5 Simple Tips for Revitalizing Your Job Descriptions

By Jimmy Winskowski

Hiring is hard. And there are about a thousand reasons why.

For one, great talent can be hard to come by. And you’re already up to your ears in work without having to replace a soon-to-be-gone employee or fill an empty position.

And on top of all of that, positions and roles within your company are always changing, so you may not even be looking for the same qualities in a candidate as you were the last time you hired for the same position.

So how can you efficiently and effectively discover and ultimately hire the right candidate for the job?

Why not start with a great job description that grabs attention and resonates with exactly the candidates you’re looking for! I know, it’s easier said than done, right? But these five tips will help get you there:

1. Take the Time to Customize Each Job Description

This might be the most “stupid simple” piece of advice you’ll receive regarding penning a perfect job description, but it might also be some of the best. It sounds crazy, but regurgitating old postings or even copying job ads posted by other companies can be a commonplace practice.

Lewis Lin, CEO of Impact Interview, explained the challenge of writing a great job description by saying, “What ends up happening is this: if I have two hours, I'll be thoughtful about writing the job description. If I don't have two hours, I'll probably cut and paste a job description that I find either internally or on the world wide web.”

And he’s not alone. If you really want to stand out from the crowd, understand that you’ll need to commit some quality time to customizing your job post. The best talent out there is looking for a company that shares their skill, creativity, and attention to detail. Give them the chance to see that in your company by taking the time to create a post that rocks.

2. Tap Into Your Current Employees for Inspiration

A great team is built by finding individuals whose skills complement one another’s. This means that each new hire – even though they may be on the same team – should be a little different from the last. And who better to know which skills are most needed than current team members?

Instead of crafting your job ad with generic skills requirements, send your team members a brief survey asking to know what type of proficiencies a new hire absolutely must have. You can also use this survey to get a good handle on common interests shared by team members, etc. This can help you not only find a great professional fit, but a cultural one!

How exactly can involving your team help during the hiring process? Stuart Wilhoite, managing partner at SEO agency Levy Online, says that he relies heavily on feedback from his current employees when making a new hire. “First, I actively seek insight from our various teams before creating a job description. They tell me how much experience the new hire needs and what specific skills they are looking for.”

But the process doesn’t stop there. He explains, “Before we give any candidate serious consideration, I have their resume and proficiency test scores evaluated by the rest of their division. This allows for honest feedback,” he says, “as well as candid criticism or praise that gives me actionable guidance before extending an offer.”

3. Tie Your Job Description Back to Your Company Values

Anytime you’re making a new hire, the goal is obvious; You want to find a great new employee who will stick around for years to come. What’s the best way to make sure you hire employees that will want to stick around? Find candidates with whom your company mission and values deeply resonate.

But wait, don’t job candidates just want a big salary and ping pong tables? Well...not exactly. Or, rather, while those things may be enough to coerce a new hire to sign on with your company, research shows that it’s not enough to keep a great employee from leaving. A 2015 survey published by HR survey tool TINYpulse indicated that one in four employees would leave your company tomorrow for a 10% raise. Their research also revealed that workplace culture is one of the factors most highly correlated to employee happiness.

In other words, the path to high retention and happy employees includes cultivating a strong company culture and hiring workers who enjoy that culture. The next time you create a job description, weave cues regarding your company’s culture throughout. Speak to your company’s mission statement and core values throughout. You’re sure to find candidates who are in it for the long haul.

4. Focus on the Positives

Transparency is incredibly important during the hiring process, and even more so once a new hire joins your team. In fact, transparency has shown a massive correlation with employee happiness, and has been identified as especially important to Millennials. In other words, transparency is really great.

Having said all of that, you don’t necessarily need to lay it all out in your job description. Instead, accentuate the positives of the job being offered and your company as a whole. Highlight opportunities for growth and development, the positives of your benefits package, and some of the co-workers with whom these new hires will be spending their time. Job seekers know that each company has its challenges – just as you know that each employee has her own strengths and weaknesses. But the time to introduce and discuss these challenges is during a face to face interview, rather than in your job descriptions.

Soffront CRM CEO Manu Das speaks to this idea. “We follow a very structured process,” he says. “We seek for candidates with exceptional skills in the areas we need, and pitch the unique benefits of a career at Soffront right from the start.” Once they become more familiar with a candidate – and vice versa – they address any challenges that are likely to come up in the future.

5. Evaluate Yourself and Improve

In the world of sports, it’s very common for teams to engage in so-called “self scouting.” A team’s scouts will spend time analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of their own team just as they would do for an opponent. This attempt at replicating an outsider’s perspective allows a team to address weaknesses before an opponent discovers and exploits them.

And when it comes to recruiting, taking an honest, hard look at your own company can often reveal improvements that could make your business more attractive to potential new employees! As any marketer will tell you, the better your product, the easier it is to sell. So taking time to improve your core offering could lead to stronger job descriptions, better new hires, and better retention.

Among others, here are a few areas you may want to evaluate:

• Benefits (insurance, PTO, flex time, remote work, etc.)
• Career Development (is a structured path in place for skills improvement and promotion?)
• Culture (do you have set values in place that guide your company’s actions?)
• Engagement (what are you doing to foster interaction between employees and between employees and managers?)

Again, hiring is tough. But following these 5 tips can help ensure your job descriptions get the attention they deserve so you can connect with the candidates you really want.

What do you think? What best practices help you create a job listing that really resonates?

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