How to write a job description

What goes into a job description

Candidates read a job description in about a minute, usually on a phone. In that minute they want four answers: what will I do all day, can I do it, where and when will I work, and what will I be paid. Every line should answer one of those questions. Company history, mission statements and long benefit lists can wait for the interview. If you are not sure what a role normally covers, start from a ready role profile and cut it down to your version of the job.

• Job title: the designation you actually use inside the company, not an inflated one
• Location and work model: city and office, work from home, hybrid or field
• Reports to: the manager's designation, so the candidate can judge the level
• Role purpose: two sentences on why the job exists
• Key responsibilities: six to eight duties, each with a verb and a frequency or standard
• Must-have requirements: the qualification, experience and skills you will actually test
• Good-to-have skills, listed separately so strong candidates are not scared off
• Working hours, shifts, weekly off and any travel
• Employment type: permanent, fixed-term, intern or consultant
• Pay range and the main benefits

Worked example: accounts executive for a two-branch trading firm

Say Patel Traders in Ahmedabad needs an accounts executive. A weak description reads: 'Handle accounts, GST and banking. Good communication skills.' A usable one reads differently. Role purpose: keep the books of our Ahmedabad and Vadodara branches accurate so the month closes by the 5th. Responsibilities: post purchase and sales invoices every day, reconcile both bank accounts every Friday, prepare the monthly GST data for our CA, follow up on receivables older than 45 days, and file vouchers so any entry can be traced in five minutes.

Must-have: B.Com, two to four years in a trading or distribution business, daily use of an accounting package and Excel pivot tables. Good-to-have: e-way bills and inventory valuation. Work: Monday to Saturday, 9:30 am to 6:30 pm, second and fourth Saturdays off, office in Navrangpura. Pay: ₹[minimum] to ₹[maximum] a month gross, with PF and paid leave as per company policy. Every line gives the candidate something to check against their own experience before they apply.

Write duties that describe real work

Most descriptions list duties as nouns: accounts, vendor management, reporting. Nouns do not tell a candidate how big the job is. Rewrite each duty as a verb, an object and a frequency or a standard. A candidate who has done that work recognizes it at once, and one who has not can see the gap before applying. It also gives the interviewer ready questions, because each duty becomes something to ask about.

• Weak: 'Responsible for recruitment.' Better: 'Close 8 to 10 shop-floor hires a month for the Sanand plant, from sourcing to joining.'
• Weak: 'Customer handling.' Better: 'Answer customer calls through the shift and log every complaint in the ticket system before the call ends.'
• Weak: 'Reporting.' Better: 'Send the daily sales and collection report to the branch head by 10 am.'
• Weak: 'Team player.' Better: 'Cover a colleague's counter during breaks and at shift handover.'

Mistakes that cost you good applicants

Read every draft against this list before it goes live. Most of these problems creep in when someone reuses last year's description instead of starting from what the hiring manager needs now. Ten minutes of checking here saves days of screening resumes that were never going to fit.

• A wish list of fifteen must-haves. Keep only what you will test and move the rest to good-to-have.
• Asking for more years of experience than the work needs, which filters out people who would grow into the role quickly.
• Age limits or 'male candidates only' lines, which shut out capable people and invite complaints.
• Hiding shift work, field travel or Sunday duty, so candidates find out at the offer stage and drop out.
• Copying a large company's description, which describes their job rather than yours.
• Internal jargon such as plant codes or team nicknames that outsiders cannot decode.
• No pay information at all, which draws applicants far outside your budget.

Step by step

1. Brief the hiring manager. Spend twenty minutes with the hiring manager. Ask what the new person will do in the first week, what good performance looks like at six months, and which two or three skills are truly non-negotiable. Write the answers down in their words.
2. Fix the title, grade and reporting line. Use the designation from your own designation list, confirm the grade or band, and name the manager's designation. This keeps the new job consistent with people already doing similar work and stops title inflation.
3. Write the role purpose. Describe in two sentences why the role exists and what changes when it is done well. If you cannot write it, the role is not yet clear enough to hire for.
4. List six to eight responsibilities. Write each duty as a verb, an object and a frequency or standard. Put the duties that take the most time first, and drop anything that happens once a year.
5. Separate must-haves from good-to-haves. Keep must-haves to the qualification, experience and skills you will actually check in the interview. Everything else goes under good-to-have so capable candidates still apply.
6. Add conditions and pay. State the location, work model, working hours, shifts, weekly off, travel and employment type. Add the approved pay range and the main benefits in plain words.
7. Review and publish. Ask the hiring manager to read the final draft and confirm it describes the job. In ZeniaHR, the description goes into the job requisition in Recruitment Hub, and publishing it puts the role on your public careers page with a multi-step application form.

Frequently asked questions