Guide to writing a good job description for New Zealand audiences
If you are an employer in New Zealand who is looking to hire, you might be thinking; how do I attract top talent? Searching for the right candidate often begins with writing a job description. In this article we will provide our top 5 tips to writing a good job description.
Job descriptions can be formulaic in organisations, and hiring managers are often restrained by the need to contain formal information for “HR” proposes. While this might be important for contractual reasons, it’s not the best way to attract candidates to your organisation.
1. Job title
It is a good idea to work in reverse, create the job description first, and then give the role a title. This way your title will match the requirements of the job, this is a common mistake we see.
2. What skills are you looking for?
It is important to have required skills and technical experience listed on a job description. This seems like a simple step, but it is commonly ignored.
Due to the nature of the New Zealand economy, most job seekers are generalists, Jack/Jill’s of all trades. Most often there is one or two key technologies/technical skills that are truly essential and most of the rest of them can be flexible because the right candidate will have often worked with something similar or can learn the tool you are looking for. It is good to be clear about what skills are absolutely essential for a job, and which are just desirable.
The same approach applies to years of experience, are you really looking for 10 years using a certain programming language? What if a candidate has less experience in terms of years, but is an expert in a desirable skill, or brings an amazing attitude to the role? You might be missing out on excellent candidates by having strict limits on your Job description.
3. What will the candidate be doing?
This IS the job description. It is also the most often neglected areas of a lot of JD’s we see. It is not uncommon to read a JD and think, what is this person going to be doing?
Try to avoid using internal jargon or generic language which just amounts to a list of skills (which you have probably already included). It is a good idea to think about a typical day/week/month for this person and describe what they will be doing. A few key examples of projects or BAU duties will help the person get a good feel for the nature of the job they will be preforming. This is a good place to start your job description process, this process informs the essential skills vs. the nice to have’s.
4. What about the company/values?
A candidate’s values/interpersonal skills/attitude etc. are going to be essential in making a hiring decision. These are probably more important compared to some of the technical skills. A candidate with a good attitude can learn technical skills, but this is often not true in reverse.
However, information on values in a job description should be information which is available elsewhere. If you purport to maintain a strict culture and values in your company, is a job description the only place a candidate should be seeing them?
5. Length
As an employer what are your thoughts when you receive a 10-page CV? A lot of JD’s exceed this, worse still they include information about health and safety, and long-winded summaries of the organisation and values which are available on the company website. When the time comes to sign a contract, this is probably essential information, but it is not essential to help someone prepare for an interview, or to decide if they can do a job.
A question to consider: Could this be a contract?
It could be better to get a specialist resource who is an expert in the skills that you will need for the next 6 months, and then find another expert for the next stage of a project. This can lead to efficiencies, you will get a far more capable specialist resource to improve delivery time and quality. However good your permanent employee is likely to be, there will be specialist contract resource who can deliver more in specific specialist areas.
Having the right job description can improve the quality of candidates you have applying for jobs. It is a good way to get internal stakeholders on the same page with what you are trying to achieve, and to figure out what is important in your hiring process. Applicants will use your job description to prepare for their interview, so having a good JD will improve the interview process and create efficiencies in this post COVID market.
We can consult in creating the best job description possible and attract the top candidates in the market. We will save you time, and get you focusing on the important work which drives your business. Get in touch with us to find out how we can help.