A job description is so important in attracting the right applicants. If you don’t portray your company in the right way, you may be attracting the wrong crowd and turning off potential qualified candidates. Writing a creative and powerful job description will attract more views and ultimately drive more applications.
The biggest advantage to this? The more applicants you have, the greater your chances of finding, engaging, and eventually filling your opening. Having a well-written JD will save you time by avoiding the passive sourcing time. When you have some apply on there own – you know that they are invested in the process and are active. Having applicants interested and ready will help increase your chances of getting a hire and accepted offer. As a Recruiter you will need to focus on optimizing your job description.
Below are creative ways to write a stellar Job Description:
1. Learn how to optimize searchable keywords
To get the most traffic to your job post, you will need to research the best keywords to use in your job description. One way to do that is by using the Google Keyword Planner. This tool will help you test out keywords that you are thinking of using in your post. The planner will show you how the selected words and phrases are trending and historically how they performed in terms of traffic. You can play around with different phrases until you get the results you are looking for. Stop blindly posting and put some research behind the content you are posting. Use with SEO experts use to understand which titles and keywords are trending within your search results.
2. Are your words bias?
Using certain terms in your job description can inadvertently be turning off certain applicants. The job description author may have an unconscious bias towards a certain group of people and could be using words and phrases that will deter them from applying. Not sure how to check for the level of bias in your job description? Try using a site like: Joblint to investigate how your current job description fares. This simple step could make sure you are getting the views you want on your job description.
3. Does your job description highlight your employment brand?
One of the biggest factors people consider when taking their next role is the reputation and impression the company leaves. People want to work for a company they like and trust. According to Jobvite the number of candidates who consider employment brand before even applying is 75%!
Make sure your employment brand is included in your job description to ensure candidates know what your company is all about. Not including this information will be lost opportunity to show candidates why your company is one they should consider. Make a good impression to get them to keep reading.
4. Videos encourage users to stay on a page longer.
Videos as an addition to your job description have been proven to show more engagement, particularly with more passive candidates. ERE lists all the benefits of including a video in your job description including showing passion and diversity in your company.
The best videos are short so they can keep the viewers’ attention, typically under two minutes. This method will show candidates how great your job is, even if they only have a couple of minutes to spare.
5. Visual and creative pictures
Make sure you include plenty of visuals and pictures that are in line with your employment brand. Having a job description that only includes a ton of words may lose the attention of the job seeker. When people are job searching, they are likely looking at several job descriptions every day. Make your company’s job description stand out by including an interesting infographic! Here are some additional ideas from the Talent Blog from LinkedIn.
6. Are you using the correct job title?
Job titles are typically what candidates search for when looking for a new role. It is what grabs their attention and convinces them to read the job description. To test out your idea for a job title, try searching it on Indeed to see what comes up. Do you see jobs that are similar to yours? Or are they completely different? Keep trying different titles until you get the result you want.
7. Speak the candidate’s language.
When reviewing your current job description think about the candidate reading it. Keep in mind they will not know company jargon or acronyms. Explain what the role is in a simple and easy to understand way to attract the right applicants. Also make sure you convey what you are looking for in a candidate in the requirements section. Avoid including all your nice to haves as requirements because it may turn off an applicant that has 85% of what you are looking for. On the other hand not including your must haves will invite applicants that you would never consider.
Overall, I recommend using these tips to optimize your job description. Let me know if you use any other creative approaches when writing a JD in the comments section below.
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Amy Miller Interview Spotlight
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