Why Your Job Descriptions Are Hurting You
Job descriptions are the first thing a potential employee will read when looking to apply for a role at your company; therefore, they are essential to master. It is vital to write a good job description if you want to attract the perfect candidate. Most job descriptions are too broad and overly detailed, resulting in a loss of the main points of the role. These lengthy job postings may prevent many candidates from wanting to apply, since they may feel they are not fit for the role, meaning a smaller candidate pool to choose from.

Shorter job posts get more applications. A LinkedIn study found that candidates are more likely to apply for job posts that contain short content, up to 300 words.

Shorter job posts (1-300 words) had significantly higher-than-average apply rates per view (the number of applications the job post got divided by the number of views).
Keeping things concise helps candidates immediately get the info they need to apply—and since more than 50% of job views on LinkedIn are on mobile devices, shorter descriptions are literally a better fit for modern candidates.
These short posts got candidates to apply 8.4% more than average, while medium job posts (301-600 words) performed 3.4% below average and long job posts (601+ words) did only 1% better than average. Via LinkedIn.
See Related Article: Less is more.
Evolve your job descriptions to be less overwhelming and meet realistic position expectations. Attempt to narrow all your job requirements to the top three mandatory requirements. From there, work in the following nonnegotiable requirements and experiment with condensing. Instead of listing 20 bullet points, expand on your company culture and what a full day of work may be like.
A job description that does not state too many requirements increases the number of candidates fit to apply—therefore, you will have a broad selection of potential candidates to choose from. There are really two or three main requirements in most roles, if the candidate meets the core 3 – everything else can generally be taught or expanded. Think about this when writing your next job description. Ask yourself: “Why are people going to be excited about this job?”
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