Job Description Marketing
December 9th, 2008Probably a couple of times a month I get a job description or two across my email, to forward to friends, field interest etc.
I always have a flick through and to be honest I don’t think they ever put enough effort into a job description.
A job description should communicate a story;
- This is the story we want the employee to make happen in our organisation
- The story as to why you should work for us
- A story about the ideal candidate
Honestly if you have an uninspiring job description with mediocre (more often than not) copied/pasted descriptions your going to get average employees.
Few start ups have videos, showing the team, where you’d work, what you’re expected to do, sure I bet the results are lower but the quality would be much much higher. That’s a story that will be perfect for one employee.
So if your looking to bring someone on board, remember its as much a marketing decision as a culture, strategy and organsiational one.
Have you ever been put off a job just by the description?
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Tags: cvs, job description, jobs, marketing, telling a story
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 10:20 pm. 
December 9th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I’ve been put off quite a few times… I’ll often see a job ad and think ‘hey that could be a cool company to work for’, then I read the description and I’m feeling bored before I even finish!
December 9th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
That’s because job descriptions are unimportant to good employees and employers. Good employees write their own and good employers let them.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
its even worse when you read the job description and think WOW thats sound awesome, get in and it is nothing like they said it would be!
December 10th, 2008 at 4:11 am
The problem with most jobs is you probably wouldn’t want it if you saw how it really was! However, I agree that job descriptions are very unimaginative. How do they expect they’ll hire someone interesting that way?
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
It kind of struck a chord to me that they are all plain, boring, 3-4 page document.
Why not a powerpoint? a video? or a podcast? or if it has to be written, why not limit to 1 page and bullet points.
Some may complain about ROI, well what’s the ROI of a star employee vs a standard one?
@Robbie @ Sam @Nathaniel It really highlights that it is a marketing & communications issue.
@Steven This is true, but it’s a mechanism to gain extra valuable employees.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I admire the enthusiasm for using a JD as a mechanism to gain extra valuable employees, but it’s not in the top five things you should REALLY be doing if you’re serious about getting top talent. It goes the same for candidates, you shouldn’t be judging jobs on a JD. There is a much better criteria you can use.