Expert: Chris Miller
Company: Malone Workforce Solutions
Phone: (502) 805-1577
Website: www.malonesolutions.com
Published on March 20th, 2026
| Most companies aren’t bad at writing job descriptions, they’re bad at writing job postings. If that distinction made you pause, you’re already on the right track. Job descriptions are internal documents. They are built for HR purposes—performance management, consistency, and compliance. That is great! You absolutely need those documents. But they’re written for people who already understand the company and the role. They often refer to internal acronyms and systems, include long lists of “must haves,” default to years of experience as a proxy for competence, and try to capture every possible task. Hint: if it includes “other duties as assigned,” references internal systems without explanation, or reads like a policy document, it’s internal and it should not be posted on the internet. Job postings, on the other hand, are marketing documents. They are designed so someone outside your company can quickly tell whether they should apply. A strong posting helps the right candidate see themselves in the role while signaling to the wrong candidates that this job isn’t for them. The best job postings paint a picture: what a typical day looks like, what success looks like early on, and how the role actually feels. Avoid jargon. Focus on skills and behaviors, not just credentials. Okay, so what can you do today to make your job postings better? 1.) Remove some bullet points. No more than four or five. Better yet, replace bullets with a short paragraph that explains what someone needs to do well on day one and what you’ll teach them. 2.) Have someone outside your company read the posting and describe the job back to you. If their description doesn’t match the role you’re hiring for, the posting isn’t doing its job. 3.) Revisit your “requirements”. Only list what someone truly must have. Requiring a medical degree for a doctor? Absolutely. Requiring a college degree for admin? Maybe, but be honest about why. Ask yourself what that requirement actually predicts. This goes double for years of experience. Time spent doing a job is not the same as skill at doing a job, and confusing the two shrinks your candidate pool fast. If the right people aren’t applying, your posting may be working exactly as written, just not as intended. |
