the company are.
- Attract passive candidates (those who may not be actively looking for a job) by keeping criteria general rather than specific.
- Include the size of the business or information about the industry, but the company name isn’t always necessary – although it may help to attract talent if it’s a big player.
- List all requirements right up front – save time by weeding out candidates that don’t meet the criteria.
Writing a perfect job description is a matter of finding the balance between specific and general. Your requirements may change within the company based on the type of job and the candidate requirements.
What Difference Does It Make?
A better-worded job description benefits your hiring team. You ensure that the entire process of hiring meets the expectation of the applicant and the employer with accurate job descriptions and requirements. Other benefits include:
- Increased job appeal to draw talent from other companies, whether they are actively searching for a job or not.
- A simpler interview and hiring process when both the employer and employee are on the same page about what is expected from both parties.
- Candidate expectations meet employer expectations during the interview process, rather than the awkward process of realizing the job isn’t what they thought it was.
- Flexibility is increased with a job description that is consistent across the board, giving employers more wiggle-room when tasks and projects are assigned.
Good job postings outline the responsibilities and duties required of the employee, describe how the role fits into the organization, and where the position can possibly take them. They also define a few goals the employee will have if they take on the new position.
The More Information, the Better
Hiring managers can lighten their load and ensure that applicants are qualified for positions with accurate, thorough job postings. Applicants want to know about the company, their role in it, and their future when they head to a job board to find a new position.
