How to write a great job post
You have to write a fantastic job post, no matter if you are looking for someone for the short-term or the long-term. If you need someone urgently or you can dedicate time to go through a longer hiring process – none of this matters, you still have to write a fantastic job post.
What is the goal of a job post?
First, of course, you need the job post to attract the best of talent. However, you also want to minimize clutter: you don’t want to waste your time on highly speculative applicants. You need someone who fits your ideal candidate description.
The hiring process can be intensely long, and even if you are looking for a short-term jump-in candidate, you need to make sure you save time from the very beginning: your job post. Your job post is also a marketing platform for your business, and here you can openly share anything relevant to your company, your long-term goals, your values, and basically anything that helps others to understand your business.
What makes a job post impressive? In a nutshell: transparency, details, and vision. In short: being transparent on what needs to be done, whom you are looking for and what you can provide for the ideal candidate.
In your job post, be as transparent as you can. It’s the internet, and candidates don’t have the option to walk into your office and check your way of work – so you have to be upfront and overshare. Provide enough details about your business, the job requirements, your expectations, and the compensation – in this order.
Being transparent about your business is crucial. The more you share, the more likely you will find someone who’s a cultural fit for your business. If you don’t provide enough information, you will raise the number of speculative applicants, and they will suck away your time. Tell them about your current team and where is the gap you are looking to fill now.
Be prompt and provide details on the required skills and capabilities on your side. Be detailed on what your expectations are, and let these out so candidates who read your job spec will feel like they were called out from the crowd. Be very transparent on the compensation as well, and I’m not just talking about salary and money. Please make it clear that there’s a long-term plan here and they have the option to work with you and make an impact on your business.
If you can, be transparent about how the hiring process will look like: the number of rounds, possible test work, and pre-screening. Also, please skip the jargon and the bullshit, and be humble and straightforward. There are no growth gurus, marketing ninjas, code junkies, and dev wizards. Some terms might be justified like “happiness engineers” for customer service people, but these are rarely acceptable.
Your job posts shouldn’t be too long though and make sure you stick the how-to-hire part only at the end with a bonus “what to write in the email subject” that can help too – that makes sure they’ve read the article till the end. You have committed your time to write this post, don’t shy away to ask for a commitment in return from applicants.
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