Howdy GirdleyWorld!
In today’s issue, I want your opinion, then I’ll give you mine:
- 8 principles to write a killer job description
Here we go!
---
“I can’t hire good people!”I hear my friends say this all the time.
But then I look at their job descriptions, and they’re frickin’ terrible.
So let me help you out. I employ about 600 people across a dozen companies, and I’ve learned a few things about writing compelling job descriptions.
I recently hired a video producer, so I’ll use his job description as an example to walk you through 8 things you can do better.
- Make the job title sexy
When my team and I first wrote up the role, the job title was something like Manager of Video Content.
It’s accurate but not exciting. This person will be making important decisions and having a significant impact. And you want your ideal candidate thinking, man, this is the perfect job for me.
So we tweaked it. Head of Video Strategy.
It’s the same job, but this one looks way better on a resume. And that gets people excited.
The principle of making the job sexy applies all the way through, but make sure you get it right off the top. Otherwise, nobody’s reading the rest anyway.
- Talk about the candidate first
A crappy job listing starts by talking about the company. This is what we do, where we are, the market we’re in, yada yada yada.
Applicants want to feel seen. So make the first section about them. Here’s ours:
Who You Are: You are a proactive, assertive, take-charge person who loves to think ahead. You want a fast-paced environment with plenty of room to achieve goals with independence and freedom.
Note that this is who they are, not what they’ve done. We’re not saying “college-graduate, X years of experience”. It’s about how you’re wired.
And you want people wired for the job. If this were for an accountant, I’d use words like precise, organized, and methodical, which would attract the candidates I’m looking for.
- Why should someone take the job?
You want your pick of the best people on the market. But the best people can choose their jobs. So sell them on the opportunity you’re providing.
Paint a mission that will inspire them, make them feel good, and look great on their resume. What does the ideal candidate get out of this?
Here’s ours:
The Opportunity: You will lead us to success in Girdley Media’s video efforts across YouTube, X, and other channels. Expect to work daily with Michael Girdley (Chairman) and Ty Deemer (CEO) with plenty of mentorship to maximize your success. We’d love a smart, hungry person to take this role and, over the next few years, become the top 0.1% in how to win in the social video space and learn what we know about business along the way.
- Be real.
People don’t trust organizations anymore. So the more sales-y your pitch, the more people will get suspicious. They want to work with people who will be real with them.
So explain yourself in normal language. Don’t try to spin it so you’re the second coming.
Who We Are: We teach entrepreneurship via entertaining content on X, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. We are a small, tight, fully-remote team that believes in being straight-shooting, coachable, never doing anything scummy, and always staying curious. Results matter to us. We have fun on an inspiring mission and treat people as humans first and foremost.
- Filter for smart.
You want smart, caring people who take ownership. I include language in my job description to try to attract those people. Words like strategize and architect — these are tasks that require some brainpower.
What You’ll Do:
Strategize, architect, and manage all our social video efforts.Grow the quality and reach of our content via data analysis.Own production of GirdleyWorld show and Acquisitions Anonymous Podcast.Source and manage relationships with contractors and suppliers.Seeing real work and responsibility for outcomes will also filter out people who just want to clock in and out.
- Make the job accessible.
We’ve built our company fully remote. Not everybody can do that. So I want to hire from wherever the talent is. You work where you want.
Details:
This is a full-time salaried job. No agencies or part-timers, sorry. Work from anywhere (US or anywhere)— North American work hours.
That gives me a massive talent pool of people to choose from. And sure, maybe it’s a little harder for me to manage them, but I’ll take great people over someone in my office any day.
What’s more, teams of people who think differently from each other just do better.
- Give specific next steps.
Our job description ends with these instructions. (And just to reiterate: we are not currently hiring, please don't send Ty videos!)
To apply:
Record a 1-minute video introducing yourself. Explain why you’re a good fit. Send it to @tydeemer on Twitter/X.Email your resume and relevant portfolio to ty@girdley.com with the subject line: Your Name, Girdley Media Producer Role.
When somebody works for you, they need to be able to follow instructions correctly. So if they can’t follow explicit instructions, that’s an immediate and automatic filter for capable candidates.
I’ve been doing the one-minute video request for a while, and I love it. Anyone with a cellphone can do it.
- Leave them hungry for more.
I see tons of job descriptions that are pages and pages long. This is not meant to be a book. You don’t have to put the whole thing in there.
I worked to make this a one-page description. I edited, simplified, and boiled it down to just the essentials.
The goal is to get your rockstar candidates interested enough to take the next step.
A couple of bonuses
There are two other things I do that get me great candidates.
First, I make a video. The team and I talked about the role, like real people, describing what we’re looking for, why the job matters, and what success looks like.
Once you’ve written the job description, you can probably do this in about 10 minutes. It doesn’t have to be polished — a casual video is better since it will give candidates a better sense of who you are.
Second, don’t ignore the cover letter. A “cover letter” could be many different things: your LinkedIn or X posts about it, an email blast about the job, or even how you frame the job to people. Make sure you can talk about the job in a way that excites people.
I have an advantage here because of my social media reach, but spreading the word is powerful at any size.
The more people you can excite about the opportunity, the more likely they will tell their networks.
If you want to see the job description in one place, here’s the Google Doc!
