How to Write Great Job Descriptions

The "About Us"

Updated 5 years ago

Why should people want to work at your company?

Unless you work for a corporate megagiant, most people reading your job description will know zero about who you are and what your company does.

How do you tell them in a way that’s concise and engaging? We’ve developed two methods that consistently work. Experiment with both and pick the one that suits your style.

Two Sentences

  • What industry you are in and what your company / product does

  • What your work environment is like (closed office, cubicles, open floor plan, nerf balls flying around, library-like silence, etc.)

  • Your mission / what your company is trying to accomplish

  • Some relevant statistics about your success and/or market position

  • How big you are (number of employees, revenue, years in business, etc)

  • Key aspects of your culture and values

  • Bios of veteran leadership

Examples:

Wormhat is 120 employees working together to make the world cleaner by developing and producing the world’s best vacuum cleaners. We sold 50,000 units last year from our sunny, pet friendly office in the SOMA and still found time for weekly lasertag.

Foghorn is Cleveland’s premier gentleman’s club, voted #1 by Cleveland Weekly and Hustler Magazine. We provide a tasteful upscale experience featuring the hottest new music (no Motley Crue here) to over 6000 guests weekly.

Catawumpus is made up of 20 crazy cat ladies and men who share our love of animals by providing pet centered boarding and in-home care. With 5 stars on Yelp and a “Best Of” award from Nuvo, we are Indianapolis’ favorite pet sitting service.

Four Bullet Points

  • Bullet 1: The name of your company, hyperlinked to your website followed by a simple (ideally one sentence) description of who your customer is and what your service does for them.

  • Bullet 2: What makes your company special / why people should pay attention - ideally pointing at traction, results, or unique benefits.... sometimes you just explain how it works if you don't have numbers to point at.

  • Bullet 3: The money - if you are profitable, say so.  Explain how you make money.  If you don't make money, point at who is behind your venture and leverage their brands.  99% of people care that you are a real business that solves a real problem.

  • Bullet 4: The inspiration / vision / mission. Explain where you are going an why.  Given them a reason to read the rest of your job description and inspire them to apply.

Examples:

  • Shop It To Me is the #1 online personal shopping service. We recommend 2+ billion products to 4+ million active subscribers every month. We are profitable, growing and on our way to completely disrupting the ecommerce industry by making shopping the easiest, most personalized experience you’ve ever seen

  • Here’s how it works: You tell us your favorite brands (Tory Burch, Rebecca Minkoff, 600+ others) and preferences (size, price). Then we scour the internet every day and let you know when things you want go on sale

  • We make money whenever people buy something. Our service has been called "addictive" and "dangerous"

  • Everyone loves a sale – join us and help our millions of adoring fans access the products they crave

  • Taulia empowers global 2000 firms to make $10+ million/year by offering to pay suppliers ahead of schedule if they agree to discount their invoices.

  • Our team previously built and exited Ebydos, a leading accounts payable software solution we sold to 600+ enterprises.

  • We are well funded by great investors and are already working with big, paying customers whose products you likely use every day.

  • We’re small, selling fast and growing even faster.  Join us in our headquarters in scenic San Francisco, CA

  • Tagged is the #1 place to make new friends online. Every day 3 million new friend connections are made on our site.

  • We help people make friends and have fun.  Sometimes people find that special someone on Tagged - whether they’re down the block or on the other side of the world.

  • Founded in 2004, we are now a team of 60 and have over 100 Million registered users.  We’ve been (highly) profitable since 2008.

  • Join us and help make the world a smaller, more connected place where people have more fun!

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