How to Write a Magnetic Job Description—and Who Should Be Involved

Hiring the right person for the right seat starts with attracting the right talent. To do that, you need a solid job description. 

And that’s not just a list of job duties and qualifications. 

A good job description is an enticing, engaging, and exciting invitation that attracts your candidate to your business and its culture—and convinces them to apply.

That’s a lot of pressure for a single document. 

Fortunately, it’s not an impossible task. Here’s how to write job descriptions that attract qualified candidates who share your core values.

Know The Who

Filling an open position involves knowing the traits and characteristics of the person you are looking for. This goes beyond what degree or experience a candidate has. 

Do you need someone who is committed, motivated, and driven to succeed? Does the position require a person who is calm under pressure? Who has the courage to make difficult/unpopular decisions? 

Before you start writing your job description, take a moment to brainstorm all the qualities someone should have to succeed in this position. 

Identify The What

Explain the overarching responsibilities of the position, their day to day and big picture job duties, and how it affects other parts of the organization. Why is this position important? Who will they be interacting with? What will your company be able to accomplish when the right person is in place?

Understand The Why

To attract the right candidate, you need to articulate why someone would want to work for your company. This is your sales pitch, where you can explain your culture, share your core values, and describe the benefits of being part of your team. It goes beyond salary and benefits and can include flexible schedules, remote work options, free coffee, company-sponsored monthly lunches, team building events, etc.

Decide What’s Required, Preferred, and Desired

Some qualifications are a must and will be a deal-breaker, but others can be learned on the job or are “nice-to-haves.” Make a list of the qualifications and experience the position needs or would benefit from, and separate them into required, preferred, and desired skills. 

Involve Your Team

Writing a good job description is most accurate and effective when you get input and buy-in from your team. Interview the people who will be working with the position the most. Ask them how they would benefit from the position and how getting the right person in place would impact their efficiency and job satisfaction. Bring the team together and have a brainstorming session about the character traits and values they think are needed to succeed in the position.

So many companies miss this critical step. Writing a job description in a vacuum often results in an incomplete or inaccurate portrayal of the position and its necessary qualifications.

How VisionSpark Can Help

Creating the job description is the first step in VisionSpark’s proven Hire with Confidence™ process. Our approach to job descriptions is so thorough and comprehensive that we don’t call it a job description. We refer to it as a Position Profile. 

We call it this because it does more than describe a job. It’s a document that both sells the company and describes the person’s ideal character traits and values needed to fill the position. We often have candidates tell us they were drawn to our Position Profiles because they felt like we were speaking directly to them.  

Do you need help creating a Position Profile for your open position? We offer this tool as a stand-alone service, but also as part of our comprehensive search service. Visit our website or contact us if you have questions or would like more information! We want to help you Hire with Confidence!™