During the tech recruiting process, most recruiters focus on the interview and technical evaluation phases. However, many people place less emphasis on improving job descriptions. Job descriptions may appear straightforward, yet they may be exceedingly difficult to get properly.
While job descriptions might help you find the ideal employee, they can also disrupt the recruitment process and negatively affect the organization. This is because everything is heavily dependent on the job description, from the type of individuals that will apply to how long it will take to conclude a candidacy.
As a result, job descriptions should be considered seriously.
Why Are Job Descriptions Important in Tech Recruitment?
Let’s look at how job descriptions might help or hinder your tech recruitment efforts:
1. Eliminate Unqualified Candidates
Clearly defining the duties and responsibilities in the job description aids in weeding out unqualified individuals from the start.
Most persons who lack the skill sets and experiences listed in the job description will not apply for the position in the first place. Instead, the profile’s demand will naturally terrify them.
As a result, you won’t have to go through stacks of resumes to identify individuals that meet the criteria. A well-written job description will guarantee that the job requirements are adequately communicated. This also saves you a lot of time and money that you would have spent on screening out unqualified prospects.
2. Establishes the Correct Expectations
From the start, a strong job description may help create the correct expectations about the roles and responsibilities of tech recruiting. Furthermore, it communicates to the applicants what is expected of them, avoiding any last-minute shocks.
This facilitates the recruitment process and allows a new employee to easily move into a new workstation.
3. Assists with the Organization of Interviews
Structured interviews, more often than not, produce better results than unstructured ones, and job descriptions are a useful tool for structuring the interviews. However, this is because job descriptions serve as the framework for conducting interviews.
A well-written job description will remind you of the abilities you need to test the candidates on, allowing you to thoroughly evaluate the individual.
4. Avoid Hiring the Wrong Person
How do you know whether an applicant is a good fit for a specific tech position? You match the candidate’s skills to the ones listed in the job posting, correct?
However, if the job description in the ad is incorrect, you will most certainly struggle to find the proper individual. This leads to a significant loss of resources.
5. Possibility of Delays
Incorrect job descriptions might cause significant delays in the recruitment process. Assume you posted a job ad for a software engineering position and included the details in the job description. Many individuals have applied for the position, and you have also established the dates for the interviews.
This is when you realize that ‘proficiency in Python’ is not listed as a pre-requisite in the job description. So you’ll have to post a new job ad and go through the same procedure all over again. You’ll also need to explain why they were rejected after being selected, which might negatively impact the company’s reputation.
6. You could miss out on the ideal candidate.
With competition for IT jobs at an all-time high, hopefuls have a plethora of options. So, based on the job descriptions, individuals will apply to the organizations that best match their credentials and expertise.
As a result, if you overestimate or understate the abilities and credentials necessary for a post, a candidate may not apply even though they would have been ideal for the post.
7. Employee Turnover
A candidate who receives an incorrect or inadequate job description may leave the organization soon after starting. Every candidate has a certain professional objective in mind and only accepts employment to help them achieve that goal.
However, if they join and discover that the duties and responsibilities are not what they were interviewed for, they will be dissatisfied. If the difference is modest, the candidate may elect to stay; nevertheless, the applicant will depart immediately if the difference is large.
We hope that now that you understand how job descriptions can make or break recruitment efforts, you will take the time to design one properly.
A Job Description’s Elements
A decent job description for tech recruiting should include the following:
- A job title must be between 1-4 words long.
- Job purpose, which reflects the company’s enthusiasm for the function
- The roles and obligations are spelled out.
- Competencies (educational and knowledge required to be eligible)
- Qualifications Preferred (not mandatory but good to have)
- Experience, especially years of full-time or part-time work in previous employment
- Required skills, knowledge, and abilities for the position
- Office working conditions
