Four Things You Don’t Need on Job Descriptions
Responsibilities
- Responsibilities—The first of the four things you don’t need on job descriptions is a long list of responsibilities.We discussed this on a , but it won’t hurt to mention it again. No one I know of gets excited by the thought of responsibilities. Instead of listing them as responsibilities, reword the job description and list them as challenges. People do get excited about challenges, and the right kind of people too.Don’t make your job descriptions read like a list of chores that your spouse might leave you on a Saturday morning. Spice it up with appealing challenges and opportunities. Make someone want to learn more about your job.
Salary
Salary— The second of the four things you don’t need on job descriptions is the salary or even the salary range.You may have a preferred range for the job, even compression problems. You may think the salary range is set in stone. But for the right person, I’m sure you can be flexible. Perhaps you can’t go above a certain level. If that’s the case, then figure out what else you can do. Guarantee a bonus. Provide extra vacation. Make other allowances. You’ll think of something.
Education
Education—The third of the four things you don’t need on job descriptions is a requirement regarding education.
I know. I know. Rules must be adhered to. But think for a moment. The perfect person may be waiting for a job like yours, and it’s possible they don’t have the degree requirements you want. It’s possible they don’t even have a degree. Before you list some arbitrary requirement, remember that more than a handful of premier companies were founded by non-degreed people. I’m sure you’ll recognize a few: Apple, Microsoft (Washington), Twitter, Oracle, Dell (Texas), and dozens more.
I want you to think about this also. Some people learn and advance more rapidly than others. Don’t rule out the right person for the job by listing a minimum experience factor. You are far better off listing a “skills factor”, in other words stating something like “must be able to …” Listing requirements as skills will reward you with candidates who are more suitable.
Years of Experience
- Years of experience—the last of “four things you don’t need on job descriptions.â€
I don’t think I’ve seen any professional job description that doesn’t list the years of experience required for the job. But this may be the worst of the job description offenders. Everyone learns and advances at a different pace, so a person with six years of experience may be able to perform better than a person with ten years of experience.
When you’re hiring for an open position, you want a person who can do the job. Does it matter if that person has seven or eight years of experience?
Hiring the Right Person
You are far better off listing a “skills factor”, in other words stating something like: “must be able to …” Fill in the blank with whatever you need done.
Listing requirements as skills instead of years of experience or education will reward you with candidates who are more suitable for the job.
Hiring the right person for the job is not an easy task. Don’t make it more difficult than it is. Write a job description that is informative, and one that appeals to the right people and doesn’t rule out potential matches for the job.
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Giacomo Giammatteo is the author of gritty crime dramas about murder, mystery, and family. And he also writes nonfiction books including the No Mistakes Careers series as well as books about grammar, publishing., and children’s fiction and nonfiction.
When Giacomo isn’t writing, he’s helping his wife take care of the animals on their sanctuary. At last count, they had forty animals—seven dogs, one horse, six cats, and twenty-five pigs.
Oh, and one crazy—and very large—wild boar, who used to take walks with Giacomo every day.
He lives in Texas where he and his wife have an animal sanctuary with forty-five loving “friends.”
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