The best job description is the one that gets read
By Mitch Sullivan,
There are two types of “best job description”.
One type of “best job description” is a piece of content that clearly and unambiguously lays out all of the details about a job. What its overall purpose is, the tasks that need doing regularly, who and what the job interacts with, the skills needed, etc. Its primary purpose is to inform.
It’s an important document because it sets out the scope for how it’s going to be filled and by what type of person. It’s also important for a whole host of accountability and compliance reasons.
The other type of “best job description” is a piece of content that attracts potential candidates to want to find out more about that job. This is more commonly known as “a job advertisement”.
You may think I’m being pedantic here, but the distinction is a critical one. It’s critical in that if one is exchanged for the other, the results would be counterproductive.
Imagine you have a beautifully crafted advert that sells the job really well. It’s under 500 words, speaks directly to the reader and their needs/wants and has a friendly yet professional tone of voice.
Then imagine sending that to a potential candidate who has already decided they’re interested in the job. Would it be what they needed to read at that particular time? Probably not, eh?
Now imagine someone who doesn’t yet know if they’d be interested in that job.
Would an 800-word job description sell it to them? Definitely not. Unless of course they happen to be in a job they hate and are desperate to leave. But even then, they probably won’t read the whole thing - which then opens them up to not having the exact experience the hiring company is looking for and ultimately getting rejected.
Probably the biggest reason a job posting receives too many of the wrong candidates is because those candidates didn’t read it, because it was long and boring.
The best job description is the one that’s actually read and understood. That is far more likely to happen once they’ve seen a job advertisement, are potentially interested and want to find out more.
The worst job description is the one that tries to do the work of a job advertisement and as a result, doesn’t get read, let alone responded to.