The job description: How to write it

Knowing how to write an effective job offer means writing a detailed job description that creates desire, and thus attracts candidates to you. Today's candidate is in a strong position, especially if he or she is in a job that is in demand and that the competition also wants. Therefore, this job description can be your best asset to tell the candidate what you expect from him, to give him the information he is looking for and to attract his attention. In short, seduce them and be chosen by them.

Reverse the roles! Think about the questions you would ask yourself if you were the candidate you are addressing. This is a little mental exercise that will force you to be precise and thus attract only those candidates who really fit the profile you are looking for. Project yourself, first of all as a recruiter of course, to better define your recruitment needs, to know precisely what you are looking for and therefore be able to be precise in your job description. But then, project yourself as a candidate: put yourself in his or her shoes, and in doing so, you will help him or her to better project themselves into the future with you. This can allow you to go very quickly in the recruitment process, thus making it profitable and optimizing the process.

With this job description, you must make them want to work without overdoing it, attract them without deceiving them. Because a disappointed candidate is a candidate who will not stay in the company, and therefore a failure for the recruitment. Make the candidate want to join the company with a well-crafted and intelligent job description that makes him/her feel expected, wanted and sought after. Stand out by offering something different. The key idea is desire! So write your job description with a double attraction in mind: the position in particular and your employer brand in general.

Promote the candidate by formulating the job description as if you, as the employer, were applying with a CV to the candidate. Be an ambassador of your company's image and anticipate the candidate's questions in order to promote what you have to offer: the well-being of employees, respect for their rights, the company's culture and values must be described in order to immediately target the right candidates.

Describe also, by valorizing them, his future function, his future work station, his future work environment, his equipment, his benefits in kind, the bonuses to which he will be entitled or the additional days off, his place in the organization chart, the atmosphere of the teams he will have to manage. Turn everything into a positive, without lying, but by optimizing everything that can be optimized and by putting it forward. By doing this, you will enhance the candidate's value and make him/her want to apply; but above all, you will target him/her more effectively, because you will be able to filter out those who recognize themselves in what you describe, and those who do not, and therefore do not correspond to you.

Approach this element with nuance and caution. Salary negotiations should take place at the end of the recruitment process. We recommend that you discuss compensation with your candidate face-to-face in the final stages of the recruitment process. But don't make it a taboo in the job description. Give the candidate an indicative range to put him or her at ease on the issue and allow him or her to project himself or herself on the subject. This will also allow you to be clear with yourself about what you are willing to agree to.

It is logical for them to think about it and it is part of their selection criteria for choosing you and applying to you. Today, candidates are more volatile employees, less attached to the company, who are aware that they will have a career in several companies and in several different positions in order to evolve quickly and well in their career. To attract them, you need to get them to think about the future, right from the job description. Indicate the potential evolution of the position in terms of responsibilities, missions, changes of scale (from local to national and from national to international for example).

In order to project himself, a good candidate will necessarily look at whether these criteria will allow him to preserve the balance between his private and professional life... because it is in his private life that he has found his stability, in parallel with a professional career that is more flexible and evolving than in previous generations. These are details that have become essential to any candidate today. The geographical location of the site where they will work, their working hours, flexibility, mobility, the possibility of remote work, the notion of vacations, etc... must be specified in your job description.

The latest generations of candidates are more independent than their predecessors, they distrust authority and are not comfortable with a pyramidal hierarchy. They want collaboration, teamwork, transversality and a horizontal organization that allows them to" slash", i.e. to carry out several missions in parallel, and therefore never get bored.

Don't hesitate in your job description to highlight the possibilities of a relaxed relationship with managers, of a transversal organization according to the missions, for example. Avoid anything that might suggest a hierarchical organization that is too restrictive, too rigorous, too "old-fashioned", because candidates' preconceived ideas about this type of management are very negative. Today's candidates hate being put into boxes that are too small; they want to be able to break down barriers, be flexible, responsive and innovative in their working methods.

Are you experiencing difficulties in recruiting? Don't wait any longer to get help! A specialized recruitment agency can make the big difference between a successful hire and a failed (or abandoned) hire.

If you are looking for profiles in tension, Molitor International Conseil is the partner you need. Discover our recruitment solutions to find the one that meets your needs !