I’d love it if you used Ongig’s Text Analyzer software for writing job descriptions. But it’s not free and I understand we might be beyond your budget.
So, in the meantime, here are 5 free “hacks” (tools) for you to write more effective job descriptions.
Note: For more tips on writing job descriptions, check out How to Write a Job Description — Best Practices & Examples.
Writing Job Descriptions Free Hack #1: Word Count
Optimizing the word count for your job descriptions is something you can do for free. Most of us job description writing nerds have learned that word counts in the 275 to 700 range is a best practice.
You don’t need enterprise job description software to count the words.
These free (or common) tools you already use give you word counts:
- Google Docs
- WordPress
- Microsoft Word
For Google Docs and Microsoft Word, just go to the Tools/Word Count in the menu.
For WordPress, you can find word count a bit below the content you write.
Writing Job Descriptions Free Hack #2: Sentence Length
Shortening your sentence length is another way to write better job descriptions.
The best practice is to keep your sentences less than 13 words or 20 characters.
Free tools to measure your sentence length include:
Writing Job Descriptions Free Hack #3: SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) is another key way to help with writing job descriptions.
Free tools here require you to take a one-two punch:
- Keyword Tool — First, you’re going to want to do an SEO keyword check to see what you want to use for your job title. For this, I recommend the SEOBook Keyword Tool. You simply go in and type in the job title you have in mind and you’ll see estimates of how many candidates search Google and Bing for that job title. This tool is free but requires you to register. I’ve been a member for many years and trust this site.
- Keyword Density Tool — Once you pick your title, you’re going to want to use a tool that gives you the keyword density of your job description. You simply paste your job description into a tool like WordCounter and then check out the “keyword density” section to see which words in your job description appear most often.
You’ll have to play around a lot with this SEO stuff, but it’s an eye-opener. For example, the term “account executive” gets searched on 6,000 times per month versus “sales rep” which gets searched on 1,444.
It takes some time, but it’s free!
Writing Job Descriptions Free Hack #4: Average Grade Reading Level
If you read my article called Why I Write my Job Postings at the 8th Grade Reading Level (or Lower!), then you know all about this next free tip.
Average Grade Level is the grade level (using U.S. education system) at which your job description is written. The best content in the world (in books, magazines, newspapers and job descriptions!) reads at the 8th grade level or lower.
It’s counter-intuitive.
You want to write at a very low grade level because busy candidates would rather read an Apple Ad (4th grade level) than an academic paper about chess (12th grade level).
2 free tools that help you measure your grade level are:
Writing Job Descriptions Free Hack #5: Gender Bias
If you a free way to see if your job descriptions are gender-biased, then check our Gender Decoder.
It lets you copy and paste your job description into a box and will tell you which words are masculine versus feminine-coded.
And if you have budget for writing better job descriptions, check out The Top 6 Augmented Writing Tools for Job Descriptions.
Why I wrote this?
I am passionate about turning boring job descriptions into attractive job ads. That’s why the Ongig team and I built Text Analyzer.
Text Analyzer is best if you’re hiring high volume (at least 100+ people per year). In that case you need an industrial strength way of writing job descriptions.
Free tools like the ones above are a great way to help you improve one job description at a time. If you have high-volume job postings to rewrite, please try Text Analyzer out…just click the Request Demo button!
