Finding Top Talent: What to Include in a Job Description

By TERRA Staffing Group

Posted on February 1, 2019

Zoomed in image of job description with penThe headline of your job posting grabbed a job seeker’s attention. Congratulations!

Now it’s time for the next task: Convincing the job seeker to apply to the open position.

To do this, your job description will need to do some heavy lifting.

Here are the dos and don’ts of job descriptions that attract top talent.

DO engage your employment brand.

Your job description should answer every job seeker’s top question: “Why should I want to work for this company?”

Use your employer brand as the basis for the posting’s tone and approach. Don’t hesitate to mention the top one or two features of your company’s culture, using the voice you’ve chosen to accentuate your employment brand.

DO make sure the requirements are up to date.

Few things frustrate job seekers more than discovering that a job’s actual day-to-day demands are vastly different than the job posting led them to believe.

To avoid this issue, make sure job descriptions are up to date. Talk to staff members who hold the job, as well as managers who supervise that position. Use the job posting to create a “day in the life” bullet-point summary of the position’s core tasks.

DON’T copy and paste.

Internal job descriptions and publicly available job postings serve two different purposes. The first one informs staff about the tasks assigned; the second seeks to attract new talent to the job itself.

While your internal job description should serve as a guide for the job posting, it’s important to adapt the information presented to the audience (job seekers) and purpose (obtaining applications) that a job posting serves. Remember to write for the top talent your team needs and deserves.

DON’T dash through the job.

Take the time to write a job posting, set it aside, and review it a few hours or days later. Better yet, have an experienced colleague, like your staffing partner, review the job posting before it goes live. Your recruiter can ensure this job posting speaks the language of top talent, and provide tips on writing stronger job postings in the future.

Learn More Recruiting Techniques From TERRA

From job descriptions to the final hiring decision, our recruiters can help you attain some of the best available talent.

To learn how, contact us today and we’ll help you hire.

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Categories: HR and Management Advice, Staffing Tips & Recruiting Trends

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