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- 5 things to include in your job description.
- The problem you’re solving, your time zone overlap, real comp numbers, a rough 30/60/90 day outline, and the soft-skills section most founders skip.
- Skipping the soft-skills section might be costing you more than a shaky technical hire ever would.
- Nail these 5 and your JD stops talking to everyone and starts talking to the right someone.
Most Job Descriptions are not written to filter for the right person. Here’s how to write a JD that actually does its job which is filtering for fit and disregarding the volume.
01: Mention the problem they will be solving clearly
There’s always a reason why you’re hiring the role.
- If it is to fill capacity, write that.
- If it is to launch a certain feature or a product, write that.
- If it is to tackle different geographical markets or if the role involves working with the client, write that.
There’s always a reason, and when you write it, you set the expectations from the beginning correctly. Only the people who truly care about solving that problem will be applying.
02: Say the time zone out loud
“Remote” alone doesn’t really tell a candidate about whether the job will actually work for them. Be specific: how many hours of overlap do you need with your core team, and during which window? “4 hours of overlap between 9am and 1pm ET” is a real slot that a candidate can plan around. “Flexible remote role” is not.
03: Do not skip compensation details
If you list a range, even a wide one, you filter out mismatches before they cost you a screening call. If you don’t, you’ll spend interview time on candidates whose expectations are nowhere near yours.
State the currency and basis clearly: “$70,000 to $95,000 USD per year” is a real clear range. “Competitive salary” tells a candidate nothing. If you genuinely don’t have a fixed number yet, say so directly and give a range you’d realistically pay: “Budget is being finalized; expect $60,000 to $80,000 USD.” That’s still more useful.
04: Describe the first 30/60/90 days
We know this seems like the most boring part of a job description, but it is a good idea to associate their role with the intended outcomes. That way, the candidate knows what they will actually be doing, and they will also know whether they are actually capable of achieving that kind of impact or not.
It doesn’t have to be long or elaborate or actually specific to the day, but if you give even an overarching idea that is still helpful. For example: In your first 90 days, you’ll rebuild our payments service to handle 3x current transaction volume, working directly with our 2-person platform team.” That single sentence does more filtering than a paragraph of buzzwords.
05: Skipping soft skills/How you work section
Thinking that soft skills are trainable is one of the biggest mistakes you can make while hiring. In fact, technical skills might be coachable to an extent, but a mis-hire can have a long-lasting impact on your culture.
Every stage of startup requires a different level of gusto and mindset to be able to get through.
- You need to specify the stage of your startup.
- How your startup operates and in which industry.
- What are some of your non-negotiables in terms of soft skills like ownership, comfort with ambiguity, adaptability, and so on?
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Conclusion
If you want to make your job description better, do just these 5 things And watch your job description behave like a filter that screens out irrelevant candidates and puts only the strongest of candidates forward.
