Most job descriptions today still read like corporate boilerplate—legalistic, jargon-heavy, and devoid of personality. The problem? That outdated content is costing companies millions.
A poorly written JD won’t just lead to fewer applicants—it actively deters the top candidates you want most. In today’s hiring landscape, where speed, clarity, and candidate experience matter more than ever, a stale job description can mean losing out on high-impact hires.
If your team wants to stay competitive, modernizing your job descriptions is no longer optional.
The pressure is building. Today’s top candidates expect job content that is clear, transparent, and inclusive. Meanwhile, companies face growing demands for pay transparency, skills-based hiring, and a consumer-grade candidate experience. Yet, too many organizations still rely on outdated, copy-and-paste job descriptions that actively undermine their hiring efforts.
Host Heather Fenty chats with Rob Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ongig, to unpack this issue in this episode of The JD Fix podcast. We explored why job descriptions are often stuck in the past, how much they truly cost businesses, and how the smart use of AI can help teams finally break through.
The $30 Million Hire: How Bad JDs Undermine Your ROI
Rob opened our conversation with a story that shaped his thinking about hiring.
Years ago, he attended a rare joint appearance by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. During the Q&A, Rob asked for their advice for entrepreneurs. Steve Jobs’ answer was simple, yet powerful:
“Be a great talent scout.”
That insight led Rob to develop what he now calls “The 80/20 of Hiring Superstars.” Here’s what he found:
- Just 1 out of every 100 hires can deliver up to $30 million in value to your business.
- The next three top performers could each contribute $1.9 million in value.
In other words, a few exceptional hires can drive the lion’s share of your company’s success. But if your job description fails to attract those candidates, or worse, turns them away, you’re not just missing out on applicants, you’re potentially forfeiting millions in future impact. As Rob put it:
“When you’re hiring a superstar, you’re making the biggest transaction of your life—and your JD needs to reflect that.”
That’s why modern job descriptions are no longer a “nice to have.” They are strategic assets that directly influence hiring ROI.
Why Most JDs Are Still Broken
Despite their importance, many job descriptions remain a neglected part of the recruiting methodology. For years, many organizations have treated JDs as internal HR documents—legal forms to check off a box, rather than strategic tools for attracting top talent.
Rob sees several recurring pitfalls across companies:
- “Sloppy-and-paste” content
Too often, teams copy job content directly from internal systems, such as ATS databases, legal documents, or outdated postings. Rob calls this practice “sloppy-and-paste”:
The result? JDs are filled with jargon, robotic language, and irrelevant details that bore or confuse candidates. Candidates today expect transparent, human-sounding job ads. When your JD reads like a policy manual, it creates immediate disengagement.
- Inconsistencies in tone and structure
Even within a single career page, job descriptions often lack consistency. Rob regularly sees variations in:
- Header structure
- Tone of voice
- Formatting and layout
This inconsistency creates a fragmented employer brand and signals to candidates that your hiring process may be disorganized or unclear about what it wants.
- Missing key information
In today’s market, top candidates expect transparency. Yet many JDs still omit critical details like:
- Salary ranges
- Benefits packages
- Work flexibility options (remote, hybrid, on-site expectations)
Candidates don’t have time to play guessing games. Research says:
- 60% of job seekers abandon applications because the process is too complex or unclear.
- 70% will drop off if the experience feels clunky or hard to navigate.
- Misaligned or vague job descriptions are among the top reasons candidates withdraw from the process mid-way.
When these elements are missing, A-players who value clarity and efficiency are likely to ignore the job posting and move on to the next.
When your JD is broken, you’re not just missing applicants—you’re missing the best applicants. You’re forcing recruiters to compensate by manually clarifying roles, which drives up the cost-per-hire and time-to-fill as a result.
The Power of Cleansing: First Step to Better Job Content
How can companies fix broken JDs? Rob advocates starting with “cleansing.”
Cleansing is the deep cleaning of your job content, going beyond proofreading or compliance checks. It’s about making your job descriptions work harder for both candidates and recruiters.
Why is cleansing so important? Because recruiters today can’t afford to waste time on bad JDs:
- Top talent moves quickly: if your job description is confusing or incomplete, candidates drop out before you can engage them.
- Poor JDs force recruiters to compensate manually: clarifying details, re-explaining role expectations, or fielding unnecessary candidate questions.
- Inconsistent job descriptions (JDs) hurt your employer brand, as they can lead to lower-quality pipelines and higher cost-per-hire.
JD cleansing tackles four key areas:
- Formatting – Consistent headers, layouts, and visual structure
- Tone – Clear, candidate-friendly language (avoiding jargon or legalese)
- Inclusivity – Removing bias, gendered terms, or language that could alienate diverse candidates
- Completeness – Ensuring all critical info (salary, benefits, flexibility) is present and clear
Rob shared two compelling examples of cleansing in action:
Case 1: Fortune 20 Company Competing with Tesla and Meta
This major enterprise needed to attract engineering talent in a highly competitive space. Working with Ongig, they cleansed their JDs by:
- Standardizing header structures
- Shifting to first-person/second-person voice for stronger engagement
- Adding team-specific context to convey impact and culture
Result: More polished, engaging postings and stronger pipelines for hard-to-fill roles.
Case 2: Insurance Company Driving Gender Diversity
An insurance firm wanted to increase gender diversity, particularly in tech roles. Their original JDs contained subtle male-coded language and lacked details on family-friendly benefits.
Through cleansing, Ongig helped them:
- Remove biased phrasing
- Add benefits like parental leave and flexible work options
- Adjust tone to appeal to a broader audience
Result: Increased applications from women and a more diverse candidate pool overall.
Cleansing is the essential first step to creating job content that resonates with today’s candidates—and drives measurable hiring impact.
Cleansing also gives recruiters back valuable time. Instead of chasing down hiring managers for clarifications or fielding repeated candidate questions, they can focus on higher-value tasks such as sourcing, nurturing relationships, and closing top talent.
Companies that invest in JD optimization typically see improvements in time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and candidate quality, all of which are essential factors for a successful hire.
How AI Can Help—or Hurt—Your Job Descriptions
AI tools are transforming content creation, and job descriptions are no exception.
Nearly two-thirds of HR professionals are using AI to assist in generating job descriptions, while another 40% are leveraging it to customize their job postings further to attract target groups more effectively. 88% said it saves them time and/or increases their efficiency.
But as Rob warned on the podcast:
“If your JD is already bad, AI just helps you write a bad job description faster.”
Many companies are rushing to apply AI to JD writing without addressing underlying content issues. If you feed sloppy or outdated inputs into AI, you’ll simply get polished-looking bad outputs, which can harm your hiring brand even faster.
How Ongig uses AI the right way
At Ongig, AI is used as an assistant, not a replacement, for human editors. Their approach:
- AI flags issues—inconsistencies, bias, missing info, formatting gaps
- Human editors review—final content is always vetted for tone, culture alignment, and accuracy
As Rob cautioned:
“If AI writes a bad job description faster, that’s not progress. You still need a human to steer the ship.”
This hybrid model ensures that AI enhances speed and efficiency without sacrificing quality.
Why human oversight still matters
AI can’t fully grasp team culture nuances, subtle shifts in brand voice, or context about your business priorities or role expectations.
That’s why human oversight remains critical in any AI-powered job description preparation. Teams that strike this balance will scale high-quality job content, without falling into the “faster bad JD” trap.
Without thoughtful human input, AI tools can also introduce subtle biases or inaccuracies, especially when trained on legacy data that reflects outdated job content or systemic inequities. This can unintentionally reinforce exclusionary patterns, rather than helping to diversify talent pipelines.
One Action to Take This Year
If you do just one thing to improve your job descriptions this year, Rob recommends this:
“Book a free call with Ongig. Show us your current process. Tell us how you’re using AI. We’ll give you honest advice—no strings attached.”
Even if you’re not an Ongig customer, a quick audit can help your team:
- Identify risks in current JD workflows
- Get strategic recommendations for improvement
- Future-proof your approach as hiring evolves
In today’s talent market, proactive talent acquisition leaders are modernizing their job description systems to stay competitive and future-proof their role in an AI-driven hiring landscape.
Don’t wait until poor JDs cost your company millions in missed talent.
Why I wrote this
Modernizing your job descriptions is not something you put on the recruitment back burner. It’s a strategic priority for attracting and retaining top talent.
Broken job descriptions drive away the best candidates, hurt employer branding, and can cost huge companies a fortune in unrealized business impact. However, with thoughtful AI usage and smart cleansing, hiring teams can transform their job content into a competitive advantage.
Now is the time to take action. Modernize your job descriptions to attract top talent, build a more inclusive hiring process, and future-proof your team. Tools like Ongig can help. Schedule a demo to get started.
Shout-outs:
- From Broken to Brilliant – The Evolution of Job Descriptions – The JD Fix: Quick Fixes, Smarter JDs. Better Hiring
- Study: Most Job Seekers Abandon Online Job Applications – SHRM
- 2024 Talent Trends: Artificial Intelligence in HR – SHRM
