Week 5 was a great time to go back-to-basics and talk about the ol’ job description. From newspaper classifieds to today’s digital job ads, job descriptions have seen quite the evolution. We’ve enjoyed talking about job descriptions and interviewing with fresh eyes and hope you have, too! 

Here are some of our favorite highlights from the week so far: 

Hot Takes from Week 5 of “The Summer to Evolve” 🔥   

• It’s counter-intuitive, but the purpose of a job description is both to attract and repel — this will save time all the way around by zeroing in on the best matches. 

• Job descriptions aren’t just a poster for an open role. They’re the first impression job seekers have of your company, and the first opportunity to build (or erode) trust.

• When it comes to keeping candidates engaged through the interview process, behavioral science says there are six categories that are needed for individual engagement:  
  • Feedback: People want to be recognized and validated.  
  • Forecast: People want to be able to predict what our world is going to be like.  
  • Freedom: People want autonomy and control. 
  • Family: People want to be surrounded by people who have their backs.   
  • Function: People want mission and purpose. 
  • Fairness: People need a reward that makes the effort worthwhile. 

Top Ways to Get Started with Better Job Descriptions & Interviewing THIS WEEK  

🔲  Think like a marketer! If you haven’t already, choose a job description for one of your urgent hiring needs and create a job ad that directs interested candidates to the application. Remember to use your personas to choose which social platforms to place the ad and what the content should say. 

🔲  Consider replacing generic questions (“What are your strengths and weaknesses?”) with behavioral questions (“Tell me about a time when…”) for your next interview. 

🔲  Research tools that will help you de-identify and mitigate bias in your job descriptions. You could do it manually, but there are so many great features out there that will help. 

Top Ways to Get Started with Better Job Descriptions & Interviewing THIS MONTH  

🔲  Review your current job descriptions and add a section that lists elements that would disqualify a candidate. It could be a list that reads something like, “This may not be the role for you if you can’t work one weekend per month, don’t have experience in healthcare, etc.).  

🔲  Re-visit your job descriptions and remove any language or titles that only makes sense to your internal team. For example, you could revise job titles and descriptions that read “Level 3 Consultant” with “Senior Consultant”.  

🔲  Choose a few tools or vendors you have singled out in your research to combat bias in your job descriptions and set up meetings with them this month.  

Thanks for joining us for Week 5!  

It’s been another great week talking recruitment marketing, automation, and the balance of in-person and virtual talent strategies. We’re continuously grateful for all the great discussions coming out of these sessions from attendees like YOU.  

Keep the great ideas coming next week when we unlock the benefits and new approaches for employee referrals.  

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