First impressions are important in all aspects of life, there is no exception for recruitment. A job description is your company’s first impression to a candidate...

Crafting a compelling job description is essential to helping you attract the  best talent for your job.  A great job description can help your jobs stand out from the rest.

For candidates who are looking to join your organisation the job description defines the parameters of the role and establishes a base understanding of what contribution they will make to your company’s success and how they can personally be successful.

When candidates are reading through job descriptions, they look for content which is professional, relatable and realistic. Avoid being mysterious, candidates need to know what they are applying to and the key expectations. Enough detail needs to be there to create a good understanding, however being concise is also key; candidates do not want to be reading through realms of unnecessary information, they will just get bored and you might lose out on your ideal employee.

There are crucial components that make a job description they are listed below with some handy tips for what to include to create a fantastic job description.

Job Title:

This needs to be accurate, realistic and meaningful. Candidates need to be able to find your job easily when searching through job boards.

Summary paragraph:

Grab the candidate’s attention and provide an overview of you as an organisation and the position advertised. Include what makes your company unique, your culture and team, products/services relevant to the job and your mission. It is also useful to include how this job role will help the company be successful.  

Main duties/responsibilities:

What are the core responsibilities? Help the candidate visualise a day in the job. Again, being specific is key here, You do not need to list every single activity that the successful person will undertake but just the most core responsibilities.

Qualifications and Skills:

This section is important to explain the essential personal qualities/skills and any necessary qualifications. Do they need any specific educational qualifications? Previous experience or technical skills? Avoid asking for too many qualifications as this can discourage candidates from applying, perhaps just the minimum requirements needed is enough initially.  

Additional Information:

Are there any benefits included with working for your company? If so, include these, this is something candidates will look for and it is also your opportunity to tell the candidate why they will want to work for your company! Any company bonus/commission, pension schemes, personal development opportunities and healthcare benefits are all useful to include.

You will also want to state any physical demands of the job or travel requirements as candidates need to know about the work life balance. If you offer working from home or flexible working hours this should also be included.

To summarise, a job description is a key part of the recruitment process and if done right will attract successful quality candidates for your organisation. Take time to compose a job description, carefully creating each part and remember to be specific. You will soon find that your inbox will be flooding with brilliant candidates eager to work for your organisation.