The first step in a successful recruiting, and hiring process is to write an engaging job description that motivates and hypes the candidates regarding the job title/ role. It is vital for your organization to be able to attract the best-qualified candidates for your available position.
The key to crafting good job descriptions is to strike the right mix between giving candidates enough information to understand the role and your firm while keeping your description concise.
As a recruiter or an HR representative, you should be able to attract all kinds of candidates for your job listing. Depending on the position, you will need to find older or younger, more experienced or less experienced, more educated or less educated candidates.
Indeed, some jobs are more suitable for candidates from particular backgrounds which is why you might have to attract millennials at one point or another. Hence, here’s how to write job descriptions to attract millennials.
Why should you aim to attract Millenials?
Millennials are typically inspired by organizations that have a clear vision and mission that they can relate to on a personal level. They want to know how their essential function fits into the business, as well as how the business affects society as a whole.
They are also driven by visible professional advancement options that demonstrate their good impact on the organization.
As mentioned above, some job positions will be more suitable for millennials. The suitability is mainly because of their age, millennials are able to give a different perspective on a discussion than those from older generations.
Another reason why you might want to attract millennials is that they will soon dominate the labor force. By 2025, millennials are predicted to be making 75% of the total employed population. In other words, it is absolutely essential for you to know how to attract them to your job listings and then successfully hire them.
It’s true that the way millennials use technology distinguishes them. They have a strong connection to the digital world.
This may be the first generation of workers to enter the workforce with a better understanding of major corporate technical tools than their elders.
Millennials are generally collaborative and love learning in groups, both face-to-face and through digital platforms such as webinars or interactive games, due to their familiarity with technology.
What are millenials defines by
Before you start writing job descriptions that attract millennials, you need to understand what millennials are like and what they are defined by. Here are just the main characteristics of millennials:
- They are more intuitive when it comes to technology because they pretty much grew up with it.
- One of the most impressive personality traits of millennials is that they are constantly looking for meaningful motivation. In other words, they want to be creative with their work or they want to make an impact on their community.
- They challenge the status quo and the hierarchy of their working environment, but they also want to connect with their superiors because they see their supervisors as mentors. They like working in a team and enjoy social interactions at work.
- They are willing to adapt and change and are often quite flexible and versatile. They also enjoy learning and getting feedback for their work.
Millennials are a diverse, well-educated generation that can contribute a variety of excellent qualities to a firm.
Businesses must adapt to new concepts in order to acquire and keep millennial candidates since they are more electronically advanced, socially aware, innovative, and empathetic than prior generations.
Pointers to keep in mind before writing a job description:
It is crucial to make sure that you provide the millennials with content in the job description that will not only attract them but also motivate them to put in their best efforts towards the attainment of personal and organizational goals.
Along with the information provided in the description, it is equally important to focus on the way the information is presented to the targeted candidates.
Below mentioned are essential pointers that would ease the process of writing well-written employee job descriptions and would lead to a smooth selection process that will also appeal to the next generation.
Use A Friendly Tone in Your Writing
While there are many things to consider when it comes to writing job descriptions that appeal to millennials, it is absolutely essential that you use a friendly tone for your job listings.
Millennials are not only looking for a “serious” company to work at where they will be valued as professionals – but they are also looking to connect with the company’s values.
And what better way to present these values than with your brand voice, something that directly reflects your brand image? If your brand voice is not usually friendly and casual (but rather professional and serious), you can still modify it a bit for your job descriptions.
Focus on Your Company Culture
Another way to showcase your brand values is by directly focusing on your company culture in the job description itself. Instead of only briefly covering what your company is like and what you do, you can also write a paragraph or two about the values your company has.
After covering the values, you can go even deeper and explain what these values are like within your company. What is the atmosphere at the workplace like? Is there a lot of teamwork? You could even include a quote from one of your employees about why they like working in a company culture like this.
Be Direct with Job Responsibilities
While writing all the necessary sections of your job description (such as the introduction, job requirements, job responsibilities, job specification, contact information, etc.), make sure to pay special attention to your job responsibilities section.
This section is particularly important because it needs to be as detailed as you can make it. Always be direct with the key responsibilities the person will have and how they will need to perform all their tasks.
If you are too vague in this section, potential candidates could be turned away simply because the job listing may seem suspicious to them.
Provide Opportunities for Career Growth
Because millennials want meaningful motivation and because they like learning, many of them want to have opportunities for advancing their careers. Your job, of course, is to provide these opportunities for career growth and facilitate their development plans.
As Cole Jefferson from the writing service reviews site Writing Judge says, “You need to explain what your company has to offer to them and why they should work with you.
If it’s a position that doesn’t really have many opportunities for growth, you could at least provide relevant training from time to time for improving prospective employee’s qualifications. If you do this at your company, you should definitely include this information in the job description.”
Explain the Importance of Their Role
Even if you describe all the advantages of working at your company and all the perks that come with the position you are offering, you should still explain the importance of this role. Millennials want to know what kind of impact they can have which is exactly why this matters to them so much.
Give them a clear idea of what the outcome of their actions will be and how this outcome will be meaningful. Perhaps they will be a valuable member of the team who will make sure that all their colleagues are feeling well mentally.
Or maybe they will be working towards improving the company’s eco-friendliness aspect. Whatever it is, they are the ones who will have to achieve it.
Prioritize Competence Over Experience
One thing many recruiters forget when writing descriptions are the ages of their potential candidates.
If their target audience is relatively young (like millennials), they likely won’t have all that much experience. On the other hand, there could still be many candidates who are well-educated and possess the right core skills (in other words, competent).
This is exactly why you need to prioritize competence over experience when writing a comprehensive job description for millennials.
If you ask for many years of experience to qualify for the job, you will likely be turning down dozens if not hundreds of potential candidates who could be perfect for the job. Instead, ask for particular skills that would show that the candidate is right for the job.
Make Your Job Description Visually Appealing
While it’s important to work on the text, you should also work on the visuals for your compelling job description.
If you want your job listing to stand out and be more appealing than other similar listings, you should add at least a single catchy image or even just a logo of your brand. However, if you want to be a little more inventive, here are other visuals you can add:
- Photos of your office and employees working there.
- A short video about your company and its achievements.
- An illustration with brands your company has worked with and some quotes from your past clients and/or current employees.
And, of course, make sure to format your text properly. Nobody likes having to read a long job description with no paragraph breaks, section headings, or bullet-point lists that would make it much easier to skim and process.
Consider a Bonus System
Though it’s necessary to offer a good salary to your potential candidates, you should still consider other perks you could provide to the one you hire.
One such option is a bonus system that you would have to briefly explain in your job description. It’s a great way to stimulate your employees and show potential candidates that you value their work and want to reward them for their efforts.
As Zoe Jackson from the custom writing reviews site Best Writers Online explains, “A bonus system doesn’t have to be complicated. You can offer cash rewards, discounts or gift cards, extra vacation days, etc. for the extra work or outstanding achievements of your employees.
Bonuses can motivate your employees and significantly improve your team’s performance, so they are definitely something you should consider at least once.”
Allow Different Employment Options
Something else you don’t necessarily have to offer but can still consider is the variety of employment options for your potential candidates.
Instead of only looking for someone who could work full-time, allow candidates to apply for the position as a part-time job or even as a remote job done entirely from home.
In addition to that, think about flexibility. Millennials are able to adapt quite well which is why they prefer flexible schedules instead of fixed ones. The same goes for vacation days and paid leave days.
Share Job Listings on Social Media
Last but not least, when looking for millennial candidates, it’s important to consider both the job description you write and the platform where you post it for the potential candidates to see. Without a doubt, social media platforms are the best place for sharing job listings that target millennials.
You can start with LinkedIn and then share your listings on Facebook or even Instagram. Alternatively, you can launch a paid ad campaign specifically on social media platforms while linking to the original job listing on a different platform.
Final Thoughts
It’s critical to highlight that if you want your job advertisement to appeal to Millennials, you must maintain their values and ambitions at the center of your efforts.
Remember that this generation values a pleasant working environment, a positive business culture, and the opportunity to learn and grow.
To attract brilliant and devoted individuals to your firm, you must focus on writing an engaging job description that appeals to Millennials and also should focus on their professional and personal demands.
Job descriptions are more than just a document; they’re also an integral part of the success of an HR structure as well as the overall organizational structure.
They sum up what a position’s purpose is, what it is expected to accomplish, and how those accomplishments will be assessed. As a result, if you want to attract millennials to your company, you must remain updated.
To sum up, writing well-written employee job descriptions specifically to attract millennials is possible as long as you plan out your steps from the beginning. You also need to keep in mind the distinctive characteristics that separate millennials from other age groups.
Use the tips from this article to help you create the best and most effective job description for your job listings that will attract millennials.
FAQ
What is the main purpose of a job description?
For a number of reasons, job descriptions are important. They are used for a wide range of purposes and fulfill some of the core functions of HR,
- including recruiting,
- calculating salary range and levels or grades,
- identifying job seekers and qualified job candidates,
- generating job titles,
- developing employee goals and objectives,
- and performing performance evaluations.
What makes a job description effective?
It is crucial to make sure, that the job description covers every single detail that may affect the interview process and hiring process. Thus to make sure that you don’t miss out on any essential information that must be included in the description, we have mentioned a bulleted list that must be included:
- describe the position’s duties and responsibilities,
- job title must be specified( eg: administrative officer, financial officer, center supervisor, etc )
- purpose,
- tasks and core responsibilities,
- needed qualifications desired and educational qualifications,
- and working circumstances
A job description not only explains the tasks of the position, but also lays the groundwork for attracting, developing, and retaining people, as well as setting the stage for optimal work performance by explaining responsibilities, expected outcomes, and performance evaluation.
To have advanced knowledge about the same, you can always refer to a number of job description templates and sample job descriptions, to make sure that you don’t miss out on any important information that must be included and that might affect the decision of the candidates.