When's the last time you read a job description that sounded like a role someone actually does?

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“Seeking a ROCKSTAR to join our family. You'll hustle hard, play harder (we've got a ping pong table), wear many hats, learn fast, and move at lightning speed in our fast-paced, ever-evolving startup ecosystem.”

And then on the other end of the spectrum is:

“The ideal candidate will leverage cross-functional synergies to drive stakeholder alignment across the broader go-to-market ecosystem.”

These are two extremes, but neither of them tells the candidate what they’ll actually be doing day-to-day.

Most job descriptions are copied and pasted from 5 years ago, list vague responsibilities and requirements, and have a comp range that could work for a recent college grad or someone with 10 years under their belt.

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Writing a job description is tricky.

How do you sum up what someone is gonna do for 40 hours a week in a few bullet points?

The majority of this will actually happen in the interviews. But you have to hook top talent at the beginning of the process, which includes the job description.

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Think of your hiring process like a sales process - your job description is the elevator pitch that gets them into the top of the funnel. So how do you write one that attracts top talent?‍

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1. Lead with the problem they’ll solve first. A-Players like a challenge. They’re not fired up to read “7 years of industry experience required.” They’ll get excited learning what they’d actually be doing in the role - are they building the sales motion from scratch? Do they have big shoes to fill? Opening a new territory? Lead with that.

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2. Cut the requirements list. If your “must-haves” is a laundry list of things that would be nice but aren’t actually needed to succeed in this role, you’re ignoring a group of people who’d be a good fit. Most of what’s required for sales is soft skills and won’t show up on a bullet point anyway. Keep your requirements to what is actually a non-negotiable and let the interview process vet the rest.

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3. Tell them the comp range upfront. This isn’t a hot take anymore; it’s required for A-Players. Top talent isn’t wasting their time through 3 interview rounds to find out your OTE offer is lower than theirs currently is. Being upfront filters out candidates who wouldn’t be interested anyway.

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4. Sell the role like you’d want a rep to sell your product. Interviewing is a two-way street. If you want a top rep, you have to sell them the value proposition of your role. Why would an A-Player leave their role and take this one? Sell them on that.

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A job description is the first filter in your hiring funnel. Whether it’s the recruiter using it to screen candidates or just a post on LinkedIn, this is the candidate's introduction to what this role is: hook them from the start.

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You’ll spend less time wading through applicants and more time talking to candidates you’d actually want to hire.

If you want help creating a job profile that will attract top talent, reach out to our team here.

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