How to Write an Effective Job Description

These top tips for writing a job description can help to secure the right candidate at the beginning of the recruitment process, thereby avoiding frustrating interviews for both the candidate and the hiring manager.

This article is an extract from our recent whitepaper – The Broken Job Description and the Onboarding Perception Gap. Click here to download the full report.

Allegis Group recently surveyed their global audience of hiring managers and candidates and found that 80% of both hiring managers and candidates agree that an optimised recruitment process can enable the organisation to attract quality talent.

Provide regular information

Our research found, however, that there are a number of discrepancies between how a hiring manager and a candidate view the recruitment experience. 70% of candidates told us that getting regular information from employers throughout the hiring process was either somewhat of an issue or a significant issue. Recruitment is about relationship-building and as such, it is important for employers to maintain a human touch. Candidates commit time, effort and often money when seeking new employment and providing them with regular information is respectful and emphasises their value.

Keep candidates engaged

Providing a positive candidate experience keeps top talent engaged. 65% of candidates also agreed that getting a realistic, accurate and detailed picture of available jobs is also somewhat of an issue or a significant issue and a further 77% say that the position is only sometimes or never communicated consistently from all stakeholders involved in the screening process.

Provide a detailed picture

So, it is important to always give as detailed a picture of the available position as possible and to keep the candidate updated about how she or he is progressing through the process.

Better and consistent communication throughout and after the application would make a very positive impact. Competition for top talent is high. In the UK for example, the number of people in employment is at a record high of 32 million while unemployment is also at its lowest rate since 1975. At the same time, the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics Labour Force Survey also show that the number of vacancies increased year-on-year to 774,000 vacancies in 2017.

Keep in touch

Our own research found that candidates are contacted 14 times per month about available roles whilst actively seeking new employment and up to 42 times during a six-month contract. This is evidence that candidates are constantly having their heads turned in different directions.

It is important to keep in touch with candidates to keep them engaged throughout the process.

Provide clarity

Culture and environment, job responsibilities and advancement opportunities were aspects respondents ranked as most important when it comes to looking for a new role (see Figure 1). So, it is important that these are spelled out clearly in the job description.

Perhaps counterintuitively, only 23% of hiring managers and 12% of candidates believe that the employers’ market brand is the most important aspect of a job.

Thinking about the role you are recruiting for with a view to a 30-60-90-day plan and writing the job description in tandem with that plan is the perfect way to ensure that the job description is aligned with your business needs. And yet 80% of hiring managers told us that they don’t create a 30-60-90-day plan for an open position (see Figure 2).

Click here to download the broken job description