3. Have an engaging job description that shows what’s on offer
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Describe your ideal candidate in detail
One of the most important ways of recruiting employees for your business, is to have an accurate, detailed and attractive job description.
A job description is the first insight a candidate will have into your role and company life, so it’s crucial you’re using this to your full advantage.
In order to attract the right calibre of candidates to your vacancy, make sure to list the job responsibilities and requirements in as much detail.
This will help a candidate decide if they are qualified for the position, and if it’s a position which they would like to hold.
List any required qualifications, number of years experience, specific software proficiency and what a day-to-day in this role involves.
Giving prospective candidates an in-depth view of the role and who is suitable to apply to the position, will help qualified and capable candidates to apply; saving you time and resources in your recruitment process.
One of the many ways we can help find top talent for your business, is by writing a standout job description that is optimised to target the specific candidates you’re looking to hire and promotes your role and company in the best way.
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Excite candidates about your role and list what they will gain from it
Another crucial element of a successful job description and one of the best ways to recruit top talent, is to include all the employee benefits of the job, list tangible reasons why a candidate should apply to your role over others.
A recent survey we conducted with graduates highlighted that graduates rank career progression and training opportunities higher than starting salary.
Listing the starting salary as the only benefit of your role, isn’t going to help you recruit the best talent and attract candidates who are looking for opportunities to progress in their career and grow with a company.
To build a strong employee value proposition, include a ‘Benefits of the job’ section in your job description, and include the range of career incentives on offer to candidates.
You want to excite candidates about your opportunity and see them determined to secure your role.
Here are some of the top employee incentives to include:
- A competitive starting salary – Make sure your starting salaries are all competitive and within the industry average. If you’re unsure what starting salary to list for your role, visit our graduate employment statistics archive for the average salaries for a range of industries. In your salary details be sure to also include an additional incentives such as bonuses, commission and the OTE.
- Training opportunities – Can you offer candidates the opportunity to take part in any courses? Do you offer any internal training? Will candidates gain qualifications? Today’s graduates are looking for opportunities where they can develop their skillset and progress in their career. So if you’re not currently offering any training programmes and your budget permits, consider offering this.
- Benefit packages – Be sure to also include any other types of benefits on offer, from flexible working patterns, early finishes, well-being packages, holiday allowance, pension schemes and volunteering opportunities.
- Work environment and company culture – Giving candidates an insight into your company culture is key to hiring the right candidate. Whilst a candidate may have all the necessary skills and qualifications for your role, if they won’t enjoy or thrive in your company and its ways of working, this could result in premature departures. Describe the environment of your company, is it collaborative, how do teams interact? Are there regular team socials and events? This is a great way to promote your opportunity, but also to let candidates decide if it’s an environment suited to them.
- Any other exciting aspects of the role – Mention any projects candidates will work on and autonomous working opportunities. Many candidates are looking for roles where they can take responsibility and manage a project, so be sure to mention if this is an option with your role. For example if you’re hiring for a PR role, mention if the candidate will be on any exciting client accounts, or if you’re recruiting technology jobs, mention any software candidates will be using and projects they will be working on.
For further advice on recruiting candidates, visit our blog for more ways to write a job description that will attract the best candidates. Hiring an Account Manager? We’ve also put together a complete guide to writing a Sales Account Manager job description.