Effective Job Description

Effective recruitment starts with outlining your job roles with a clear, effective job description. A well-written job description helps attract the right candidates and sets clear expectations for the role - setting your talent up for long-term success. These tips are provided by specialist recruiters who are experienced in creating quality job descriptions that attract the right talent for businesses looking to hire across the UK.

This article will provide step-by-step guidance on how to write a good job description and advice for improving your existing job specs – to help you improve your recruitment processes and talent strategy.

What to include in a job description: checklist

1. Create a job summary:

• Explain where the role is positioned within the business (for example, who this role reports to).
• Briefly describe your company and what makes it an exciting place to work, outline any potential for progression and promotion. 
• Highlight the main goals and impact of the role. This section sets the tone and helps potential candidates understand the importance of the position
  
  

2. Include a salary banding:  

• Providing a clear and competitive salary range attracts more applicants. This transparency helps manage candidate expectations from the start.
• Consider salary benchmarking to make sure the salary you are offering is competitive and attractive in the current climate. 
  
  

3. Outline the core responsibilities and tasks of the role:  

• Outline the primary responsibilities of the role, focus on core duties that are essential to the job.
  
  

4. Include the skills needed for the role.

• Try to keep this section concise and focused on the essential skills and qualifications required for the role.
• Here, you can include the hard skills, qualifications and relevant work experience needed for the role. Include specific software or programmes used by your organisation.
• Include soft skills and qualities needed to excel.
• You can also split this section into ‘Essential’ and ‘Desirable’.
  
  

5. Outline what sets your company apart: 

• Use this section to showcase the unique benefits and perks your company offers. Being specific about benefits can attract more candidates and set your job advert apart from others.
• Benchmark your employee benefits packages against the UK market with insights from our Employee Benefits Guide.
  
  
  

Why take a standardised approach?

It can be taken as a given that a role should have a detailed job description to provide information on the skills and responsibilities required. However, many businesses don't take a consistent approach across the business, with ad-hoc job descriptions written as and when required.

Creating various templates for roles at different levels can guide hiring managers and ensure consistency across the company.

Putting in place a standardised approach to creating and approving job specifications in your business will:

• Help improve your recruitment processes.
• Set clear expectations for your staff.
• Provide the building blocks for performance reviews.
• Assist in setting performance targets.
• Highlight areas to streamline your operations
  
  

Steps for creating job description templates

Start by creating a number of templates to cover the key roles at all levels of seniority, and use these as the base plate for future roles. Engage with all relevant stakeholders when creating the description – including line managers, HR, and other staff doing the same or a similar role.

Here are some steps to follow:

1. Identify Core Roles: Identify core roles across your business, across all levels of seniority.
2. Review Existing Roles: Review existing job specs for core roles - are they consistent?
3. Create a Standardised Template: Create a standardised template that all job descriptions should follow.
4. Update Existing Job Descriptions: Update existing job descriptions in line with the new template.
5. Write New Job Descriptions: Write descriptions for any core roles that you don’t already have.
6. Use Job Description Template: Use the templates for any future roles and make them available to anyone involved in the recruitment process.

Involving all relevant stakeholders, such as hiring managers, HR, benefits teams, line managers, and employees currently in similar roles, is essential in determining the criteria for job descriptions. This collaborative approach ensures that job descriptions are accurate and consistent across the business and accurately reflect the requirements and expectations of each role.  

With this approach, you can ensure clarity and uniformity, which ultimately supports your internal recruitment and helps you find the best candidates for your business.

By following this guidance, you can write clear job descriptions that will engage the best talent, provide clarity for existing employees and ultimately improve your overall talent strategy. For support on reaching and retaining the best talent, browse our recruitment services or get in touch to discuss a bespoke talent solution.

.