A job description describes the responsibilities of a position and also highlights the company's vision. Besides, it is an opportunity to attract all the potential and suitable candidates that might make a difference to your organization. And that is why it is imperative to create a job description that highlights all the needs of the vacancy, so you don't have to spend hours or days to find a person that ticks all the right boxes.

However, creating a job description is not all fun and games. Writing a stellar job description requires tips and some research, so it ends up attracting the right person.

This article covers all the details of writing a stellar job description. So without any further ado, dig in and explore the process.

Why Should You Pay Attention to a Job Description?

A job description is a group of words that outlines the qualifications, duties, competencies, and decision-making authority of a position in your organization. As a result, it guides potential employees to understand their responsibilities and duties. Moreover, it also highlights how a particular job fits the values and mission of your company.

In a nutshell, a good job description should describe the outcomes that your company wants to achieve through a position and mention how to achieve them.

An attractive and well-curated job description has many benefits. It can help your organization manage your employees in many different ways.

Clarify Expectations

Imagine hiring a person and making them work beyond their expectations of the job. Do you think your newly hired employee will be happy to work with you?

A significant flaw of a poorly written job description is that it fails to accurately portray the kind of work a job position expects from a person. As a result, it causes misunderstandings between you and your employees and may also persuade you to leave your organization soon.

It is imperative to pay attention to a well-written job description to avoid this from happening. It should cover all the basic tasks that you as an employer expects from a potential candidate. Again, this is imperative to keep you and your employee on one page and eliminate any chances of miscommunication regarding the tasks that need to be accomplished.

Provide Structure

If you want to run your organization without any everyday hurdles, you have to ensure that all your needs and requirements are being met on a timely basis. And so, a job description offers a structure and discipline required by a business to assign all the necessary responsibilities and duties.

Simply put, a focused and stellar job description allows your organization to manage and allocate roles in a uniform pattern. This results in increased effectiveness and efficiency of processes, such as:

• Recruitment
• Training
• Workflow
• Organizational structure
• Customer service
  

Enable Fair Salary Range

As per stats, almost 61% of people consider the salary range an essential part of a job description. While other factors such as job details and the required qualification matter too, the first thing that most candidates look into in a job description is whether it can support them and their family or not.

One of the benefits of a good job description is that it offers transparency. It immediately helps candidates recognize whether the opportunity is financially suitable for them or not. Additionally, it also helps streamline the conversation between you and the candidate during the hiring or interview stages.

Some employers may think that mentioning a salary range may draw the attention of people who might want to work for more. To avoid this, it is imperative to mention other benefits as well.

For instance, as per 44% of candidates, traditional benefits like parental leave and health coverage encourage them to be a part of an organization for more than five years. Considering this stat, there is no harm in focusing on these perks while writing a job description.

Identify Training Needs and Skill Sets

A job description is an excellent tool for employers to recognize the skill set required for a job. Moreover, it also helps evaluate the training and development needs to implement for an employee.

Additionally, it helps with career development and succession planning.

Helps In Setting a Standard When Reviewing Performance

If your job description is detailed, you can reuse it to review the performance of your employees after they have worked for that particular position for some time. Interestingly, most employers establish an increase in merits based on the candidate's performance linked with the original job description. It is because a job description offers objectivity for performance reviews, counseling, appraisal, and other disciplinary issues.

Assists With Legal Issues

As much as it feels feasible to reuse an outdated job description for a new vacancy, it may backfire when hiring/firing plans or performance evaluation. And so, it is essential to curate an updated or new job description every time there is a need to hire a new candidate for an exact, old job.

An updated job description can prove quite helpful when providing any legal defense. For instance, when you may be required to make decisions on promotion or compensation, a job description may help you accomplish that. Moreover, it can work as a witness statement during an employee's termination process.

Below are all the talent management practices that a job description affects:

• Recruitment process to ensure the suitable candidates are hired
• Interviewing and pre-employment practices
• Onboarding practices, including training of employees
• Productivity includes communicating all the objectives to the candidates
• Evaluation of job performance of all employees
• Compensation planning
• Legal compliance to standard employment laws
• Succession planning and any required need for training or development experiences
  

Now that you know how important a job description is, you shouldn't take it lightly. But contrary to common belief, this description serves more purposes than simply explaining a position to people looking for a job.

In the rest of the article, we will help you write the best job description, which will help you reap all the benefits above.

Writing an Excellent Job Description- Components

If you want to write a complete job description, remember to include all the main components below:

• Title
• Purpose
• Company's Vision
• Duties and Responsibilities
• Required Qualifications
• Experiences
• Skills
• Compensation
• Benefits
• CTA
• Any Disclaimers
  

Let's look at each component in detail.

Job Title

The title of a job contains one to four words highlighting the purpose, scope, and content of the job. Moreover, this title should be consistent with and match the format of other titles with similar roles and duties.

It is imperative to write a clear title. There shouldn't be any ambiguity or vagueness so that the message reaches out clearly.

In addition, if you want to reach out to as many candidates as you want, ensure to write a concise title that easily meets the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) standards so that the required candidates can find your job opportunity easily.

Purpose

This component answers the question, "why does this job position exist?" This is an overview of the role, scope, and level of responsibility expected from the right candidate.

The purpose of a job is usually summed up within three to four lines and is pretty straightforward.

Company's Vision

Interestingly, a majority of job descriptions have a few lines covering the description or the vision of a company. However, some employers do not add that and usually link the website for candidates who want to know more about their organization.

However, we think that including a few lines about the company is worth the time and effort it takes. Make sure to write an attractive description that grabs the attention of many different candidates. However, ensure not to include any false facts that may disappoint potential employees after joining your company.

Duties and Responsibilities

It is essential to be clear when writing this section. If you are unaware of the required responsibilities, consult the new employee's team. Their input and requirements might help you develop a practical list of duties for the potential candidates.

Here's what you should include:

• Explanatory phrases highlight how, where, why, and when the organization expects the candidate to perform their duties.
• Expected results of the tasks to be completed.
• Accountability area
• Type and level of financial and budget responsibilities
• Nature of contract with your organization
  
  

Highlighting these duties in detail is helpful for the hired employee to understand their role and work efficiently within your organization. Ensure to mention and format all the duties and responsibilities in bullet points rather than in paragraphs.

Required Qualifications

This section covers the required qualification of the candidate to perform the mentioned job. In addition, you should mention the minimum education level that a candidate must have to meet the needs of the job title mentioned on top.

Experiences

Right before the qualification section, include the minimum duration and type of experience you demand your hired employee to have. You should also state whether these experiences should be full-time or not, and do you consider internships, part-time jobs, or any assistantship worthy of the selection purpose.

Before you set the standards for education and experiences you look for in a candidate, make sure that they are not too strict, that you may have to change them later. Unfortunately, many candidates have potential, but they fail to meet the education and experience criteria, a loss for both the employer and the employee.

Skills

As part of the above section, include the abilities and skills you would love to have in your hired employee. This may consist of certificates, computer skills, or the thinking capabilities of the candidates. However, again, be a little flexible with this section as not everyone has all the abilities and skills you may demand.

Compensation

Some employers choose not to highlight the salary package. However, this is an attraction for people who may want to work with you and are looking for a monetary push to apply at your company.

Mentioning the salary may disappoint a few potential candidates. So to avoid that, make sure that you are paying equal to or more than what other similar position holders in the industry are being paid. In addition, this strategy helps the candidate evaluate your offer and compare it with other equal job opportunities.

Benefits

Including benefits in your job description is another way to attract more candidates to your vacancy. In addition, mentioning benefits help the hired employee understand the perks they will get with their basic salary. Again this can work in two ways, but if you want to benefit from this component, ensure fairness and include benefits that meet the industry's standards.

Call-to-Action

Once you have covered all the components above, it's time for a call-to-action (CTA). There is no point in posting a job description when candidates do not have an idea of who to connect with and where to apply.

Regardless of a well-written job description, a failure to include a precise and clear CTA will waste all your efforts. So, make sure to have a location address, phone number, or email address to which they can send their resumes.

Disclaimers

It is hard to write every job requirement in the job description. For instance, there are tasks that you can't predict and may require the assistance of your hired employee to complete them.

Since you can't be sure of these tasks, it is always wise to write a two-line disclaimer to avoid any misunderstandings later. In addition, include an equal opportunity employer statement in this section, covering the need to use a hired employee to perform other tasks as well.

Tips to Ace Your First Job Description

Adding all the above components to your job description is vital. However, you won't achieve your desired results until the description's language, tone, and format are not up to the mark.

Here are some tips that can be helpful for you.

Market Your Company's Culture

While mentioning your organization, you can always go ahead and market your organization's culture. Many people shift from one job to another because of the attractive culture that the new company offers them.

So, if you can, write a few lines about your organization and persuade potential candidates to join your company.

You can also choose to highlight the company's culture in the final section of the description. However, according to stats, only 28% of candidates consider the company's culture as an essential aspect.

But don't take it for granted as many potential employees will take your words seriously and visit your company's websites for more details.

Keep It Short

If you don't want the reader to lose the main point and divert easily, write a description between 300 to 600 words. Keep it short and precise. Moreover, keep the format mobile-friendly as more candidates read it through their screens.

Your Tone Should Be Real

Keep your tone accurate if you don't want to give your readers a wrong impression of your organization. Even if you don't want to highlight your culture in the description, use your tone to reflect your organization's ethics and standards.

Unfortunately, a casual tone performs quite unwell and is often considered unprofessional. However, in most creative industries, a friendly tone may work wonders.

So, ensure to give an authentic feel to your candidates about the atmosphere of your organization. If you run an unconventional business, a laid-back tone would do too. You may get a few candidates, but eventually, you will find one that meets your criteria.

Use Your Words Wisely

If you want to get diverse applicants for your company, refrain from using words that might be too masculine or gender-specific. Words such as "outspoken," "aggressive," and "dominant" often discourage women from applying for a vacancy. So, avoid using them and use phrases or words that appeal to all genders equally.

Avoid Grammar and Spelling Mistakes

Do you want your job description to attract many candidates and leave a good mark on their minds? Therefore, ensure to double-check your spelling and grammar before posting a job online. Bad grammar leaves a wrong impression in the reader's mind and creates an unnecessary false impression of your company.

Final Takeaway

A stellar job description is everything you need to create a first impression of your company in the minds of people who may have the skills and abilities that you demand for a position. Therefore, make sure that your job description has all the above components.

Moreover, ensure to use simple language and encouraging words to reach out to many potential candidates.Additionally, promote your job post between Monday and Wednesday if you want more people to know about it. This is because most applicants are searching for suitable job opportunities at the start of the week.

We hope that this guide will help you ace your job description and get the candidates your organization deserves.

Harness the power of networks to make your recruiting more efficient. Start free at theswarm.com