How to Write a Job Description: A Practical Guide
A job description does three jobs: it attracts the right candidates, it sets expectations for the person you hire, and it protects you if the role ever becomes disputed. Most job descriptions fail at all three because they’re written in a hurry, copied from a competitor, or stuffed with wish-list requirements nobody meets.
This guide covers how to use the Job Description Template properly, when you need one, how to complete each section so it actually works, and the mistakes that cost you good candidates.
When to Use This
Write or update a job description whenever a role is created, significantly changed, or being recruited for. “Significantly changed” means the core responsibilities shifted, not that someone got a new laptop.
You also need one when a role has never been formally documented. In small companies, people accumulate responsibilities organically until nobody can say what the job actually is. That’s when performance conversations get vague and hiring for a replacement becomes guesswork. If you can’t describe the role in a page, you don’t understand it well enough to hire for it.
Review existing descriptions annually, or when the team restructures.
How to Fill It Out
Section 1: Role basics. Job title, department, reporting line, location, and employment type (full-time, part-time, contract). Be precise about the title, it’s the first filter candidates apply. An inflated title (“Customer Success Ninja”) confuses search algorithms and serious applicants. Use the title people in your industry actually search for.
State the salary range or band if your jurisdiction requires it, and consider stating it regardless. Listings with salary ranges get significantly more qualified applicants. Hiding pay wastes everyone’s time.
Section 2: Purpose of the role. One or two sentences answering: why does this job exist? What problem does it solve for the business? This is the most-skipped section and the most important for attracting candidates who care about impact. “Manage the company’s social media accounts” is a task list. “Build our brand presence so inbound leads grow 30% this year” is a purpose.
Section 3: Key responsibilities. List five to eight core responsibilities, ordered by importance and time spent. Each one should start with an action verb and describe an outcome, not just an activity. “Responsible for reporting” is vague. “Produce the monthly sales report by the 5th working day, highlighting variances over 10%” is a responsibility someone can be measured against.
Resist the urge to list everything. If the list runs past ten items, you’re describing two jobs or you haven’t prioritised. The responsibilities section becomes the backbone of performance reviews later, every vague bullet is a future argument.
Section 4: Required skills and experience. Split this into “must have” and “nice to have.” Be ruthless about the must-haves: every requirement you list shrinks your candidate pool. Ask of each one: “Would I reject an otherwise excellent candidate who lacks this?” If the answer is no, it belongs in “nice to have” or nowhere.
Avoid proxy requirements. “Five years of experience” is a proxy for competence, a brilliant person with three years beats a mediocre one with seven. Describe the capability you need, not the calendar time.
Section 5: What you offer. Candidates are evaluating you too. Cover compensation, benefits, working arrangements, and development opportunities honestly. Don’t write “fast-paced environment” when you mean “chronically understaffed.” The mismatch will cost you the hire within six months.
Common Mistakes
1. The wish list. Listing fifteen required skills guarantees you’ll either hire nobody or ignore your own criteria and hire on gut feel. Both outcomes make the description pointless. Five genuine must-haves beat fifteen aspirational ones.
2. Copying a competitor’s posting. Their role isn’t your role. Their team, tools, and expectations differ. A copied description produces mismatched hires who were sold a job that doesn’t exist at your company.
3. Gendered or exclusionary language. Words like “aggressive,” “dominant,” or “ninja” skew applicant pools male. “Supportive,” “collaborative” skew female. Neither is intentional, but the effect is real. Write neutrally: describe the work, not a personality type.
4. No salary information. Even where not legally required, omitting pay signals you’re either underpaying or disorganised. It also means you waste interview cycles on candidates whose expectations you can’t meet.
Who Needs to Sign Off
The hiring manager drafts it, HR reviews for consistency and legal compliance (especially around equal-opportunity language and salary bands), and the department head approves the final version. For senior or specialist roles, have someone currently doing similar work read it, they’ll spot inaccuracies the manager missed.
How Often to Review and Update
Update the description every time you recruit for the role, even if you think nothing changed, read it with fresh eyes. Do a full review of all descriptions annually. Roles drift; the description should be recalibrated before the drift becomes a problem.
Download the free Job Description Template.