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The Importance of Writing a Great Job Description
In a previous post around how we strategically approach early-stage hiring, we discussed several different ways we partner with our portfolio companies to take recruiting lift off their shoulders. Writing and refining job descriptions is a frequent ask from our founders and, oftentimes, seen as a sort of a necessary evil.
Why? Take your pick. From conversations with founders, the pushback I’ve heard around JDs are that they’re mostly ineffective with regards to finding top talent, they’re time consuming to write, they don’t fully encapsulate the day-to-day of the job, they don’t provide insight into the organization, they box people in, people won’t apply if they don’t check all the boxes, etc.
However, writing a job description is an important part of the interview process not only because they’re often the first place where a company can make an impression with a prospective candidate but also because it helps founders and hiring managers formulate an idea of the competencies they’re looking to complement the current team. The process of putting ideas on paper around the requirements of the role is beneficial for calibration and having referenceable criteria when evaluating prospective candidates - this can double as a hiring rubric/interview template if you’re thorough enough.
Likewise, because this is often the first impression candidates have of your company, we want to make it a great one! There are plenty of “good” job descriptions out there - they’ll list the title, skillset, experience needed, some benefits, etc - but fewer “great” job descriptions. And we’ll discuss the difference between the two below.
The key takeaway is that, even in a down market where there are plenty of candidates looking for new opportunities, you still need to stand out. You want candidates reading your job description and thinking: “I can totally see myself working with that team” and not leaving too much room for ambiguity. You want candidates to want to work with you and use your product - even if they don’t ultimately end up as an employee. Simply put, a great job description should inspire.
Good v. Great Job Descriptions
A good job description provides candidates with a basic understanding of the responsibilities, qualifications, and expectations for the position. This is what you see in the vast majority of JDs, especially those at larger/more established companies where they can rely on their brand, and they serve their purpose - as ways to farm resumes and gather swathes of applicants.
A great job description provides candidates with a more comprehensive and engaging overview of the company, position, and what to expect and is akin to a brand marketing campaign. This job description from Whatnot is a particularly great job description - not only does it explain what the company is accomplishing, their mission, and the opportunity size, but it also dives deeper into what type of person would thrive at the company, identifies a plethora of benefits (something most companies completely neglect to do), and uses their criteria to explain the why of what this person will be doing at the company.
And while the Whatnot JD provides a great rubric for what information to include, your job description need not be as long to get the important information across. One of our portfolio companies, Daylight, has written one of the strongest, succinct job descriptions I’ve seen - notable because it includes the hiring process in the JD (which is rarely seen). Including just that tidbit allows folks to already mentally prepare for the process and can ease a lot of anxiety - I’d highly recommend including something similar in your own JDs.
Anatomy of a Job Description
What key things should you include in a job description? There’s the bare minimum you can include to create a good job description and a little bit of extra effort to put in to make a great job description.
Assume that this is the first thing a candidate has ever seen about your company and try not to be too ambiguous. Nate Koloc, CEO of ReWork, has written the “Ultimate Checklist” for a job description here that’s a solid jumping off point for writing a job description, which includes highlighting information about your company, an overview of the role, the day-to-day job responsibilities, the ideal candidate profile, compensation information, and application instructions. And he adds some tips in there for how to make it look “great”.
I like using the “good v. great” approach because, while a good job description may suffice, a great job description saves you work and potential ambiguity down the line.
What are some of the differences between a “good” job description and a “great” job description? I’ve outlined it in the table below. You can see from the Whatnot description listed above where they go one step beyond and move from ‘good’ to ‘great’:
Importance of Job Descriptions
All said, are job descriptions ultimately important? It depends.
For your super niche web3-native smart contract developer, it’s not likely (though not impossible!) that folks will be applying to the position. But what it does do is create awareness that you’re hiring and provides something tangible people can pass along to friends, groups, etc. to create more buzz around the company. Awareness for your company is a nice by-product of writing a great job description.
The argument against job descriptions? A three-year study from datapeople.io found that while 80% of applicants came from job boards/active job postings, less than 50% of tech hires came as a result of that (and referrals were 9x more likely to be hired than applicants from any other source).
Likewise, even the non-tech sector shows similar data. The graph below from careerplug shows the data they’ve compiled across all non-tech industries where, while 76% of applicants come from some form of job posting, only 60% of hiring is via active applicants. So while it’s important to have something referenceable, and it can be a decent source of pipeline, it’s not a cure-all for hiring woes and that pipeline may not meet the hiring bar you’ve set.
Regardless of results and whether you’re making a successful hire directly from the job posting, I’d argue that the process of writing a great job description forces the team to think critically around how they want to map the person they’re bringing in to business needs, which is a win in itself. A cliche job description acting as a catch-all bucket for candidates may suffice, but a great, targeted job description that provides clarity, sets expectations, and effectively communicates the value of the role ensures that all employees are on the same page with and creates excitement and enthusiasm among the community/candidate pool.
Future of Job Descriptions
In the last few weeks I’ve been pitched and have seen quite a few decks for “AI generated job description platforms” and, in theory, I like the idea of this. When in doubt, ChatGPT can provide a JD in a couple of seconds and I understand how much time can be saved by having AI-powered job description writers. One platform I saw claims that they can provide “AI-powered candidate replies” and an “interview question generator”, which also seems quite useful.
After some quick demos with these , the conclusion I’ve come to with these platforms is that they generate the most generic, dry job descriptions that don’t necessarily add any value beyond getting a posting up. While AI is helpful at high volume, low EQ work, the work that goes into writing a job description (and recruiting in general) is going to be more high-touch, high EQ1 . These AI-generated job description platforms may help drive applicants, but I don’t believe they’ll move the needle on making the applicant feel more confident that they understand what the company is doing nor do anything to improve candidate experience - which starts from the first time a candidate sees your advertisement for a role.
Footnotes: