Creative ways to pimp your job description

If you write a lousy job description, chances are you'll get a lousy response rate. Having run my own local job boards for the past 10 years I cant tell you how many times I've seen bad job descriptions.

Job postings should inspire people to apply, not the opposite. The branding you place on these 'mini-stories' should mirror your corporate culture and promote your company as a great place to work.

How do you do that? Here are 5 of my favorite ways to pimp your job description and make it stand out.

1. Create an Imaginative Job Title. I recently saw a posting for a 'Structural Engineer' that a solar panel manufacturer had placed online. But if I'm a job seeker, that job title doesnt do much to inspire nor tell me what kind of company or industry its in. After looking at the job description here's how I would rewrite that job title.

Structural Engineer Superstar - innovative solar panel manufacturer - New Mexico

In 9 words I summed up the job succinctly which also conveys a clue about the company culture and location. This title also contains lots of keywords which will also help it to be more search engine friendly.

2. Enable Social Media Sharing. Some job boards already do this but if you can, add a feature like one offered by ADD THIS which enables people to immediately and instantly share the job on their favorite social media site.

3. Include Audio or Video. With all the new media tools available adding audio or video to your postings has never been easier. Look at what one Jobs in Pods's client did to their postings on CareerBuilder.com. They integrated a beautifully designed banner into the header with a link to their podcast. Job seekers can now hear about the job/company rather than just reading about it.

4. Describe the Company. Every job posting should have a a small paragraph about what your company does. These days job seekers are looking for stable, innovative and fun companies to work for so use this chance to describe whats unique about your firm.

5. Describe the Hiring Manager. This may be a hard pill to swallow for some of you but consider adding a short description of the hiring manager for the job. Its a known fact that people quit their bosses so why not showcase what the hiring manager is like to work for? One way to do this would be adding some of his/her Linkedin testimonials that people have said about them.

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Chris Russell is the CEO and founder of AllCountyJobs.com LLC. He is a well known job board expert and social media recruiting evangelist.

Comment by Charles Van Heerden on September 21, 2009 at 9:45pm: Great post Chris. I strongly agree that with social media there is an opportunity to showcase your company. I worked with a company in NZ that used webinar for the hiring manager to tell interested candidates more about the role, including working with the hiring manager.

Comment by Stephanie McDonald on September 22, 2009 at 2:57pm: Yeah! Someone that thinks of job descriptions as sales tools (like I do!). I see so many (our Gov't is well known for this) that say "Analyst - 35649". What the heck does that mean to anyone outside of the organization that's hiring? How about "Business Analyst - Government Programs" Still boring, but at least I have a direction to keep reading more about the job. How about "Business Analyst - Research Guru needed!" Better, a bit more exciting. I could go on...

Comment by Ivan Stojanovic on September 22, 2009 at 3:32pm: Descriptive job titles double the click trough rate. At least. It is funny how some job boards have that field short - limiting you to something like 4 words.

The link to podcast is a great idea....

Comment by Dave Haygarth on September 22, 2009 at 4:54pm: Great post - you also should add the Search Engine Optimisation benefits of a good job description. People don't search for a 'great opportunity' on Google - they look for specific things - so the better targeted your title AND description is, the more chance you'll get click-throughs from people who might just not have thought of visiting your site = or didn't even know about you!

Comment by Trevor Smith on September 22, 2009 at 5:48pm: Great Post....if companies can't sell themselves, then we need to keep educating them on "HOW". It's amazing how many companies don't realize what their true "attraction" is. People don't just work for a pay-check any more...they want job satisfaction.

Comment by Tony Hotko on September 22, 2009 at 9:49pm: Awesome post! You are right on the money.

Comment by Chris Russell on September 24, 2009 at 9:09am: thanks for all the praise everyone, i appreciate it

Comment by Lindsay Browning on September 27, 2009 at 3:33pm: Hi Chris,

Great blog post. This is something I have been thinking about from an agency recruiter perspective also. It is vital for a candidate to understand the company (fit and culture), role and responsibility. We need to get the audience interested in the JD-it has to attract the expected candidate also. Social media is also changing how we are recruiting.

Comment by Chantelle Legg on August 29, 2011 at 10:33am: This blog post makes really interesting points, a definate bookmark for reference

Comment by Helen Burbank (Appleby) on August 29, 2011 at 10:43am: Fantastic title! Something that everyone working with job boards fights with on a daily basis. I especially agree with the title comment. Who really wants to click on a one-word title? It is the first thing a job seeker sees and their first impression will influence how seriously they take the ad.