What makes a successful job description? There are 5 key components of a job description to include: company summary, job description, responsibilities, requirements, and benefits.
If it’s your first time hiring for a small business, you may be inclined to hire someone who will be your friend. I’ve read job descriptions about being best friends, snuggling with puppies, working in pajamas, and eating pizza. Similarly, I’ve read descriptions from tech startups who promote happy hours, free snacks, and game tables as benefits to entice applicants.
Fun benefits don’t matter if you have a poor company culture and don’t nurture their growth. The job description you create sets the tone for your company culture and standard for work performance.
It is our responsibility as leaders to set our team up for success. To help them grow so they can take on additional responsibility and advance to the next level in their career. Set your team up for success by writing thorough and professional job descriptions.
Summary of Company
What is your company foundation? Summarize your vision, mission, and values. What does it look like to live the values in your company? Sharing this information provides insight into the company culture to attract candidates with similar values. Candidates who believe in your vision and will help achieve the mission.
Summary of Job Description
Describe the characteristics of the ideal candidate and a summary of their role. What type of candidate will best excel in this role? Are they creative or analytical? Does this require multi-tasking or extreme focus? Will they work remotely or in the office? Who do they report to? Are they responsible for anyone else? What relationships are critical for success in their role both internally and externally? What does success look like in this role at 30-days, 90-days, 6-months, 1-year?
List of Responsibilities
What will the candidate be responsible for should they be hired? This list is NOT all-inclusive but should give a general overview of their primary responsibilities. These responsibilities are core to their performance evaluations. This list allows candidates to know if this position is a good fit for them. Are the tasks listed here something they can and want to excel at? What tech stack will they use in their role? The detail you provide helps set the future team member up for success.
List of Requirements
List the skills, experience, and traits of the ideal candidate. Skills and experience are tangible items that can easily be identified and required of all candidates you choose to interview. How many years of experience do they need in customer service? What skill level do they need when using Google Suite or another platform?Traits (ex: creative, empathetic, problem-solver) align with values. Traits tend to be subjective when evaluated. You may identify these with questions during the interview process.
Tell me about a time when you were responsible for leading a project and you encountered a challenge. Describe the situation. How did you respond to the challenge? What was the outcome? What was the feedback?
Summary of Benefits
You are competing against other companies for the best talent. Why should they come work for you? What is in it for the candidate? Hiring is a two-way street. You are selling your company and position as much as the candidate is selling their services. I often recommend to clients to include a starting pay rate after completing market research on the role. This allows candidates to quickly filter themselves in or out based on their compensation needs. Most importantly don’t underpay talent. If you’re stingy in compensation you’ll get mediocre work at best. Pay people their worth and give them monetary milestones (bonuses, promotions) to strive for with their work.
Melissa Kay Jones 