Job application vetting is just as much for job seekers as it is for employers. To get the perfect candidate, you must create a user-friendly process that encourages the right people to apply.

It all starts with the job description, and first impressions matter!

Your job description is the perfect opportunity for you to engage and qualify applicants who could likely be your next hire. Ensure your job description is clear, concise, inclusive, and to the point!

Follow these five steps to craft a compelling job description that will lead to an incredible hire who meshes with your culture and has all the right hard skills.

1. Start with your hiring goal

Before drafting your job description, you need to be clear on your hiring goals for this position. Do an evaluation of your previous talent pipelines and address the pitfalls.

If you’ve had issues with getting enough applications, you need to trim down on qualifications and try to engage job seekers. However, if you are typically inundated with applications, you might want to use your job description to vet out candidates. Remember that while your job description may be the first step of the process, it’s critical to start with your end goal and work backward.

2. Use it as a selling tool

Similar to an interview, the job application process is a two-way street. Just as you are using it to vet out candidates, they are using it to decide which jobs to apply to. Don’t scare candidates out of applying by over-listing requirements.

Only put the must-have qualifications and leave all the bonus points to the later phases of the process. If you want to get a smaller, more niche candidate pipeline, you can still include the nice-to-haves, but ensure they’re labeled as such. Use the job description to sell your company, its values, and benefits, but keep it surface-level and don’t let it replace the website.

3. Less is more

If your job description is over 500 words, people will not read it. Only include the essential information. In today’s job application world, it’s so easy to one-click apply, and you will likely get hundreds of applications of unqualified candidates. In response, keep it high-level and flexible. The shorter it is, the more likely people will thoroughly read and vet themselves out.

If it’s a tech job, rather than packing the entire tech stack into the requirements, have a section that highlights your technologies so they can deduce themselves, and you can use valuable space to focus on the core responsibilities rather than the specific languages.

4. Use inclusive language

Hiring diverse talent is essential to a strong business. This hiring decision must be intentional and baked into the core of your entire hiring philosophy — inclusive of your job description.

Data from Adzuna’s resume service also showed that women only submit 31% of resumes to its website, while men submit 69%. Similarly, women don’t promote soft skills like time management and leadership and tend to leave out significant professional achievements. A LinkedIn study found that women are also more selective about the jobs they apply for than men. The study discovered that men and women displayed similar habits when browsing for jobs, but women were 14% less likely to apply for a job after viewing.

By over-listing qualifications, you are excluding talent. Be cognizant of your wording.

5. Use clear language

Your job description must make sense to an outside eye. Job seekers look at countless job postings and don’t stay for long — you must catch their eye early. Don’t use industry-specific jargon, acronyms, or company innuendos. You should also give your job posting a clear title that people will instantly recognize, and search engines will group alongside similar roles.

Follow these five steps, and your job description will be set up for success! Rather than wasting time filtering through hundreds of applications, put the extra time into crafting the posting itself, and you will save time in the long run.

Need help crafting that perfect posting? The Climate People team is here to help!