Writing the Ultimate Tech Job Description

For many organizations, the Job Description is the starting point of fulfilling an open position. But not you. You’re different because you want to find the right candidate whose skills and dedication contribute to your organization’s overall goals for years to come. 

You started with the Outcome-Driven Job Description process and have prepared an effective and role-changing internal document your entire team, including your new hire, benefits from starting on day one.

But even before that, you’ll use it to create the most effective marketable Tech Job Description you’ve ever written. 

What Makes a Strong Tech Job Description

A typical format for a job description is a quick overview of the role and company, a list of job duties and an even longer list  of skills and qualifications. Most are boring and look the same. Often there is very little thought in how its constructed with purposeless jargon throughout.

At Poly Tech Talent, our decades of experience attracting candidates to IT roles tells us that there is a lot more to writing a strong job description that attracts the right talent to your winning team.

Incorporate these seven tips into your next job description to experience better search results.

Treat Your Job Description Like an Advertisement

Your forward-facing Job Description can create excitement and vision by the way it is written. You don’t need to stick with the cookie cutter format if you and your position aren’t cookie cutter – and even if it is. 

Don’t get caught in the clutter as they say. Like an advertisement is meant to increase awareness and create action, your job description should do the same. Make it as attractive and exciting as possible incorporating the prospect into the story. Let the job description excite the candidate by communicating what’s in it for them.

Once you get the attention of your target audience, ensure you add a clear call to action so they can easily click and turn in their resume. 

Ensure Your Job Description is Accurate

Many times a bad hire can be traced back to the original job description. And bad hires are expensive. Your best line of defense is to create a very accurate job description. This not only ensures your prospect meets the skills required, it also sets the stage for them to know what to expect from the opportunity.

When new-hire expectations are way off due to an inaccurate job description, you will find yourself back at the beginning of the search.

We recommend incorporating the Outcome-Drive Job Description process into all your new roles. This process ensures you have thoroughly thought through the role you are hiring for and leads you to a very accurate portrayal of the duties and opportunities that go with it. 

Start the Job Description with You and Yours

Your prospect doesn’t care about your organization … yet. They care about what’s in it for them. Don’t start your job description with a description of your organization and who you are. Start with what’s in it for the candidate. Tell them what the opportunity brings to them and their career growth.

A good practice is to use You and Yours throughout the description so your prospect already feels part of the story and can truly visualize why they should pursue this opportunity. If you find yourself using, We and Us, pause and rethink how you are approaching this job description to focus more on the candidate.

Talk to the IT Candidate You Want To Interview

An effective IT job description sounds like the person you want to hire. If you want to attract someone creative because your new position requires innovation and creative problem solving skills, then make the job description creative.

If you need a more traditional candidate, for example an engineer that is not inventing new applications but rather tweaking an existing software, then build a more traditional job description with traditional words.

Always stay on brand to let your culture come through in the job description, but consider the type of person who will be applying for this position and write your description as though you are talking to them.

Include Salary if Appropriate

You can weed through many disinterested candidates based on salary by including it in your job description. If you can add it, you should.

Make You Job Description Attractive to Online Searches too

You’ve worked hard to make your Tech Job Description exciting and attractive to your target candidate, but you need to make it attractive to online search engines as well. Ensure your online job title is something someone is actually searching for.

For example, if your company uses creative role titles such as, Chief Problem Solver or Head of Client Happiness, this is something you’ll definitely want to include in your Job Description as it shows the type of culture you have created. But, those titles may not be what IT candidates are searching for as they sit down to look for that next new opportunity online.

Creating a searchable job title to go with your more creative one in your tech job description ensures your prospects can find your listing online.

Start with an Outline

Not every IT Job Description will need to communicate the same things. We recommend starting with an outline to get you on the right track to keep your information accurate and organized.

Our starting job description outline includes:

  • Searchable Headline
  • Creative Headline
  • Your Focused Job Description – We transfer the position’s Major Goal here. Qualifications are necessary but this way opens you up to finding a candidate that might be right for the role even though a certain skill box isn’t checked.
  • What You’ll Do in a Day
  • What You Bring to the Role
  • Next Steps & What to Expect From the Interview Process

View a sample here at the end of our Outcome-Driven Job Description sample. This is a solid outline and can be used for most positions. But think about what your candidates need to hear and tweak the outline accordingly.

Quality of the search and results are very different when you have a strong IT Job Description from the start. And your confidence about going to market with your new role will skyrocket after this process. To learn about all the benefits and steps to the Outcome-Driven Job Description click through to our guide and downloadable workbook here.

Visit some of our favorite job descriptions and why we love them here.

At Poly Tech Talent we walk our clients through the Outcome-Driven Job Description to ensure they have the strongest foundation for their new position’s search. We’d love to team up and do the same for you. Contact us here to learn more.