How not to draft a Job Description

Published on Dec 19, 2017

Without a good and effective job description (JD), the expectations of the actual job will fail to be communicated between a recruiter and candidate from the very beginning. A job description is the important basis that is essential to many steps in a candidate’s career path – which includes their growth, opportunities, promotions, motivation, and more. 

As a recruiter prepares to strategically write JDs, they would quickly ascertain the standards they set for one position will drastically affect one or more other job functions. Hence, as a good and responsible recruiter, they will need to comply with the universal characteristics that help develop effective JDs now and into the near future. 

Drafting JDs the right way is highly crucial to attract top talent. Any error in the JD can lead a recruiter to losing the best talent. Here are some valuable tips that a recruiter should bear in mind before writing a JD. 

Organisational mumbo jumbo –

A recruiter should be very versatile and unique while drafting any JD. Be it a JD for graphic designers or for corporate vice presidents, a recruiters should include as many catch phrases in the initial sentence just to attract attention. Words such as “cross-pollinate talent” or “synergies”, “corporate ninja” etc. would significantly blend with interests of the organisation and the candidate. However, a recruiter must always draw a distinctive line between too much exaggeration and minimal creativity.

Unclear job responsibilities – 

It is essential that for a good recruiter to eliminate specific details of the actual job duties and replace the same with easy-to-understand statements. At first it might be a little complex to modify technical descriptions as it requires practice and sound understanding of the job itself. Unclear job motives can drive talent way. Hence, it is essential that technical jargon is simplified for candidates to understand.  

Impractical requirements –

Many a times candidates often question recruiters about the requirements listed in the JD. Impractical requirements include a list of requirements that are demanding and relatively unimportant. This can prevent qualified and capable talent from applying as they don’t meet all of the extra requirements listed in the JD. It is advisable to include a separate list of “preferred requirements” to gauge with potential candidates. Besides, this approach gives good candidates a chance to walk-in, even if they aren’t professionally qualified for the job. This can help recruiter fill their databases for future use.

Rigidity –

Rigid requirements and demands are not something that candidates would like to come across. A good recruiter must always take an approach where they are able to modify and relate JDs to talent. They must promote the position as being highly flexible, even if it’s not. While this approach can certainly increase talent traffic, thus, it is essential that some amount of specific details go into writing the JD. 

Drafting JDs is an inevitable part of recruitment. The nature of a JD ascertains candidate’s judgement towards the job and their availability for the same. A bad JD can hamper talent acquisition efforts. A recruiter should be careful while using language, grammar and at all costs avoid jargons. Good writing and language is an effective method to promote the company. As we all know, a well-drafted JD underlines the vision, mission and the professionalism a company maintains. 

By following points listed above, a recruiter will definitely increase the quality of candidates, make better hiring decisions, and ultimately reduce attrition.