The humble job description is more than a recruiting tool. It’s a window into your brand, your company culture, your goals and your employees’ future.
Job descriptions (JDs) are precedent setting documents designed expressly to give structure and meaning to someone’s role within your company. They should be clearly defined, objective in delivery and easy to understand.
This article explains the what, why and how of writing a job description that will help your SME to attract the right candidates to your business.
Job descriptions are critical documents for your employees
They are what could be called a job-critical document. Your employee takes their lead and understands their role within the context of your company through your JD, but your employee also understands:
- How they fit into the staffing ecosystem of your company
- What their job responsibilities are
- What goals and targets they have
- What HR and COVID-19 Secure Health and Safety processes are in place (essential in a post-pandemic world)
- What their pay is
- What their holiday and benefit structures are
Alongside an employee contract, a job description is a foundational workplace document, essential in creating an effective and talented workforce — and drawing the right sort of talent to your company.
They are also vital tools in your employee performance management, playing into reward and recognition, as well as disciplinary systems. The right job description should, ideally, give your employee a complete overview of what they do, and how you want them to work and thrive within your company.
JDs are workplace anchors for your employee — they set clear lines of responsibility and clear goals for your staff to follow, which are essential in reviewing performance and setting paths to promotion.
Job descriptions are the basis for your job adverts
Job descriptions are a vital resource for your existing employees. They are also, obviously, the basis for which you craft job adverts and advertise for talent to join you. It’s worth noting however there is a difference between a job advert and a job description.
These are the key differences between the two:
- Job adverts are attention-grabbing summary pieces, designed to snare the right sort of talent through sharp advertisement and inspirational storytelling
- Job descriptions are an in-depth expansion of your job advert. They are sometimes a multi-page document which highlights your role and responsibilities within the context of your company and the wider industry
In the next section we give you some top tips to help you write job descriptions that will attract the right talent to your SME.
So how do you write the perfect job description?
Good job adverts follow the AIDA model: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
This is a simple framework to write your job advert — one that takes your prospective employee on a direct journey from interested party to application.
Below we explain the four components of the AIDA model:
- Attention: Grab the reader’s attention: a succinct, clear introduction to the role and your company
- Interest: Create interest in the role: tell the story of the role, the team and your plans for the future and why the role is vacant
- Desire: Make your role sound professionally desirable: highlight fantastic rates of pay, or chances of promotion
- Action: An applicant applies for your role through a clear line of application
To write a great job description you need to augment the above. At hiringpeople.co.uk we use the AIDA+ model.
The + stands for brand and context. This is how you can incorporate these two things into your job descriptions.
Incorporating brand into your job descriptions
Why do you do what you do? What have you achieved in the last few years, and how do you fit into the overall industry ecosystem? Job descriptions offer you the chance to expand on your company brand, drawing your employee into the fold as a member of a passionate team with a meaningful mission. Your employees want to advocate for you, so let them be a part of your brand!
Incorporating context into your job descriptions
JDs give your staff the chance to understand their role in context — of the wider industry and against other professionals and competitive roles. No one works in a vacuum, and to draw and retain the best talent, you need to set out in the context of why you’re a better employer than others.
How does the AIDA+ model draw the right talent to your company?
AIDA+ doesn’t just highlight your employee credentials or specifics of a role — it’s an essential pre-screening device designed to engage only the very best in class for a particular role.
A full job description is a deep dive into role and responsibilities but it’s also reflective of the type of worker you need. This helps your prospective employee fully understand their place within your company, how teams work together, their delivery demands and cultural make-up.
This, in theory anyway, gives your potential employee either the desire to apply, or all the information they need to search elsewhere.
A well-written job description is not only essential in breaking down an employee’s job, demands and targets, but it’s also the basis for your job outreach, performance management and screening.
There are some amazing templates and frameworks you can find online to help you craft an amazing job description if you’re having trouble!
Author bio: This article was written by the team at findcourses.co.uk, a site that helps you find and compare training courses to help develop your business.