Target Top Talent by Making These 4 Tweaks to Your Job Descriptions

If your organization is finding it difficult to locate and retain best-fit talent, you can do your company a massive favor by making smart tweaks to the descriptions in your future job postings.

Unfortunately, quite a few companies have a tendency to mess up their hiring approach by using job descriptions that attract poor-fit candidates. Clear, compelling, and relevant job descriptions go a long way to hiring the best talent in the labor market

Below are a few tips for how you can write better job postings and raise the retention rate of your company.

1. Use Keywords

The initial step plenty of people take in seeking a new job is using keywords in Google or job board search. If your job posting doesn’t use keywords, it will be much harder for job seekers to find using their favorite search tools, and as a consequence, you’ll get far fewer people knocking on your door.

Each job has associated key phrases and job titles related to specific skills and responsibilities. Make sure you include specific words and phrases for they can be easily found by a search engine.

2. Target Ideal Future Employees

It may sound a bit odd, but a good exercise before writing a job description is to envision the ideal candidate. Start by researching all critical qualities for the job, including soft skills like leadership or problem-solving. Then write out the ones most strongly associated with the ideal candidate. Be sensible and write a set of requirements that only an elite few people possess. Focus on three or four things you think the best candidates will possess.

3. Avoid Falling into Groupthink

Steer clear of overused terms and the usual expressions are seen in many other descriptions. Avoid cliches, like seeking “a motivated self-starter” – as this lack of imagination will turn off applicants.

Take a look at job postings for positions similar to the one you’re trying to fill and look for opportunities to differentiate your own posting. Prior to posting your description, read it and ask yourself if it describes a situation in which you would want to work. If it sounds regimented or boring, top candidates will be more likely to ignore it.

4. Make it Mobile Friendly

A recent Glassdoor survey found 9 out of 10 people looking for work do so on a mobile device. If you don’t keep this in mind, you’ll run the risk of frustrating potential applicants, possibly to the point that they move on to another posting.

Optimize your descriptions for mobile by keeping them short and to the point. Break big blocks of text into small digestible bits, using bullet points where it makes sense.

We Can Help Your Company Find the Best Talent Out There

At Career Concepts, we’re dedicated to helping our clients find the best possible fits for their open positions. Please contact us today to find out how we can do the same for your organization.