

Help Wanted — on Writing Job Descriptions - esharef
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702303643304579107793132873508-lMyQjAxMTAzMDAwMjEwNDIyWj.html?mod=wsj_valettop_email

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johnjlocke
The biggest problem is that job descriptions sound like they were written by
HR. Sometimes there are numerous qualifications listed which are unnecessary
for the position.

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RougeFemme
A good suggestion from the article was to have 2 versions of a job description
- a longer one for performance evaluation and a shorter one for job postings.
It appears that most companies only have one version - the longer, tedious
version with the laundry list of Superman "requirements".

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esharef
Plug: If you want help writing a better job description, we're one of the
companies quoted in the article and can help you (HireArt). We do it for free
if you post a job on our site. It's pretty crazy how much of a difference it
can actually make. If you do it yourself, my biggest advice is: make it
memorable. Funny, sweet, crazy, whatever...but make it something people think
of even after they close the browser window. www.hireart.com

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jcrowe
I have to agree with the comment from johnjlocke. Also, many job descriptions
focus too much on providing a laundry list of requirements and don't touch on
what the role can mean for the candidate (how they can help the company
achieve its larger goals and how it can help the right candidate do
challenging things they love). Plug: We have a guide on our site gleaned from
experience helping to recruit and hire tech roles for our portfolio companies:
[http://labs.openviewpartners.com/boring-job-
descriptions/](http://labs.openviewpartners.com/boring-job-descriptions/)

Also, here's a list of three examples of great job descriptions from TLNT you
can check out: [http://www.tlnt.com/2012/08/02/three-awesome-examples-of-
gre...](http://www.tlnt.com/2012/08/02/three-awesome-examples-of-great-job-
descriptions/)

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normloman
Two of those three examples are horrendous. The second sounds like it's trying
too hard to sound "hip" while the third makes applicants complete a tedious
puzzle to apply. Using programming puzzles at the interview is bad enough.
Making candidates jump through all those hoops just to apply is insulting.

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toomuchtodo
You need a lot of "street cred" to use a puzzle in a job application. Google.
Dropbox. Facebook. Maybe Twilio. Anybody else? _immediately skip on to next
one_

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caseyohara
Joblint
([https://github.com/rowanmanning/joblint](https://github.com/rowanmanning/joblint))
points out "sexism, culture, expectations, and recruiter fails" in job
descriptions. Pretty clever.

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toomuchtodo
New Project: Scrape job boards to run through joblint.

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brackin
I saw some job postings on HN earlier that didn't talk about what the company
does. This is key!

