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How to Write a Job Description That Works

Roles and responsibilities with wooden pen

Searching for the ideal employee consists of creating an engaging and appealing job description. With the many job postings already in the pipeline online, you want to be sure your listing gets the attention it deserves from qualified candidates. Your goal is to fill the position with the best person, not just any person.

With the proper guidance, your job description listing can stand out in a crowded field of other listings and get the attention of the right candidate.

An effective job description will include all the relevant details about the job and more. It is concise yet thorough enough to provide the necessary information for a wise decision. When the candidate is finished reading it, they can make an informed decision.

What Is a Job Description?

A job description summarizes the required tasks and responsibilities of the position, as well as the skills, experience, and qualifications necessary to fulfill the role. It also contains important information about the company, its hierarchy, and the salary range. This information could include the company’s vision or culture if it’s relevant to performing the job. In addition, company benefits will engage candidates if they are worth it.

A carefully written job description is a vital part of finding the best candidate for the job. Job seekers use it to determine whether they would be a good fit for the job.

Components of a Job Description

A job description template outlines its many components. You can use this template as a guide in preparing your job description.

Job Title

The first thing the job candidate will see is the job title. This needs to be clear and straightforward. You want to ensure that the title description is specific and easy to understand. You can use keywords or phrases that pertain to the job title so that the person looking for the job will be able to quickly understand what the position entails. Remember, the candidate will likely be scanning through several job descriptions at a time. So, if the job title is clear, the person will know what is involved.

Avoid using abbreviated terms or lingo because not everyone will be familiar with these.

Introductory Paragraph Summarizing the Company

Begin your opening paragraph with an overview of the company. Use action words or powerful adjectives to paint a picture of what the company brand image is. This section should be brief, only a few sentences or one paragraph. It can let the person know what is unique about the company, provide information about the company’s mission, or establish the company culture.

Duties and Responsibilities

Clearly define the job duties and responsibilities of the job position. You can break this down so that the candidate will know if they are qualified and interested in the job. Be sure to include the following in your job description under duties and responsibilities:

  • Summarize the main responsibilities that typically come with that particular job. List the specific duties involved with doing that role. Also, be sure to include any tasks that are generally outside the scope of the job but may be unique to your company. For example, if you are hiring an office receptionist and the position requires writing the meeting minutes, you would want to include writing proficiency. This allows the candidate to assess whether they have the skills necessary to do the job.
  • Next, describe the everyday activities that the position entails. By providing this information, the person can determine what a typical day is like. It also gives the person an idea about the workplace environment.
  • You can also include how the job position fits into the hierarchy of the business. For example, you can describe who the candidate reports to and how the department will interface with other departments within the organization. This provides candidates with an overview of the company structure and how the job position fits into the whole picture.

Qualifications and Skills

This section will list the qualifications and skills necessary to do this position. Include both technical and soft skills in this section. Soft skills may include things like:

  • Dependability
  • Communication skills
  • Leadership ability
  • Teamwork
  • Time management skills
  • Organized

Also, be sure to include any specific certifications or training if you require them. You can list qualifications and certification requirements in a bulleted format.

Salary and Benefits

Candidates are always interested in seeing the salary amount, especially if it’s competitive. If the salary is dependent on the candidate’s experience or qualifications, you can list the salary range instead of an exact amount. Also, provide information about the benefits since these can provide an added boost to the salary package.

Formatting Tips for a Job Description

Follow these formatting tips when creating the job description:

  • Use bold headings for each section of the job description.
  • Skip to the next line after the heading for each summary.
  • Use easy-to-read plain text for the summaries beneath the headings. Text can be in Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri in 11– or 12-point font.
  • Add an extra line between each of the sections.
  • Use bullet points in the duties and responsibilities and qualifications and skills sections.

Here is a formatted template example:

Job Title

Text in normal font.

[Skip a line]

Introductory Paragraph Summarizing the Company

Text in normal font.

[Skip a line]

Duties and Responsibilities

Text in normal font.

[Skip a line]

Qualifications and Skills

Text in normal font.

[Skip a line]

Salary and Benefits

Text in normal font.

Implement these tips and use the formatting template, and you’ll be well on your way to writing your next job listing. Following this guide can help you attract candidates who are a good fit for the job.

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Promoted Job Posts and Why They Work

Image showing a huge advertising screen in a public place.

Before we get into job post promotion, let’s think about what promotion means:

pro·​mo·​tion | \ prə-ˈmō-shən

1 : the act or fact of being raised in position or rank: PREFERMENT

2 : the act of furthering the growth or development of something

Although the Merriam-Webster dictionary is unconnected to Ladders, we have to hand it to them for inadvertently describing Ladders’ job post promotion so well.

Everybody loves a promotion.

Promotion says Status. Achievement. Special. Important. Desirable. Someone or something promoted moves up in the hierarchy, bathed in a spotlight.

What’s not to like?

A job post promotion with Ladders is no different.

Let’s break that down into facts and figures.

Promoted Job Posts – Facts & Figures

More Job Views 

Promoted jobs feature at the top of search results related to the role, resulting in over 

15x more views than a non-promoted post.

A single role can be promoted for up to 8 weeks, ensuring a high level of attention from relevant candidates among our pool of

9 million users.

More Job Applies 

Cutting through the noise with fine targeting to experts ensures that the busiest, most in-demand candidates see your post first. 

On average, promoted job posts attract

8x more applicants than non-promoted job posts.

Faster Candidate Hires 

Members and recruiters provide custom compensation information, to ensure a job match and cut down on wasted time.

Promoted job posts are shown only to candidates that match the specific role, ensuring that your applies are coming from qualified candidates with relevant experience.

Job Candidates Who Count

Yes, the internet made job applications super simple and life for busy recruiters anything but.

Also, in a downturn, the number of enthusiastic amateurs competing with qualified experts can create endless sifting and sorting of applications.

And ATS systems can only do so much to help.

Back to Ladders and its members

9 million users — pre-assessed and targeted as active or passive job seekers to answer recruiter long term or short term needs.

15 years’ experience on average — no enthusiastic amateurs targeted, just professionals.

 92% with a bachelors degree; 45% with a master’s degree — educated and proactive.

44 high-end candidates on average response — a recruiter shortlist based on success.

$154K median member income — expertise meets achievement meets results.

24 hours — post and promote fast for optimized turnaround and high-end expertise.

And like any job post targeted directly through Ladders, the recruiter promoted post appears on site as a highlighted Easy Apply — an added attraction for busy professionals.

Promoted job posts also offer the additional option of linking the post direct to the company page, for added ease in controlling and processing applications.

Creating an XML job feed for synchronized efficiency and less heavy-lifting is also an easy option.

With an XML feed, each time a new job post is added to your system, it’ll be automatically added to Ladders, too, for flawless targeting of high-end candidates.

And when it closes, the post will be automatically removed. Easy.

Recruiting Results — Targeted Job Post Options

Of all recruiter marketing tactics, promoting highly targeted jobs to an audience of experts in a downturn makes the most sense all round.

Ladders Promoted Job Posts are just one more reason to use Ladders Recruiter to find your next $100K-$500K+ hire fast.

Still, Ladders also helps well-educated, ambitious up-and-comers, so if you’re targeting young talent in the $80K-$100K range, Ladders is an ideal option.

Give your critical roles a promotion and just watch them work for you.

After all, encouraging hard work and expertise is always an ROI winner.

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XML Job Post Management. As Easy As ABC?

Image showing person at a computer looking at an job application page.

“Synchronize watches and move out!”

We’ve all heard that line, or something like it, in a movie. XML job post management doesn’t usually require groups of anxiously determined people, bent over their watches, before scooting determinedly off in different directions.

But the job management stakes are high for millions, including you.

Whether you love or hate action movies, your career is about action and results. You are tasked with making things happen in a world where the stakes are high and the plot thickens with every technological twist.

It should be classified as sci-fi, but it’s real.

Your plot saw a huge twist with the advent of the internet. Suddenly it was easy to get job posts out there; and just as easy for enthusiastic amateurs to apply for any job — as easy as ABC, in fact — on the off-chance they might get a result. Making management tough.

Then came the downturn.

Targeting your jobs at the qualified experts you want to fill your candidate pool is key. Avoiding the enthusiastic amateurs who use technology to their career advantage is more important now than it ever was.

So what’s the solution? Technology!

ABC vs. XML

XML (eXtensible Markup Language), is designed to turn the ABC ease of online job applications in your favor. By enabling you to manage your job posts in a fast and efficient manner, you can target talent and control results with synchronized efficiency.

But it’s still about how the hero of the movie goes about it.

Advances in technology turned the phrase Post-and-Pray into Spray-and-Pray. XML job post management does offer huge advantages in terms of high quality distribution across the net.

An XML job feed connects your jobs to job aggregators and optimizes the process for formatting, consistency, and so on. Online search optimization is also easy enough and covers various areas:

  • Use keyword sensitive job titles
  • Maximize keyword density
  • Mention the nearest metro area in location
  • Allow aggregators to pull from your careers page

It all helps to get you out there, like the ATS solution helps you process the results.

So the secret sauce lies in fine targeting.

Ladders’ XML Job Feed

Let’s give Ladders a part in this movie.

As a company dedicated to $100K-$500K+ professionals, with an average of 15+ years of experience, a bachelor’s degree pool that stands at 89% and a Master’s degree pool that stands at 36% across industries, we answer specific needs by design.

With an XML job post management feed, each time a new $100K+ job is added to your system, it’ll be automatically added to Ladders, too, for flawless targeting of high-end candidates. And when it closes, the post will be automatically removed.

Automated targeting combined with flawless synchronization.

If interested, you can learn about our XML feed guide. After your development team has created the feed, you can submit it to us at the address provided and you’re good.

Staying up with the times doesn’t get you ahead. Smart choices based on specific needs still spells success. That will never change.

So what’s the next evolution of the phrases Post-and-Pray and Spray-and-Pray?

Automate-and-Celebrate? Get-Wise-and-Synchronise? 

Aim-and-Hit? (Recommended)

In the movies, the hero makes the call, so we’ll leave it with you.

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Recruiter Outreach: That Personal Quality

Image saying Targeting with icons and images showing various methods.

In some circles, the term spray-and-pray covers recruiter outreach to potential job candidates in a wide variety of situations.

Essentially it’s a potentially reputation-damaging spam campaign (to the majority of recipients), in the hope of netting a couple of good prospects.

In other circles, it covers sending a job post to as many job aggregation sites as possible. The ATS system is then depended on to help sort applications that are increasingly easy to send — and which multiply in a downturn.

We’ll deal with outreach here, but in both cases the problem can be solved with just a couple of easy upfront investments.

Outreach Personalization

If there’s one thing most recruiters have going for them its personality. Gregarious, fast on their feet, discerning, and always easy to talk to.

Pride in these strengths is the first step to investing a little time into the resources that are almost always at your disposal.

Personalization of approach is about personal style.

Imagine the difference between receiving a generic email and one that greets you with an upbeat reference to some achievement you’ve earned. Something you and the sender have in common.

Or any personal reference — probably pulled in a matter of seconds from a social media profile.

It might be a professional connection, a shared school, hobby or virtually anything that stands out. That message says: “I’m reaching out because you made a genuine impression.”

This includes the subject line, to win that initial open.

Using the person’s name (obvious), along with current company, some achievement, or anything else that shows you know them, is potent:

John, your work at {{company}} has gained attention.

This small effort is the best investment a recruiter can make.

In fact it can be the antithesis of the foot-in-the-door technique. It triggers Dr. Robert B. Cialdini’s groundbreaking 6 Principles of Influence:

Reciprocity — the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit.

Your recipient feels complimented. You are clearly writing a personal message. You know something about her. And you are impressed enough to reach out.

The recipient knows you did your homework. You spelled the name right. Heck, you’ve probably been showing the profile around, with various important heads nodding and smiling as they stared at it.

Your recipient is now warm inside and feels you deserve time and effort.

And what was the cost?

In another instance, you could quickly discover that a qualified expert out there is actually connected to somebody who works at your company.

You would know what to do next, right?

Because a personal email from that person would go a long way to getting a result.

Ladders as a Quality Example

Hey, if you don’t blow your own trumpet, right?

Imagine you’re tasked with a high-end position. It’s important and lands between a $400K-$500K salary range.

You bring Ladders into the picture for targeted $100K-$500K+ professionals, with resumes that spell out “expertise” “experience” and “highly qualified” at every step.

And you use Ladders Experts and pull some interesting profiles. 

Great, but results are key. So how do you optimize personalization?

Easy — make yourself invisible.

You pick any personalized talking points you’ve discovered. You draft an email. Then you talk to a key hiring manager about putting her name and picture with it.

Back to another principle of persuasion — authority.

Now the personalized correspondence, with personal touches, comes from the authority figure. 

Instant compliment. Instant personalized experience.

Your win is your smart thinking — your strategy.

Every small investment of time and effort pays back in a potentially major way.

And every smart thing you do that isn’t spray-and-pray protects your reputation and your company’s reputation.

Also, any extra effort you put into areas such as networking and relationship building will reward you with great ROI. 

Ladders makes it easy for its recruiters to create their own member profiles on Ladders, for example, and encourages them to do that. So here’s our recommended mantra:

Personalization is productivity. Results earn rewards.

Job Expertise & Engagement

So taking a few minutes to find a personal way to connect is an easy investment. Approaching through a relevant connection or a hiring manager is a smart tactic when applied properly.

As is knowing your target’s field.

A little research into the field you’re recruiting for is always a good idea. Maybe there are upheavals or new innovations there that people are talking about, or worried about.

However, acting like you too are an expert is going too far. Maybe you’re aware of something via friend in the field, for example.

Your target now feels you respect him as a professional.

Maybe certain approaches don’t work well with certain professionals: being overtly positive and upbeat with journalists or PR people could lead to guardedness and mistrust, for example.

We shouldn’t indulge in stereotypes, but we should respect the kind of work performed and the culture that goes with it. It can shape the way professionals respond.

Cold-calling is a thing of the past. Personalization is everything.

Small investments do gain great rewards

And when good people, who you very quickly built something of a relationship with, don’t work out for a position, make sure you keep their details and throw them a friendly line for others.

Because relationship building is as personal as it gets.

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Quality Job Candidates for Hiring Teams

Image shows a recruiter picking a digital job candidate from a screen.

Tough times for job candidates demand targeted solutions for recruiters.

Calm over chaos. Calculation over confusion. Strategy over stress.

Spray-and-Pray for yesterday. Aim-and-Hit for today and every day.

Easily said, right?

So let’s look at a sourcing resource for recruiters.

One that’s designed to cut out time-wasting job candidates. And attract talent that matters.

Talent with enthusiasm, experience, and expertise.

Full Access to Experts


An ATS system is essentially technology’s answer to a problem it created.

That’s because the internet made job applications super simple.

In a downturn, eagerness to get ahead can heavily outweigh expertise.

And your ATS can only do so much.

Consequently, surfing, sifting and sorting becomes the daily grind.

And it’s a sloppy solution to a growing problem.

However, talent attraction by fine-targeting combines technology with strategy.

This encourages high-end results — with a full access advantage.

Additionally, it’s easy.

Which doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with eagerness or enthusiasm.

Combine them with experience and expertise and you have the perfect job candidate package.

For example, a professional full access job candidate package like this:

7 million users — pre-assessed and targeted as active or passive $100K-$500K+ job seekers. Answering recruiter long term or short term needs.

15 years’ experience on average — no enthusiastic amateurs targeted, just professionals.

 92% with a bachelor’s degree; 45% with a master’s degree. Educated and proactive.

$154K median member income — expertise meets achievement meets results.

360 million Ladders News opens per year — high-end engagement from experts.

On the other hand, you could be targeting up-and-coming professionals in the $80K-$100K range.

This need is also answered in Ladders’ rarified space.

Big Date With Big Data


Knowledge is power.

So access to big data is collated to cover a specific candidate area. And targeted to answer detailed recruiter job needs. Providing a powerhouse solution.

Let’s unpack that.

A Full Access License from Ladders enables a deep data dive for recruiters:

Unlimited search — the complete Ladders database of professional experts.

Unlimited job posts — targeted to the high-end experts who fit your needs.

Unlimited resume downloads — search-and-save, contact info, and desired salary.

Third Page™ data — 20 million answers to key interview questions from members.

Advanced search – fine-targeting with Boolean search options (and support).

Resume Preview — fast assessments with a resume preview in search results.

ATS connectivity — optimized processing management and fast job delivery.

XML connectivity — easy, automated job post management across systems.

Email alerts — inbox backup, suggested candidates based on saved searches and more.

Success Management — easy access to live support across all recruiter needs.

Tap2Call on mobile — one-tap dialing for busy recruiters who are on the move.

Candidates, Careers & Craft


Spray-and-Pray is history.

The new normal means evolving with the times.

So rather than placing all bets on technology, technology is incorporated into a focused strategy.

Big data is broken down based on needs, then targeted.

Optimization enhances productivity.

Time saved equals gains.

Technology and strategy combine for fine-targeting. Fast results. And great outcomes.

And quality selection equals retention.

Expert candidates are matched to careers based on your craft, honed for efficiency.

Aim-and-Hit is the future — and, of course, that started already.

Ready to turn this downturn around?