How to create a perfect job description? The secrets of the effective job description

What kinds of skills are required?

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A closer look at various job advertisements reveals three main types of skills job ads contain: required skills, desired skills, and preferred skills. Let us find out what they are:

1. Required skills are the basic qualifications the applicant must have to apply for a particular position. In case of their absence, they are already initially not suitable for the post.
2. Preferred skills are proficiencies the employer would like to see in the potential employee. If the candidate owns at least some of these abilities, they can safely apply for the position. Still, their presence is not critical when considering the applicant's candidacy for the interview with recruiters.
3. Desired skills are the competencies that are good to have, but not necessarily. Anyway, if the job seeker does not possess these skills, this fact will not affect their chance to get the position crucially. On the other hand, their presence will give the candidate an additional “weighty” advantage over other candidates in the struggle for the job.

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The components of an adequate job description

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A professional job description should necessarily include the following points:

• The job title. It is usually a short description of the job in a few words, reflecting its content, function, and scope.

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• The company description. The potential employee must have an idea of what the company where they are going to work is like to decide whether it is interesting and promising for them to work there.

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• The job responsibilities. This point contains a description of the duties and functions the potential employee will be in charge of in the workplace. Besides, it necessarily includes such parameters as a detailed description of the work tasks, their expected results and areas of implementation, the areas of direct and indirect accountability, the level and type of financial responsibility, the form and level of contact with other employees.

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• The required qualifications. This section usually includes the needed education, work experience, abilities, knowledge, and professional skills, which are often divided into subcategories of required, desired, and preferred skills mentioned above.

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• The working conditions. This point consists of the job's type, intensity, duration, and other features. There are also the work schedule features, the number of working hours, bonuses, career prospects, insurance guarantees, and physical and mental abilities.

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Some useful advice to follow when writing a job description

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When recruiters write a job description in a successful way, it is helpful to remember these things:

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• stick to a concise, neutral style;
• avoid using complex patterns and sentence structures. Instead, use simple, familiar words and simple, easy-to-understand phrase structure;
• avoid gendering. Use the neutral “they” instead of “he” or “she”;
• focus on the main work tasks and omit trivial and accidental tasks;
• avoid using abbreviations and acronyms that may not be understandable to some job seekers;
• use descriptive action verbs in the Present Simple Tense, like “operates”, “performs”, etc.;
• avoid using ambiguous terms.

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