The art of the job description is one every business owner should master. The purpose of these is to succinctly and accurately inform potential candidates of the job in question. The idea is to sell the job to them and make them apply. Of course you also want to make the right sort of candidate apply: it’s a delicate balance.
Job Title
This is the first thing anyone will see when they look at a job description and as such should be informative and recognisable to those in the industry. If there is a level of seniority to the position state it with simple terms like ‘managerial’ or simply ‘senior’.
Job Summary
This needs to be the most salesman-like segment and should summarise the job in a snappy few sentences, selling exactly what is unique about the company. Make it seem attractive, fun or elite, whichever sort of candidate you want to attract, write as if you were writing for them (because you are!)
It’s a good idea to put the location of the job in the title because the worst thing is having the perfect candidate only they’re from Lerwick and you need them in London. If they see that quickly they can read on or dismiss it and it will save everyone’s time.
Responsibilities and Duties
This is the bit where you outline the core responsibilities of the position. They must be informed as to what they are going to need to keep on top of. This part of the description requires you to be reasonably explicit. Avoid phrases such as ‘general duties of events staff’. Even if they are experienced in the industry, it is still likely that that they would need to be told with no degree of ambiguity what it is they are going to be required to do.
A good way for candidates to visualise the position is to give a brief summary of how they would be expected to act during a regular day at the office/place of work.
Qualifications and Skills
There is such a thing as being overqualified for the job and make sure qualifications that aren’t required are often included as well as ones that are. You don’t want to hire someone who is likely to overstep the mark or be bored by the position. This is the last hurdle before the interview selection phase and you want to make that process as short as possible and this is your last chance to filter out those unsuited to the position.
Keep it brief and split skills categories between ‘required’ skills and ‘preferred’ skills. The latter is to encourage those who may not consider applying. Spreading your net as wide as possible whilst simultaneously being selective is a difficult process but those two terms should help guide you.
