Career Guide Tips

Writing effective job descriptions usually entails writing strong keywords. You want to write strong keywords so that candidates can find your job advert through a search on a job board and so that search engines can find your posting and index it in search results.

First when you begin your job posting, always write them from scratch. Don’t simply copy and paste an old job description into a job board. Every job is different. Spend some time with the people who have worked this job or know the most about this job. Ask lots of questions, take good notes, and then you are ready to write the job. Start with the title of the job – don’t use numbers. If you use numbers in the title, search engines will not read the “description” and won’t include it.

After you have written the job title, you’ll want to write a summary about your company. If you already have one prepared from marketing, you can use this. Focus on the salient points and include only the strongest. If your company is a trusted business that has been around for decades, you’ll want to include this, because it implies security for the workers. If you are a king when it comes to hiring diverse candidates, you’ll definitely want to include this as well.

As often as you can in your job description, you will want to bring up diversity. Encouraging diverse candidates to apply and hiring them ensures you have a rich, multitalented workforce that accurately represents the population.

Next you can focus on the job description and the keywords. This is the most important part, because without these your job won’t be seen by anyone. Don’t be too wordy or long-winded on the company, because you’ll want to focus your efforts on describing the job. Include the title you are searching for several times in the posting.

For example, if you are looking for an executive assistant, you’ll need to put this in the advertisement several times. Also include lots of keyword-rich phrases that describe an executive assistant: three years’ experience managing calendars, scheduling, and creating complex PowerPoint presentations. That way anyone doing a Google search for these phrases will come across your posting. Make sure the text is simple with a user-friendly job description.

This is the most important aspect of optimization, and this is where you’ll get the most bang for your buck. If you are posting on a job search engine like Indeed or Simply Hired, you can pay to have your posting featured, which increases exposure even more.

When writing the job description, include the most important aspects of the job. Try to put pen to paper about what “a day in the life of” can be like. Imagine you are the person holding that job title. Will they be working in a team? Is there a lot of computer programming involved? All of these questions should be considered.

You’ll also want to include the perks of the job. Free gourmet coffee in the break room, flexible telecommuting options, Fridays off during the summer, free lunches, great benefits – all of these are examples of company perks. Include the 401K info if applicable and anything else that might grab the applicant’s attention.

By Reshav Singhal