A good job description is a filter, it should attract the right people and quietly repel the wrong ones. Most JDs do neither.
The rockstar tax
If your JD uses the word "rockstar," "ninja," or "unicorn," you'll pay for it in two ways: strong candidates skip it, and the ones who apply are optimizing for adjectives, not outcomes.
The three-part JD
- What the role looks like at 3 and 6 months. Concrete outcomes, not a task list.
- Must-haves and nice-to-haves in separate sections. Twelve must-haves is why you're not hiring.
- An honest comp band. Not "competitive." A range.
The compression test
Read your JD out loud. If you would not send it as a personal email to a strong candidate you already know, rewrite it.
The apply step
"Send a resume" is a bad ask. "Send a resume and a two-paragraph note on what you'd want to own in the first 6 months" is a filter that saves you 20 hours of screening.
Draft yours with the Job Description tool.