The Art of MakingThe Art of MakingJob Descriptions Work for YouJob Descriptions Work for You

John GreerNW PDX Consulting

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpatrickgreer

The Magic FormulaThe Magic Formula

Be Engaging + Be Compelling + Be Informative

1. Attract the targeted audience2. Tap into a candidate’s sense of

purpose3. Use power descriptors!4. Pique interest, plant a seed, and let

it grow5. Paint a compelling day-to-day

picture6. Engage7. Call to action

As the name Job Description does and should imply, it’s meant to DESCRIBE the position!

In addition to communicating the necessary requirements, a well-crafted Job Description should answer the following questions:

What are the day-to-day responsibilities? What is the purpose of this role? (think IMPACT) What skills and experience are really needed? Why should a prospective candidate work with your

company? Maybe even, what will they learn?

Job Descriptions serve practical and strategic purposes, internally and externally.

It’s all fun and games until the OFCCP audit!

Just like a resume doesn’t encapsulate all of the candidate, the job description doesn’t tell the whole story about the opportunity.

Sure, it’s cool you want a super awesome AP Analyst with ninja like payments skills, who rocks Excel better than Superman flies and codes invoices like a boss, but what does that even mean? And if you know what it means, does the tone really match that of the role, department, environment, or what would likely attract the ideal candidate?

Unless you’re Google, don’t try and be Google!

The result is awkward, inauthentic, and worse, a failure to convey what you uniquely bring to the table.

Strive for consistent messaging without a one size fits all approach!

Crafting a job description isn’t just an exercise in creating writing

Know and speak to your audience

Unless you’re actually hiring a Ninja, it’s highly unlikely everything your job requires does so at Ninja level

Facts Tell, Stories Sell!

It’s not about a list of bullets. It’s a picture you’re creating of the contribution they have an opportunity to make and what

they’ll experience along the way.

Channel Your Inner

Job Description Writing Goldilocks!

Less Isn’t Always More…

Recently, a Recruiter from apparently what should be named, Boring Inc., reached out on LinkedIn and asked if I was interested in a Recruiter role in Virginia. (end of message)

The solution for appetites/thirsts that haven’t been made whet:

is not watering down my whiskey

Leave your laundry (list) at home!

Pick and Choose!

That’s why they call it work, and not Six Flags!

You’ve been assigned a new position, maybe with a new client group or Hiring Manager and want to know where to start…

My suggestion… at the beginning, which is the intake.

Refining along the way is very different from using a throw it against the wall approach and expecting back targeted results.

One of these… leads to the other

Be Inclusive & Exclusive!

A well crafted job posting should be to attract and engage the right talent, and discourage the wrong ones from applying. It should be inclusive enough to appeal to the targeted audience, yet exclusive enough to discourage irrelevant candidates from applying for a role for which they aren’t minimally matched.

And Remember:

Part of a targeted recruiting strategy, in combination with writing a well-crafted job description, is to have a marketing and posting plan that doesn’t include the cardinal sin of the “post-and-pray”.

The Right Tools + REAL RECRUITING = TA Excellence

A recipe for bland job descriptions It’s not the size of the applicant pool, but the quality of the

engaged candidates that matters Beware Black Holes Recruiters aren’t automatable Strike the balance between automation and humanity

If you don’t think this guy’s LI profile says anything…

Don’t just talk, SAY SOMETHING!

We’re seeking the best employee to do important things at a great company, who will use their vast experience to benefit the mission by making an impact and being awesome.

◦ Work within an agile software engineering team to create software application

software development includes: back-end & front-end, database development, UX design, REST APIs.

You will perform automation of development, buld, and testing process;

Must have good attention to detale.

Great Job Descriptions are a Branding Tool

Generate excitement Create a sense of urgency Show you’ve got exciting stuff

going on, note innovative projects, or highlight sexy technologies that would attract the type of geek you seek

Send the message your company is growing and has great opportunities, so check us out

have fun!

At Little Research Goes a Long Way:

Use a focus group to test a sampling Pull job descriptions from similar roles “Interview” recent hires & team Rock Stars Share the job description with people currently in that role: Does this depict the position accurately? What’s missing? Based on this JD, would they apply?

Now I know what you’re thinking…

What if my positions are non-technical? What if my positions are non-technical and more straight-forward in

nature, like an AP Analyst? This is all well and good in theory, but I need to do more in a day

than write and rewrite job descriptions. Is that all you do? Do you have to rewrite every job description, every time?

Takeaway Alert: Create & Maintain a Job Description Library!

Previous Descriptions Templates / Frameworks

Plug-n-Play Bullets

BEFORE AFTERRelentlessly protect the world’s information. Make a difference at Symantec. Across the globe, we are an ‘essential’ partner to both consumers and businesses of all sizes. We combine our talents, our brains, and our creative energy to reinforce our place as a world-class technical community.

In the Norton™ Engineering team you will develop products that will fight cybercrime worldwide and protects our customers' data and identities by developing innovative new Norton products and services that quickly detect and eliminate both current and emerging threats.

We at Symantec pride ourselves on taking an energetic and forward thinking approach to problem solving, so forward that we work to provide solutions to problems that will now never be because of our forward-thinking. We enable a team-oriented atmosphere for the rapid development of cutting edge mobile security software products. Our teams operate in a global mode, enabling more idea sharing and better solutions. Our modern, open, and technology-centered facilities (game rooms, and collaborate spaces) help release the creativity of our team members and the catered lunches and regular on/off site team building events create a culture of empowerment.Symantec seeks a technology-passionate mobile software engineer, iOS or Android. Our solutions need to be scalable and robust, as well as simple and easy for our end users. In that context, you will be expected to research and develop cutting edge technologies. We look for individuals with the ability to think and act quickly and collaborate in small, agile teams, while believing in code ownership and pride in a job well done. If you have a flair for creative problem solving, innovative skills, and delivering superior quality mobile applications, read further to learn about your mission, applying, only if you choose to accept the challenge.

BEFORE AFTER5+ years of industry experience Objective C or iOS DevelopmentExperience with 3rd party libraries and APIsUnderstanding of the full mobile development life-cycle

Those who have written their own iOS apps strongly preferred

Past experience developing in Mobile strongly preferred

Computer Science or equivalent degree

If there is no App for that, help Norton be the first to deliver it to the world. If there is, make sure the best one on the market comes from Norton

Work alongside highly skilled and experienced engineers to tackle some of the most challenging problems, taking lead on a major feature of the Mobile product line. Innovators get to experience ownership here

Research and suggest implementation of new technologies. We’re on the cutting edge and plan on keeping it that way!

If you have not figured it out yet, we’re running fast and hard. Come here and expect to get awesome things done!!

At least 2 years in mobile development (built more than just a flashlight on your phone)

Strong proficiency in Java and/or Objective-C, object oriented design and mobile technologies

Ideally you have contributed to an Open Source project and can point to your GitHub repository with pride

You know what continuous integration means, and believe automated testing is the path to happiness, and when you need to use manual, it’s for the sake of quality

Someone who thrives under pressure, is passionate about their craft, and hyper-focused on delivering excellence

Strong verbal and written communication skills are a must due to the dynamic nature of discussions with other engineering and product teams

We’re looking for self-starters, those who can work independently, as well as with and across teams. Extra points if you can drive the process, and have a deep understanding of architecture and design

BS/BA degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience

A Few More Pointers:

Refrain from using internal lingo/acronyms Use specific, though standard titles, (Oracle DBA instead of

generic Database Administrator or Ninja Database Dude) Keywords/SEO Adjust for the mobile revolution

Geek. Nerd. Tech-Junkie. They’re all pet-names to us. If you share our passion for all things technology, and are up for the challenge, come dare to dream, disrupt, and deliver! Developing cutting-edge Cloud technology takes the culmination and collaboration of bright, innovative, and talented people, along with forward-thinking leadership. We nurture an environment where people with a variety of thoughts, ideas and backgrounds, all guided by our Shared Values, come together to learn why Capital One is among the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

We are seeking highly creative and intellectually curious Cloud Engineers, at all levels, who are passionate about cutting-edge distributed computing. As part of a team that’s leading the next wave of disruption on a whole new scale, you will play an integral part in advancing Capital One’s Cloud eco-system and culture of technical excellence. You will champion the Cloud Management Platform (CMP), live and breathe Infrastructure Automation, support Hybrid Cloud Solutions, and display a strong understanding of Cloud-as-a-Service varieties: PaaS, IaaS, and SaaS. Creating the next generation of network-centric Cloud architectures, you will make a key contribution supporting end-to-end public Cloud Automation of application delivery, including Infrastructure provisioning and integration with Continuous Integration/Continuous Development (CI/CD) platforms, using existing and emerging technologies. The ideal candidate will have experience moving infrastructure to the Cloud!

Responsibilities & Expectations:Stealthily plan and lead the deployment of the cloud solution in a production environment Use your winning personality to influence broader Engineering groups in adopting Cloud technologies and processes

Develop scripts and glue code to integrate multiple software componentsAutomate the provisioning of environments pulling strings with Puppet, cooking up some recipes with Chef, or through Ansible, and the deployment of those environments using containers, like Docker or Rocket: (and for the love of automation, at least have some configuration management tool, through some version control)

Design and develop automation workflows, performing unit tests and conducting reviews to make sure your work is rigorously designed, elegantly coded, and effectively tuned for platform performance, and assessing the overall quality of delivered components

Strong verbal and written communication skills due to the dynamic nature of collaborations with customers, vendors, and other engineering, solving complex business problems together

Evaluate & build different compute frameworks for all tiers and while you don’t have to scale buildings, implementing scalable systems solutions is required

We’re looking for self-starters, those who can work independently, with and across teams. Establishing smooth running environments is paramount to your success, and happiness

Serious bonus points awarded for experience migrating on-site solutions to cloud based offerings, such as Amazon’s AWS

If you have not figured out yet this place is really running fast and hard. Looking to punch a clock? Turn back. Come here and expect to get things done!!

About You:Serious geek street cred if you have a robust portfolio on GitHub and/or Open Source contributions of which you are proud to share!

You’re fungible, and for that matter, fun!Discerning. You have a strong familiarity with a combination of the following: VMWare, KVM, OpenStack, CloudStack, Amazon, RightScale and various Cloud abstraction layers, and understand the importance of selecting the right technology tool for the task

Insatiably Curious. You ask why, you explore, you're not afraid to blurt out your crazy idea. You can work at a tiny crack until you've broken open the whole nut

Automator. You know what continuous integration means and believe automation is the path to happiness, knowing how to script/automate everything, from tests to environment provisioning

Do-er. You’re biased towards action. Expect to tell us what you’ve shipped and what’s floppedYou’re not intimated by challenges, even thriving in an unstructured environment where you’re empowered to make a difference. In that context, you will be expected to research and develop cutting-edge technologies, to accomplish your mission, should you choose to accept

You love learning new technologies and mentoring more junior engineersWhile a cape is optional, the uniform we’re seeking is someone super passionate about their craft, particularly all things Cloud and hyper-focused on delivering world-class solutions on an aggressive schedule. Is this you? If this is your version of a cape, continue to apply

Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, or Engineering; Master’s Degree Preferred5+ years’ with OOP concepts and scripting languages, (Python, Ruby, Perl), and frameworks (RAILS) 3+ years’ creating recipes with Chef, building cookbooks3+ years’ using cloud based hosting solutions (AWS-EC2/S3, Azure, Google Cloud)3+ years’ with automation tools for server provisioning and Open Source tools3+ years’ developing automation workflows and routines, using Open Source Tools (Chef, Puppet, Hudson), or Vendor Based Tools (HPSA/OO, vCAC, uDeploy)

3+ years’ with large-scale software implementation (high transaction volume, high-availability concepts)2+ years with Linux, server automation and scripting

We are looking for a Swiss-army-knife Full Stack Software Engineer to join our talented engineering team. Our stack is primarily Python, with some JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS on the front-end, so expertise in any or all of these areas is a strong plus... but not an absolute requirement. The only absolute requirement is a solid grasp of good software engineering principles and best practices, and a willingness, nay burning desire, to learn new things. If you understand the difference between a programmer and an engineer, we're speaking to you. We are a small, experienced team and everyone who works here has to be at the top of their game. The person we're looking for:

has a sense of intellectual curiosity and desire to learnis self-driven, actively looks for ways to add value, and knows how to get things doneis comfortable submitting JavaScript, HTML, and Python in the same pull requestvalues data and truth over egohas a strong sense of code craftsmanship, takes pride in the code they writesometimes spends more time on the unit tests than the actual application codehas good verbal communication and reasoning skills, including the ability to make a business case for technologyis not an a**hole

How to Apply:Write us an email convincing us why you might be a good fit, with a link to your LinkedIn and GitHub profiles (or other examples of past work). Part of our interview process is looking at your actual code, so show us what you're proud of and be prepared to talk about what you've learned from it. Emails with attachments get auto-filtered to the trash.This is an intermediate to senior-level position. It is a permanent and full-time, beginning as soon as we find the right person. You will work on-site in San Jose, California.

And a Few More Pointers:

Combine prose & bullets Be mindful of length – especially with prose It’s not a contest to see how many bullets you can make fit Thanks, Captain Obvious! If they’re bored reading the job description, just

imagine how they might imagine themselves actually performing the job!