Job descriptions matter.

They are a public facing, introductory explanation, not only of the job itself, but of the values of the company and the future lifestyle the candidate can expect to live while working for your company.

To date, the majority of job descriptions come across as elevated, untrue, unrealistic, and un-human.

They often hide important aspects (salary), while prioritizing unattractive aspects such as laundry lists of (un) achievable responsibilities, grossly exaggerated (false) years of experience, extensive requirements spanning technical, educational, and social / emotional.

How often, in your experience, has the JD been accurate? They almost never are.

In the evolving world of Employee Experience, the job description is often the first interaction a prospective employee will have with the company.

Here are tips for crafting human-centered job descriptions:

Tell the truth, be forthcoming:

• Is the role really baked? Or was it thrown together?
• Similar to the aforementioned, is this role the combination of two roles? Hint: Most candidates can read through the lines. They know when this is true, so you might as well be forthcoming about it.
• How new is the organization / team / leader?
• What are the challenges this role is being hired to solve?
• Is the salary known and negotiable? If not displayed, why? Is it not competitive? If not, what other perks off-set a lower market salary?
• What do you expect of this candidate within the next 30, 60, and 90 days?
• What does success truly look like?
• What are the current pitfalls of employee engagement and experience? What are you doing to remediate those less-than-positive aspects?
• How is your company really ensuring that this candidate selection and interview process is diverse, inclusive, and equitable? Tell us more than the standard legal language – it matters.

Make it fun and relatable:

• Use animated, relatable language.
  • I enjoyed what Nike recently posted when they said, “The person won’t experience the same day twice! This servant-leader motivates teams and leads with cultural compassion to create success.” It is professional, compassionate, honest, and fun.
• Separate the need-to-haves versus nice-to-haves. What is truly a deal-breaker and what is not?
• Incorporate publicly facing reviews from Glassdoor – get playful, your candidates are looking at this information anyway. What’s working and not working? Tell your side of the story. What can they really expect?
• Make use of videos. This could be videos that amplify the brand, company values, or allow the candidate to meet the prospective team members / team leader.
• Make job titles creative and non-hierarchical.
  • That’s exactly what Chewy did with their “Time Ninja” job posting.
• Curate where your ideal candidate may receive the posting. For specific roles, don’t use blast postings.
  • In Summer 2017, Apple made headlines after a reporter stumbled on a secret job listing while analyzing iPhone data. This is a tactic some tech companies (like Google) will use to identify developers or engineers with specific skill sets needed for a particular job. Such a great tactic.
• Keep is short and simple. Less is always more.