A JD that can find Yoda!

The Job Description should be an easy hint for a smart candidate to tweak her resume and prepare for the interview. It may sound controversial, but, I believe if someone is actually able to do that and crack the interview, they are worthy of an offer. :-)

Rant: Most Startup JDs I come across are poor copy-paste jobs of a lazy junior recruiter being coerced into doing it by the hiring manager (the actual person hiring for the role). If you haven't thought about it yet - the job description is your first impression, your first interaction with a potential hire. JDs are not supposed to be outsourced to a recruiter, it should be taken up by the hiring manager/founders themselves and should be the first step to the entire hiring process. Which means you start with JD and map the entire hiring process for the role accordingly. End of rant.


Here's my simple checklist that is good for any Job Description - Tech/Ops/Product/Mktg.

1. Exciting things about the company (Readable - 100 words - short paragraphs)
• Describe in 100 to 150 words divided into short paragraphs
• Describe how you are challenging the status quo in the industry, world
• What's been your startup's achievements so far
• What's been the impact and what is the potential impact of the work you do
2. Exciting things about the role, what a person gets to do, what's the potential impact this role can have on the product, the team or the company
• List of 3 to 5 Bullets
• Don't be too salesy - you should set the right expectations
• Mention your products( for PMs), technology (for Techies) you work on, clients (for Sales) you work with, tools or anything that is relevant for the role in context.
3. Perks and Benefits
• Bullet list of 4 to 8 points
• Include Both monetary and non-monetary benefits (like generous leave policy, food, insurance, etc.)
4. Eligibility (Qualifications, Experience level, Location, Nationality, Gender)
• Be as clear as it gets.
• If you are looking for premier college graduates only, please mention that upfront. Personally, I find that a discriminatory criterion, but being honest helps both you and the candidate.
• It helps to mention which criteria are hard and which ones are flexible. Is it B.E./B.Tech/MCA or only B.Tech.
5. Expectations (from an Ideal Candidate)
• Bulleted is better, 5-7 points are usually enough, beyond 10 is unreadable
• Put both Mandatory skills and the Good-to-have ones
• Being reasonable and clear is expected. If you are not going to ask someone to handle P&L, don't put that in expectations. It works both ways, the candidate will also expect to work on stuff that you put under expectations.
• It is understood that expectations may not match 100% with someone's skills and experience so keep room for that.

As I mentioned earlier, the interview process and type of questions should map to the job description. If you expect a person to work in ambiguity and don't evaluate for that skill - it would be such a waste of opportunity.

If this was helpful, please do leave a comment for the author.