If you need to create a job description, we’d prefer you use Ongig and have yourself a next-gen “social job description.”
But if it is absolutely necessary for you to write a job description through some other means, please try to avoid making these 3 mistakes.
1) A Robotic-Looking URL
The URL for a job description needs to be in as plain english as possible — this helps make it easy for Google and other search engines to easily read it.
You’ll notice that Ongig puts the name of the employer, title and location in each of our job descriptions.
e.g. http://ongig.com/jobs/Deloitte/Java-Developer–Deloitte–Arlington-VA (for Deloitte’s Java Developer opportunity in Arlington).
This has the added benefit of appearing more human to job searchers.
2) Crappy Social Sharing
Many recruiters & HR pros are jumping on the bandwagon of putting social share buttons (i.e. a Facebook Like button) on their job descriptions. This is all well and good, however if it has zero Likes on it, it’s probably not good for business.
We look at job descriptions all day long and we find that most of them (outside Ongig) have zero Likes. The main reason for this is that job descriptions are ugly-design-wise consisting of mostly text and that text is often mostly copy-and-paste info from some previous job req.
Note: Some job descriptions created through Ongig have received dozens of Likes and many hundreds of visits from those Likes! (see last week’s Exclusive Stats: Facebook Likes & Their Impact On Job Posting Traffic).
So, if you’re going to use a Facebook Like button to recruit, then we recommend you make your job description more awesome-looking (think visuals and news feeds).
If your job has any visual at all, by the way, when you share it on Facebook or LinkedIn then the visual will appear as a thumbnail in the FB or LI newsfeed — that will make it more attractive to share.
3) No Mention Of The Team
Finally, we are amazed at how many job postings do not mention the following:
- The name or title of the person the candidate would directly report to
- A description of the team they would work directly on
- The names of other departments they would work with
In fact, some job ads (like the “pet food company” above) do not mention the name of the employer. And if they are posted on Craigslist then the default is that their email address is hidden, further adding to the secrecy of this bland looking job opportunity.
Why the secrecy!?
Secrecy is cool if you’re Apple…not if you’re a dull-looking pet food biz.
Any good job candidate wants to know as much as possible about the people and company they’d work with. So tell them!
The vast majority of job descriptions have one or more of these flaws (see 5 Reasons Why Job Postings Are Dead).
…so, if you can avoid the 3 mistakes above, your job posting will be better than most. For tips on writing job descriptions, check out How to Write a Job Description — Best Practices & Examples.
