THE BUSINESS LEADER’S GUIDE TO HIRING · 2019-07-31 · As a hiring leader, you understand that your organization’s success is closely tied to the quality of your workers. Yet,

DEVELOPING A WINNING JOB DESCRIPTIONP A R T O N E :

GUIDE TO HIRINGTHE BUS INESS LEADER ’S

Table of Contents

3Executive Summary

12A Winning Job

Description

5Competing for

Candidates

19Core Elements

of a Great Job Description

9The Importance of Job Descriptions

25Key Takeaways

D E V E L O P I N G A W I N N I N G J O B D E S C R I P T I O N // Part 1 of 32

Executive SummaryINTRODUCTION


Truly successful business leaders need to be prepared to continuously adapt to a constantly

evolving environment. From changing government regulations, to the ever-shifting economy to a seemingly endless string of technological advances, there’s no shortage of unique challenges to get to grips with. But one constant that’s always proven reliably difficult is finding and hiring workers who fit the company and have the right qualifications and skills. In fact, in 2016, business leaders list recruiting the right people as their biggest challenge.

For that reason, hiring leaders who can combine the right technologies and best practices to land talented employees are more likely to place themselves in a position to succeed.

Understandably, this is easier said than done, but with the right knowledge foundation, you can begin to build a brilliant hiring strategy. This three-part eBook series gives business and hiring leaders the tools to lay this successful foundation, starting with Part One: Developing a Winning Job Description.

Here, you’ll find recommendations for creating a winning job description as well the seven core elements that make up every job description. Hiring leaders who leverage this advice when building their job descriptions will not only attract more exceptional employees, they’ll also help their companies generate more revenue at a faster pace.

Executive SummaryINTRODUCTION


Competing for Candidates

CHAPTER 1


As a hiring leader, you understand that your organization’s success is closely tied to the quality of your workers. Yet, with more job

opportunities in the market and fewer job candidates, it’s more difficult than ever to make strong hires. Finding workers has been cited as the number one HR challenge of 2016, a whopping 36 percent of companies express not being able to find the talent they need1, and some have even gone so far as to describe the intense competition for superstar workers as a “War for Talent.”2

And the long and short of it is, if you and your organization aren’t prepared, you risk losing out on the great minds and strong helping hands who can elevate your business to the next level.

One-third of HR professionals indicate it is more difficult to find workers

today than it was a year ago.1

Competing for CandidatesCHAPTER 1


Why Better Hires Equal Better Business

Whether you’re looking to find and hire new workers to backfill vacancies or to address new business requirements and opportunities, having the right technology tools, processes, and knowledge can make an immense difference when it comes to recruiting new workers.

Just how big of a difference are we talking about?

Well, companies that are what the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) calls “talent magnets”—those that attract and retain the best workers—generate better business outcomes than those that BCG designates as “talent laggards.” BCG’s research shows magnets increase revenue 2.2 times faster and achieve profits 1.5 times faster than laggards.3

How a company finds and secures workers is a critical part of this process. Companies that excel at finding and hiring new employees see 3.5 times more revenue growth than those that struggle to do so.4

Attributes of a “Talent Magnet”

Talent magnets increase revenue 2.2 times faster and profits 1.5

faster than talent laggards.5

Importance of Recruiting WorkersOrganizations that excel at

recruiting new workers experience 3.5 times faster revenue growth

than those that struggle to do so.6D E V E L O P I N G A W I N N I N G J O B D E S C R I P T I O N // Part 1 of 37

The Path to Great Hires Starts Here

With everything else that a hiring leader has on their plate, finding and hiring workers is no easy feat. There are a lot of boxes that need to be checked—writing a job description, posting the job description (website, job boards, etc.), creating online job ads, reviewing resumes and applications, conducting interviews, making an offer, negotiating the offer with the applicant, and onboarding the worker.

And understandably, it can be difficult to know where to start.

Conveniently enough though, there’s a simple and effective way to start off the search for a new employee on the right foot: writing a well-written job description. Though the role of a job description is often undervalued in the search for workers, this element is an important tool to include in your toolbox. It can be the difference between receiving a stack of quality candidates who fit your company culture and mission and receiving a mere handful of unsuccessful candidates lacking the right skills and qualifications.

Source: “Global Recruiting Trends 2016: Small to Mid-Sized Business Edition.” LinkedIn Talent Solutions, December 2015.

of hiring managers indicate a well-written job description is important to finding and hiring a good employee.7

Top Worker Recruitment Challenge

80%

Finding Candidates

in High-Demand Talent Pools

Compensation Competition Lack of Awareness of

Interst in Employer Brand

Job Location

46%43%

38%

26% 24%


Importance of Job Descriptions

CHAPTER 2


A poorly written and designed job description can doom a search for a new worker right out of the gate, and on the flip

side, an engaging and properly crafted job description can lead to great success. One recent study found that manipulating the language in a job description in a certain way can result in not only more applications, but better quality applicants.8 Further, it takes job seekers less than 60 seconds to evaluate a job description and determine if they want to apply for a job.9

All of this means that hiring leaders must make their job descriptions count. Job seekers who find job descriptions uninspiring move onto the next job posting, which means that quality candidates who might be great fits for your organization never even bother to apply.

The Importance of Job Descriptions

CHAPTER 2

It takes job seekers less than 60 seconds to determine if they want to

apply for a job.

60


Source: “Candidate Behavior 2015 Hiring Managers,” CareerBuilder Survey, April 2015.

Only 31% of Business Leaders Feel Job Descriptions Are Written to

Attract Quality Candidates

Great job descriptions are directly tied to critical business outcomes that include:

Improved quality of applicants

Shorter time to source and fill job openings

Lower search costs

Avoidance of missed business opportunities (e.g., market trends, new programs and projects, etc.)

Better employee retention rates (the amount of time an employee stays)

54%

31%

3%

11%

Not Well At All

Not Too Well

Somewhat Well

Very Well

1

2

3

4

5


A Winning Job Description

CHAPTER 3


Believe it or not, creating a winning job description has little to do with the job itself. Rather, it

has more to do with how the job description is written, what content is included in it, and how it is presented. Every aspect of the job description impacts a candidate’s perception of the role and company—from the job title to the portrayal of your company.

First Things First

Many assume the initial stage of a search for a new employee starts with writing the job description. They are wrong! On the contrary, there are some things you must do first before putting pen to paper:

Justify the Role. Make sure there’s a clear need for a new employee. Think carefully about the business case for an additional worker and consider how the future worker’s role will align with other roles within the company and with projects, programs, and other key business initiatives.

Confirm Budget and Reporting Structure. Know the allocated budget for the position as well as to whom the worker will report.

Validate Responsibilities. Pinpointing primary responsibilities for the role versus those that are secondary is important. To make this process easier, confirm responsibilities for the position with a broader set of team members and managers—specifically those who will work and collaborate with the new hire. Where appropriate, consider crowdsourcing ideas or even establishing a review team. This helps ensure the role aligns with business requirements and key initiatives, while building a foundation that prevents possible role confusion once the worker is hired.

A Winning Job Description

CHAPTER 3

1

2

3


Identify Who to Include. Before the job description is created, decide: a) who will drive the hiring lifecycle, b) who is responsible for approving the different decision points, c) who is a contributor, and d) who needs to be kept informed.

Check Out Similar Job Descriptions. Check out job descriptions from other companies for the same role or similar roles—this can provide valuable insight about what to include and not to include, areas you can integrate that will differentiate your job description, etc.

Job Description Writing Tips

Write for the Candidate

Job descriptions should be written for job seekers and not employees, HR, or even the job itself. Focus on how the worker will contribute to the company and play a role in a broader set of projects and initiatives versus a laundry list of responsibilities. Mention exciting or challenging projects. Include links to content related to the specific department and/or role. A recent study found job descriptions focusing on “candidate needs” generate a 14 percent higher response rate than those that concentrate on “employer needs” (qualifications, requirements, etc.). At the same time, the quality of candidates who responded to “candidate-needs” job descriptions were almost three times better than those who answered “employer-need” job descriptions.11

The starting point for a new employee search is not copying-and-pasting a prior job

description. However, this is the case with over 50 percent of hiring managers.10

4

5

1


Be Specific and Succinct

Job descriptions are not meant to be novels. In less than 700 words, you need to describe the role and how it ties into your company mission and key initiatives, list core responsibilities, spell out minimum requirements, and tell job seekers about your company. Some things to remember:

Use bullets—wisely. Don’t include laundry lists—no more than five or six bullets per section or topic.

Understand the difference between primary responsibilities and those that are secondary. The same goes for the list of requirements—minimum skills, experience, and education.

Avoid dense and lengthy paragraphs. Job candidates will get lost in the detail.

Use subheadings to break up the job description to make it more readable.

75% of job seekers report that the look and feel of a job description influences

their decision to apply.12

75%

%

2


Don’t Overuse “Strategic”

Not every role is strategic.12 You thus need to be careful about how strategic you make a role sound in a job description. Too many job descriptions position the role in strategic language when in reality it involves little strategy (it rather is tactical). When this occurs, two negative results can occur:

Quality candidates conclude they aren’t qualified and don’t apply for the job.

Overqualified candidates “clog” the application funnel and a) end up not being interested after going through the interview process, b) accept the role and become frustrated and disgruntled because it doesn’t match what was advertised, or c) accept the role but then leave because the role isn’t what was advertised.

Tip! Just because a role isn’t strategic doesn’t mean it isn’t compelling to job seekers. It’s okay to spell

out tactical responsibilities as long as those are tied

back to broader initiatives and the company’s mission,

goals, and objectives.

Source: “2015 Candidate Behavior U.S. Job-Seeker Data,” CareerBuilder Survey, October 2015.

3

Reasons Job Seekers Are Looking For a New Job

Highe

r Sala

ry

62% 34% 33% 30% 27% 20% 18% 11% 9% 7% 6% 4% 2%

Impro

ved

Benefi

ts

Advanc

emen

t

Opportuni

tes

Skill G

rowth

Potent

ial

Work

-Life

Balanc

eBet

ter

Bonues

City/L

iving

Conditi

on

Unem

ploye

d

Issue

s with

Manag

er

Inte

rest

ing

Job P

ostin

g

Presig

ious

Compan

y/Bra

nd

Collegue

Issu

es

Refer

ral


Remember Mobile

Forty-five percent of Americans use their mobile devices to search for a job once a day. Eighteen percent have submitted a job application on their device. Yet, less than 50 percent of companies offer mobile-friendly career sites and even fewer offer mobile-friendly applicant tracking system (ATS) solutions.

Companies that understand this, that create job descriptions that seamlessly display on mobile devices, and that allow applicants to submit applications from their mobile devices are twice as likely to get high-quality candidates than those that fail to do so.13

Over 40% of job seekers who apply for a position using MightyRecruiter do so with

their mobile device.

4


Factor in SEO

More than 124 million job-related searches are conducted on Google each month.14 Well-written job descriptions will show up in the top of search engine results. Pick keywords that are relevant (do comparable posting and competitive posting searches as part of the process) and use those in the job title, job summary, and job description. And don’t forget to put a page title, description, and tags in your individual job postings on your website. These will make a big search engine optimization (SEO) difference.

Showcase Company Culture

Company culture hits home with job seekers. Seventy-two percent of candidates indicate that an organization’s reputation as an employer has a significant impact on their decision to apply for and accept a position.15

What does this mean for you? You should bring your company to life with content and links that advertise your culture.

Think about creating custom URLs for the job description on your website that incorporate the job title. This will also boost your SEO results.

Good for SEO: www.yourbusiness.com/jobs/retail_associate

Poor for SEO: www.yourbusiness.com/jobs/02052016_2

Tip!

What Motivates Workers?

Source: “Global Human Capital Trends 2015: Leading the New Work of Work,” Deloitte University Press, accessed January 10, 2016.

5

6

Work Passion

Career Ambition

Twice as many employees reported being motivated by work passion as compared to career ambition.


Core Elements of a Great Job Description

CHAPTER 4


Core Elements of a Great Job Description

CHAPTER 4

IV. Elements of a Great Job Description

There are seven elements that make up a complete job description. Each part is vital, enabling you to

find and secure top quality candidates who fit your company culture.

Job Title

Positioning the role with the right job title is essential. Job seekers scan search results—whether via search engine, job board, email, social media feed, among other channels—and make a decision as to whether the job looks right for them in less than 60 seconds.

A job title is your chance to convince them to open the job description and read more. If you write a confusing or inaccurate job title, then you lose the opportunity to engage with the job seeker and they proceed to the next job posting.

The following are some strategies and tips that hiring leaders should leverage when creating job titles:

Use real-life titles that are specific and concise

Titles should be appealing yet appropriateInclude specific skills or niche roles (where relevant)

Employ abbreviations (where relevant)

Think about including SEO keywords (though avoid “keyword overload” in the job title, as this will have the opposite effect)

Inclusion of keywords in a job title increases candidate views by 116 percent.16

Tip!

1


Location

With work-life balance an increasingly important factor for workers, you need to ensure that the job description makes it clear where the position is based. Job seekers are looking for short commutes, local transit options that make longer commutes easy, and work-from-home options (even if it just part of the time). And if the location isn’t the company’s main location, then this should be spelled out.

Source: “2015 Candidate Behavior U.S. Job-Seeker Data,” CareerBuilder Survey, accessed January 10, 2016.

Job Summary

Making a great first impression with a job seeker is thus crucial, and as the job summary is at the top of the job description and is read more often than any other part of the job description, you need to write a summary that makes the job description stand out from the crowd. Critical things to remember:

Job Duties/Responsibilities Clearly Defined

Salary RangeIs Defined

Benefits Package Is Described

Advanced Opportunities Offered

Work Environment Described

Brand Clearly Defined

Look-and-Feel of Posting Is Creative

Language of Posting is Creative

Company Culture, Activities, and Events

85%

77%

60%

45%

45%

25%

17%

13%

11%

Key Items in Job Postings that Impact Decision to Apply

2

3


Job summaries are typically written in paragraph form (no bullets) with the intent of giving the job seeker a general overview of how the role functions.

Avoid putting too much information in the job summary; save the details for the job responsibilities section.

Use second person to create a connection with the person reading the job description. This enables the job seeker to visualize themselves performing the job and helps prompt them to apply.

Job Responsibilities

The biggest mistake most hiring leaders make when writing a job description is to include a laundry list of responsibilities. Instead, focus on only those responsibilities that are core to the role—namely, what translates into success or failure. In the event that secondary responsibilities need to be included, provide two lists—one for primary responsibilities and one for secondary responsibilities—with subheadings to differentiate the two.

In addition to the above, the following are some critical things to remember when writing job responsibilities:

Highlight the type of decisions the worker will be making and with whom they will be working and to whom they will report.

Spell out some of the core deliverables the role will produce and explain how these contribute to the success of the business.

Where appropriate, include links to content (written, video, audio) that showcase the department, team, or even role.

Reference business-critical or exciting projects on which the new hire will work. As the majority of job candidates now rank work passion as a top work requirement, including how the role fits into the broader scheme of things is important.

• Language should be action-oriented and sUse bullets for ongoing tasks, with them ordered in level of importance.

4


Skills and Qualifications

Create a list of skills and categorize them into two subsections: required and preferred. Order them in terms of importance and place them in a bulleted list. If there is a job description review team involved, have them look over the two skill lists and approve the order you’ve come up with. Preferred skills may include additional education and certification, industry experience, or a specific skill (e.g., language, product utilization).

For the qualifications list, use the same approach. Educational, certification, and licensure qualifications need to be broken into required and preferred categories and spelled out in bulleted form.

About the Company

Tell a story about your company. Storytelling resonates with many job seekers and personalizes your company and the role.

Also remember to be succinct when describing what your company does and

what its culture is like. Things to include in this section include:

Company mission statement and goalsKey factoids such as core products and solutions, customers, and industries servedAspects of company culture and solutions that make the company uniqueCompelling perks Awards the company has received for innovation, excellence in management, etc.

Don’t forget to include your company’s social media channels somewhere in the post. For job descriptions not on your Career Page, include URL links to the Career Page on your website. And if you have a corporate video or brochure, include those as well.

5

6

Tip!

Why is it important to create required and preferred skill and qualification lists? Candidates need to know what is required and what is nice-to-have. This will impact how many and what types of applications are submitted and received.


How to Apply

Last but not least, don’t forget to give clear instructions explaining how someone can apply for the position and what documents they’ll need to send through. Try and make the submission process as simple as possible; longer applications equal less candidates.17

As a starting point, every organization needs a rock-solid Careers Page on its website. If you use an applicant tracking system (ATS), place it on that page.

Things to remember:

If possible, always include a thank you page and/or send confirmation email after a candidate submits an application.

Follow up to the application is a non-negotiable. Job candidates list receipt of an automated email—or lack thereof—acknowledging the submission of an application as the most important interaction shaping their perception of a company.18

Leverage “screening questions” to help weed out unqualified or poor candidates.

Forty-six percent of job seekers report applying for a position for

which they are not qualified.19

Give some careful thought to including a salary range and an overview of benefits. Although

many hiring leaders want to leave this out or list it as negotiable,

research shows job seekers will be more likely to submit an

application if it is there.

Tip!

46%

7


%

Key TakeawaysCHAPTER 5


Key TakeawaysCHAPTER 5

Finding and hiring the top talent that is the best fit for your organization requires the right mix

of technology, processes, and best practices, as well as experience.

A simple but valuable way to get off on the right foot is to write a strong job description, a frequently underrated element in the search for workers. The following are some key takeaways that demonstrate the value of well-written job description and what goes into crafting one:

A job description directly affects the quality and quantity of candidate applications

A great job description is part of a strong recruitment process, which leads to more revenue faster

There are seven things to remember when creating a job description

A complete job description consists of seven core components

1

2

3

4


Get Access Now!

Ready to Put Your New Skills to the Test?

Once you’ve written your winning job description, promoting it as a job posting is a critical next step to finding more quality candidates. If you want a leg up in this endeavor, log into our simple and affordable candidate sourcing solution—MightyRecruiter.


1 Ian Cameron, “Is a Talent Shortage Coming?” HRO Today, June 12, 2015.

2 “War for Talent—Time to Change Direction: Key Findings from KPMG’s HR Center of Excellence Survey,” KPMG, June 2014.

3 Vikram Bhalla, Jean-Michael Caye, et al. “The Global Leadership and Talent Index: The Smart Way to Improve Capabilities—and Create Value,” Boston Consulting Group: Perspectives, March 16, 2015.

4 “Realizing the Value of People Management from Capability to Profitability,” Boston Consulting Group: Perspectives, August 2, 2012.

5 Vikram Bhalla, Jean-Michael Caye, et al. “The Global Leadership and Talent Index: The Smart Way to Improve Capabilities—and Create Value,” Boston Consulting Group: Perspectives, March 16, 2015.

6 “Realizing the Value of People Management from Capability to Profitability,” Boston Consulting Group: Perspec

7 Source: Proprietary MightyWorks Recruiter Survey of 260 Business Leaders, January 2016.

8 Lauren Weber, “The Simple Change That Attracts Great Job Applicants,” Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2015, and Kris Foster, “Writing It Right in Job Ads,” University of Saskatchewan News, May 14, 2014.

9 “Shedding Light on the Job Search,” TheLadders, 2013.

10 Source: Proprietary MightyWorks Recruiter Survey of 260 Business Leaders, January 2016.

11 Lauren Weber, “The Simple Change That Attracts Great Job Applicants,” Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2015, and Kris Foster, “Writing It Right in Job Ads,” University of Saskatchewan News, May 14, 2014.

12 “Peak Posting Performance: Best Practices for Writing a Better Job Posting,” CareerBuilder, accessed February 2, 2016.

13 Aaron Smith, “U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015,” Pew Research Center, April 1, 2015.

14 Matt Evans, “Keywords Are the Key to Making Your Job Posting Searchable,” Monster Blog Post, accessed January 1, 2016.

15 “Not All Job Postings Are Created Equal: How to Write a More Effective Job Posting,” Recruiting.com, 2015.

16 Source: “Not All Job Postings Are Created Equal: How to Write a More Effective Job Posting,” Recruiting.com, 2015.

17 Ibid.

18 “2015 Candidate Behavior U.S. Job-Seeker Data,” CareerBuilder Survey, 2015.

19 Sources: “2015 Candidate Behavior U.S. Job-Seeker Data,” CareerBuilder Survey, accessed on January 10, 2016.

Footnotes


Documents

THE BUSINESS LEADER’S GUIDE TO HIRING · 2019-07-31 · As a hiring leader, you understand that your organization’s success is closely tied to the quality of your workers. Yet,