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Recruiting Strategies #5: What to Include in Your Job Description

With over 50,000 jobs boards available to the job seeker, what makes your job posting stand out from all the others? When Work With Your Handz publishes jobs for our clients, we do everything in our power to ensure that they stand out and get seen. By doing so we are able to attract the most talented job seekers, who know that our clients can give them what they need, want, and deserve.

So how do we do it? Read on to find out!

Most job postings include the following: job title, job purpose, job duties and responsibilities, required qualifications, preferred qualifications, and working conditions. Notice something missing? How about what can the company do for you? How can they make your work life better? What can they offer you that no one else can?

Obviously, all job postings should have the job title. The title is what will attract a candidate’s attention and help them do the initial sorting. For instance, if you are looking for a licensed plumber you need to say in the job title that a LICENSE is required. In the end, the more detailed and descriptive the job title can be, the better it is to attract great employees. However, you need them to keep reading too.

Candidates are looking at twice as many job postings today as they were 2–3 years ago. So, it’s vital to fine tune those opening lines to keep the candidate reading. The average person skims a job posting and only actually reads the first 2–3 lines. The information you provide in those first few lines is the KEY to keeping them reading.

Do you offer a signing bonus? If so, include it in the opener. Do you front-load PTO? If so, include it in the opener. Anything your company does above and beyond the norm needs to be front and center to grab, and keep, their attention.

After the title and the opener, make it about the candidate. What is in it for them? In addition to the bonus, 401K match, front-loaded PTO, etc, what can you do for them that stands out from other listings? Do you offer paid training? Increases in pay with licenses or certificates received? If you offer it mention it.

Work With Your Handz does an exceptional job highlighting the differences between our clients and the competition. We know what the job seeker is looking for and why they are looking for a change, and we highlight those in our interviews. But before we get to the interview, these differences must be in the job description to grab the candidate’s attention.

Another important key factor is to make sure the wording you use is gender neutral. If you state “hit the ground running” for instance, many women would read this in a masculine tone and pass over the job. There are certain words that are skewed more towards men and certain words skewed towards women based on research. Emotion-based wording—for instance compassionate, considerate, and empathetic—is usually used in jobs that attract women, while aggressive wording—such as ambitious, challenging, and competitive—is often used in jobs that attract men. Research has shown that women are more inclined to apply for a job if their skills line up with 100% of the requirements, while men will apply for a job if they meet only 60% of the qualifications. For your job description to be successful, list only the must-haves in your job description to alleviate the issue of having a qualified candidate pass over your job.

There are so many key factors in both creating and posting a job. The Work With Your Handz staff does a great job creating your postings so that we attract the best and most qualified candidates. In addition to what we’ve listed above, we also research your competition and see if something about their job listings appeals to us and use those things in ours as well. We are constantly monitoring job postings across many different job boards—remember there are over 50,000 of them—and we are doing everything possible to make sure our jobs are better than the rest.

Recruiting Strategies #5: What to Include in Your Job Description

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Dana Hubchen

Co-founder/Co-owner

Skilled Recruitment for Skilled Trades

We get to know your business, culture and needs. Work With Your Handz can help your team free up their time by providing interviews with only the most qualified candidates.

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