Are you writing a job ad or a ransom note?
Pretty much every article about recruitment advertising I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot) is undermined by its ignorance of what a job description’s purpose really is.
And for the avoidance of doubt, in the hands of a recruiter, a job description’s purpose is to inform a candidate about the scope of a job.
The use of the word ‘candidate’ in that last sentence is deliberate because it means the person has invested in exploring the job more seriously.
And that’s probably because someone (or something) has persuaded them that it might be in their best interests. That’s fundamentally how people become candidates.
A job description does nothing to convert someone from reader to candidate.
People who don’t need another job (but might want a better one) have no need (or desire) to read a job description. Why would they? Would you?
Even active job seekers don’t really want to read a job description until they know they might have a chance of an interview.
Recruiters are posting boring, company-centric job posts (aka job descriptions) that only unemployed or desperate people might read – and in the same breath are constantly talking about hiring “top talent”. Seriously, what the fuck is that all about?
It doesn’t matter how well (or carefully) written a job posting is if it only talks about the hiring company and what they want. And that’s what a job description is – a long detailed document laying out what the company wants the candidate to do for them.
There is no nice way to write a ransom note.
If you would like more thoughts and musings on recruitment, you might want to download Mitch’s free book “On Recruitment”.
