Finding top talent is tough; writing great job descriptions is one way you can start attracting the candidates you want for your organization. It is no longer enough to list out basic job duties and qualifications, candidates want to know how their work will make an impact and how they’ll be able to grow professionally. With over 60 years in the workforce solutions industry, we’re sharing how to write a job description that attracts top talent.
Show How the Position Brings Value
To show how the position brings value, start thinking of job descriptions as “impact descriptions” instead of a list of duties and qualifications. You’ll want to show the candidate how the position brings value to the company’s overall goals and how the role brings value to the candidate’s professional development.
Generic job descriptions tend to fade away after a seemingly endless list of bullet points that don’t stick in the candidate’s memory. Your job description’s closing section is the final pitch to top talent before they decide to apply. This is where you can highlight specifics about what makes your company unique. Don’t be afraid to summarize what your company does to help employees grow and excel in their roles, showcase your company culture, and corporate social responsibility.
Show How the Position Leads to Growth
Show how the position leads to growth by turning the generic list of functions and duties into action items. For example, instead of saying something like “Have the ability to lead a team,” try, “You will lead a team to increase sales and revenue for the company.” Making the functions actionable gives the candidate a better understanding of the position and lets them begin imaging themselves in the role.
Candidates want to grow in their role and at their company. Showing how the position has actionable steps will lead to more qualified candidates applying. Top talent is top talent for a reason, they’ve spent time investing in their growth and development, and they want to be in a company that values that growth as well.
Avoid Generic Job Descriptions
When you copy and paste generic job descriptions, candidates will know it. Whether you’ve copied a template and inserted info relevant to your company or copied off an old job description, candidates will be less likely to apply.
Many candidates say generic job descriptions also tend to be unclear. A recent study found that 72% of employers thought they had accurate and clear job descriptions, while 36% of candidates thought the opposite in the same survey. Generic job descriptions also don’t focus on the uniqueness of your company; they could apply to any company – hence generic.
Today’s candidates want to know more about your company that just what will be required of them in the position. Candidates want to know where the company stands on growth, career development, and how they can make an impact in the role. Writing job descriptions that highlight the role beyond the basic functions is more likely to attract qualified, top talent.
About EG Workforce Solutions
We’ve been in this business for decades and have developed a deep network of professional connections. Whether they’re companies looking for talent, job seekers looking for work, or an up-and-coming store in need of some temporary help, we know the right people to bridge the gap between the hiring and the hired.
But what’s more, we get to know people. From employers hiring to candidates looking, we take the time to listen and learn. We hear your likes, talents, and needs. We gain an understanding, and with it, we’re able to facilitate lasting relationships between businesses and people.
You may be thinking, why do you need a personal brand? What even is a personal brand? EG is here to tell you! A personal brand creates a specific “look and feel” about yourself you want to portray professionally or to hiring managers. You need a personal brand because it helps you stand out from the other applicants. We’re sharing our five steps to create a personal brand that will help you grow professionally or land that new job.
Determine Who You Are
Before you begin developing your personal brand, you have to first determine who you are. Start by asking yourself these questions:
– What are my differentiating skills?
– What are my values?
– What am I passionate about? What am I not passionate about?
– How has my past experience shaped me?
– What are my professional goals?
By answering these questions, you’ll start gaining insights into who you are professionally, where you want your career to go, and what you bring to a potential job. It’s crucial you determine what matters most to you and what motivates you at your core before creating your personal brand.
Determine What You Want to Accomplish
Next, you’ll need to determine what you want to accomplish with your personal brand. Is it a promotion? A new job? A career change? Consider asking yourself these questions:
– What are my career goals?
– What do I want to be known for?
– What messages do I want to communicate as an expert?
– If I could be an expert in anything related to my industry, what would it be?
When you answer these questions, you’ll further establish who you are, what you want to accomplish, and what your personal brand will look like.
Determine Your Unique Value Proposition
When you determine your unique value proposition, you can essentially summarize your personal brand into a single, compelling, impactful statement that describes you to your boss or hiring manager. Here are a few examples of unique value proposition statements:
– I help (target audience) achieve (X) through my expertise in (skillset).
– My experience in (skillset) delivers (X outcomes) for (target audience).
It’s important to note that your unique value proposition doesn’t need to say everything about your personal brand; it just needs to be memorable and impactful. So staying concise and to the point is a best practice when writing your unique value proposition.
Develop Your Look and Feel
Now that you’ve created your unique value proposition and know what you want your personal brand to accomplish, it’s time to develop the look and feel you want your brand to convey. This includes:
– Creating a logo
– Develop a brand voice
– Write an “About” yourself statement
You can create these pieces on your own using online templates and design tools, or you can hire a professional freelancer to assist. It’s important not to skip this piece since it’s visually and emotionally going to convey who you are to a hiring manager before they ever meet you.
Start Treating Yourself like Your Brand
With the above steps completed, it’s time to start treating yourself like your brand. This means that every interaction or communication you have with your manager or hiring manager reflects that personal brand.
The goal is to show yourself as an impactful, compelling brand. You constantly reinforce your Unique Service Proposition in everything you do.
Creating a personal brand is a great way to stand out from other candidates if you’re in a job search or move towards your career goals at your current position. Following these five steps to create a personal brand will help you think beyond creating a flashy logo or fancy resume – it helps you get to the core of who you are and what you want to professionally offer.
About EG Workforce Solutions
We’ve been in this business for decades and have developed a deep network of professional connections. Whether they’re companies looking for talent, job seekers looking for work, or an up-and-coming store in need of some temporary help, we know the right people to bridge the gap between the hiring and the hired.
But what’s more, we get to know people. From employers hiring to candidates looking, we take the time to listen and learn. We hear your likes, talents, and needs. We gain an understanding, and with it, we’re able to facilitate lasting relationships between businesses and people.
Many employees joke about their dislike or even dread annual performance reviews. Here at EG, we don’t blame them. Trying to think back over what an employee did during the past twelve months isn’t productive and won’t lead to a meaningful conversation about professional growth and goals. Instead, we subscribe to the idea of holding frequent performance reviews – in fact, we hold bi-weekly check-ins with our team. We’re sharing our four reasons you should be doing frequent performance reviews and why this approach will benefit your employees’ professional growth and development.
You Can Set Strategic Goals
Employees with goals are motivated and engaged employees – especially employees who have leadership backing up those goals! By having frequent reviews or check-ins with your employees, you can set strategic goals that help them grow professionally and personally while helping your company’s bottom line. When employees get to be invested in their goals, they are far more likely to be motivated to complete them.
On the leadership side, you’ll gain a better understanding of your workers’ strengths and growth areas. You can see how their performance is progressing over relatively short periods of time. This is much easier to track than trying to look back at their growth over the past twelve months.
You Can Identify Training Needs
While you take time to onboard an employee when they first join your company, the training shouldn’t stop there. Sometimes, multiple employees will struggle in a particular area of your business. There could be several reasons why; the processes they created may not be working well, they may be lacking the necessary tools or software needed, or this may have been an area that never had proper training on.
By checking in with your employees frequently, you can identify training needs. When there is regular communication, your employees will be more likely to bring up areas where they may need additional training or resources to perform their job. This can also help fill gaps for new hires as they onboard since you’ll gain insight on pain points your current employees are experiencing.
You Can Keep Your Employees Engaged
Frequently checking in with your employees allows you to evaluate their level of engagement. While employee engagement seems like a “buzz word” thrown around a lot these days, it’s actually one of the top HR concerns. Low levels of employee engagement can cause ripple effect problems in your workplace, including reduced productivity, negative attitude among employees, and growth and development will slow or even stop. This all hurts your company’s bottom line, so, having engaged employees is crucial to your business success.
You Can Gain Insight on Your Own Leadership
These check-ins will give you insight into your own leadership. At EG, we believe frequent performance reviews should be a two-way street between the employee and manager. During this time of open and honest communication, take the time to ask your employees to provide feedback on your managerial skills. It’s important to know how you stand as a manager since a Gallup Poll found that 75% of people will voluntarily leave a job because of their boss. Employees will rally behind good leaders, which will lead to higher productivity, engagement levels, and healthier company culture.
It’s time to re-think annual performance reviews. These check-ins are regularly scheduled meetings; we do ours bi-weekly at EG, which provides time for managers and their direct supports to have an open dialogue on any questions, concerns, or ideas they have. These meetings are designed to keep managers and workers engaged and on the same page.
About EG Workforce Solutions
We’ve been in this business for decades and have developed a deep network of professional connections. Whether they’re companies looking for talent, job seekers looking for work, or an up-and-coming store in need of some temporary help, we know the right people to bridge the gap between the hiring and the hired.
But what’s more, we get to know people. From employers hiring to candidates looking, we take the time to listen and learn. We hear your likes, talents, and needs. We gain an understanding, and with it, we’re able to facilitate lasting relationships between businesses and people.
Job searching can be challenging, often even frustrating if you’ve been applying and either not landing an interview or job offer. There are ways to help give your job search a boost though! It’s all about finding ways to stand out against other candidates. We’re sharing three habits that increase your chances of getting hired.
Keep Your Job Search Organized
Many successful job seekers approach a job search by staying organized and disciplined. The first step to keep your job search organized is to create a file with all of your job-related documents. This file would include your updated resume, cover letter, and a spreadsheet of jobs you’ve applied for.
The next step is to continually update your resume and cover for each job you apply for as well as the spreadsheet with your applications. You’ll want to note which jobs you’ve heard back from, which ones have an interview scheduled, and which ones you haven’t heard back from. Taking these steps to stay organized will help you stay on top of your job search, give you insight into what stage of the hiring process your application may be at, and help keep you from getting overwhelmed.
Have a Sense of Humility
It’s important to remember you don’t know it all – have a sense of humility and be coachable in your job search. While you’ll want to be sure to highlight your experience and accomplishments on your resume, be careful not to come across as boastful or like you have no room to learn. This will turn off hiring managers, and more than likely, your application will go into the “no” pile.
You’ll also want to be coachable while job searching. Lean on your peers or mentor to give you advice or let them review your resume for proofing. Make sure you actually listen to the advice you’re given and take their suggestions seriously.
Know What You’re Actually Applying For
Instead of just filling out mass applications for jobs, know what you’re actually applying for. Take the time to read the full job description so you know the qualifications and responsibilities so you can evaluate if the job truly interests you and if you’d be a good fit. While you don’t need to match every qualification listed perfectly, you’re probably not going to be contacted for an interview if too much of your past experience doesn’t match.
There is no “right number” of jobs you will apply for; this is different for each person. Instead of focusing on the quantity of applications you submit, concentrate on applying for jobs that you’ve evaluated as a good potential fit for yourself. Some actions you may want to take before you applying:
– Read the job description from start to finish.
– Identify what makes this job posting attractive to you.
– Decide whether you could reasonably do this job by reviewing examples from your background that demonstrate the required – skills and qualifications.
– Take note of any instructions on how to apply.
– Once you’ve started the application, carefully read and answer any questions.
– Double-check your responses before you submit.
Take charge of your job search by implementing these habits. You’ll see a difference in your mindset and in the outcome of some of your applications. You’ll end the job search frustration by keeping your job search organized, staying humble and coachable, and focusing on quality over quantity by evaluating each job you apply for.
About EG Workforce Solutions
We’ve been in this business for decades and have developed a deep network of professional connections. Whether they’re companies looking for talent, job seekers looking for work, or an up-and-coming store in need of some temporary help, we know the right people to bridge the gap between the hiring and the hired.
But what’s more, we get to know people. From employers hiring to candidates looking, we take the time to listen and learn. We hear your likes, talents, and needs. We gain an understanding, and with it, we’re able to facilitate lasting relationships between businesses and people.