Are Your Job Descriptions Electromagnets?
Are your job descriptions outdated, incomplete, or boring? If so, you’re wasting weeks on the wrong candidates or, worse, hiring the wrong people. Here’s another approach.
The perfect job description is three things at once: magnet, filter, and management tool. It compels only the best candidates to apply, and it persuades unfit candidates not to apply. It sets exciting challenges and high expectations. It helps new hires start working seamlessly with their peers.
Propagating Confusion Far and Wide
Besides wasting time on pointless interviews, bad job descriptions lead hires in the wrong direction on day one. The problem compounds when hiring a new manager, who takes their whole team in the wrong direction. You can lose a year getting them back into alignment.
The cost isn’t just to the organization. You waste the candidates’ time; you get their hopes up at a vulnerable point in their lives. It’s inhumane.
And job descriptions aren’t just for hiring, they should also help you manage current employees. Bad job descriptions confuse teams about who does what. Is your own job description even 75% accurate? How does it affect your performance review?
Answer These 6 Questions With Gusto—And stick to one page!
Make each job description a marketing brochure. Use all of those writing and visual elements: headline, logo, font, colors, imagery, etc. See the next page for how to answer these six candidate questions by being direct, bold, and genuine:
- How can I make a meaningful difference?
- What’s it like working at Acme Widget?
- How will I spend my time (regular duties)?
- Who will I work with? Who will I work for?
- What kind of support will I get?
- What are the essential job requirements?
See sample and instructions here.
Follow best practices and examples: search for 5.2.4 Job descriptions at The Index (www.theindex.net).
Annual Maintenance: Mesh or clash?
A job description should be a positive and useful supervisory and development tool. So, each year, ask employees to critique their job descriptions, then pin all those descriptions on a wall and then see if they mesh or clash within your real organization chart.
