The Job Description (JD), or Position Description (PD), is often the first thing a potential new hire will see about a business and it's at this point that they will make the decision whether or not to apply for a role. As an employer, you only want the best potential candidates applying to join your businesses and want to waste your time reading applications from candidates that aren't the right fit. So read on to learn how to get writing the JD right.

Clearly define the role you want to fill

Being vague will leave the role up for interpretation, so clearly bullet point the responsibilities of the position and the skills you need from candidates. Doing this will make your job easier in the selection process and when you need to evaluate the new employee at performance review intervals. For example: if it’s an entry-level role, let candidates know up-front to avoid disappointment; if you need them to have proven experience in managing others, outline this clearly. 

Transferable skills 

If you are open to considering transferable skills in place of experience, consider this when writing the job description. For example: asking for “excellent communication skills" or “excellent interpersonal skills", rather than "excellent customer service skills" will allow a candidate the opportunity to prove that they can use their communication/interpersonal skills in a customer service role.

Personality matters 

Personality, personal attributes and attitude can be very important to ensuring success for the final hire and the job itself, so remember to include this in the job description. For example: in a job post for a tour guide, you would probably want to add “friendly and outgoing” and “confident speaker” to your job description, to ensure the successful candidate will be able to build rapport with guests and talk to groups.

Help out the entry-level job seekers 

Research tells us that young people are keen to do something that they think they’ll already be good at. Remember, it’s hard for young people to get a job without experience and hard to get experience without a job, so help them out when writing an entry-level job description by highlighting abilities and strengths the role will need that they are already likely to have, rather than skills that they will learn on the job. 

Further information 

• Visit here for more detailed tips about describing your job accurately.
• The Restaurant Association and Hospitality Association also have templates available for members to use or non-members to purchase, when creating job descriptions.