As a hiring manager, you may have recently been given the okay to hire new people for your team. What steps will you take to ensure that your job descriptions stand out amid all the other similar open positions on the market?

Your job posting needs to sell to potential employees your group, your mission, and the key function that the job plays in your company's success. Your company's public image also benefits when its advertised positions seem to be exciting and interesting. Before you begin crafting your next job advertisement, check out the following tips on how to write engaging and stellar job postings.

Postings that sell, and postings that don't

In your search for the perfect candidate, take a moment to review your current job postings. See whether you or members of your team find the text compelling and descriptive. Remember, in order to successfully market your job, you'll need to answer the following four questions:

• What is my team's mission and charter?
• Why is this opportunity unique and exciting?
• How does this role make an impact inside and outside our company?
• Have you built a profile in your job posting that will net a candidate with the right skills and competencies?

It's also important to look at the job posting from the applicant's point of view. When writing a job description:

• Be precise about what the job entails   The posting is the first impression of the opportunity. It will either grab the attention of a potential candidate, or it won't.
• Be honest and forthright   Sometimes, job postings are not representative of the true responsibilities of the position.

Once you've answered these questions and have a profile for the type of employee you want to attract, you'll need to compose the posting.

Take a look at the following two network engineer job postings.

Example 1: A typical job posting for a Network Engineer

Network Engineer  
The candidate will provide Tier 2/3 engineering and support for routing and switching equipment used at our company's intranet and Internet Data Centers. This network is a global multiprotocol network that uses state-of-the-art routing and switching equipment migrating from older legacy systems. Support extends to include planning sessions and produce LAN/WAN designs for local and remote customer locations, validating customer requirements, capacity planning, network design, technical specifications, networking product selection, carrier provisioning, and project scheduling and program management. This person will work closely with Network and Data Center Operations teams and management, suppliers of network equipment, providers of leased line services, Engineering/Implementation, and Program Management.

This job posting continues with a list of seven requirements for the job, and a list of twelve recommended qualifications.

Example 2: A jazzed-up job posting for a Network Engineer that sells

Wanna work on a real network?  
Psst! Wanna work on a real network? We have immediate openings from entry-level network engineers to senior network engineers. Our network covers 65 countries, uses the latest leading-edge technologies, and definitely pays for performance. We run everything from modem dial-ups to OC-12 connections, with OC-48 on the way. This is not your run-of-the-mill network. We don't just talk about it; it's on our network now. Multicast — we got it streaming. QOS — we're shaping traffic and working with developers to make it work. Not tomorrow, but today! Seen the wildest and latest state-of-the-art equipment in the trade rags? It's either already installed on our network or in our test labs for future deployment. Don't wait for your company to upgrade while your skills deteriorate, come join our company and stay current. Work on that equipment, don't just dream about it. This is a one-stop shop that does monitoring, repair work, and on-the-fly engineering if required. If you're looking for a challenging and demanding environment, and if you're a "star," this is your opportunity.

This job posting then provides a detailed paragraph of the job's responsibilities and includes a list of four qualifications recommended.

The first example is informative in terms of job responsibilities, but it doesn't communicate what is special and unique about the team. Also, it doesn't describe the impact of the position.

On the other hand, the second example highlights information about the team, extensively describes the impact this job will have on the company, and sells the advantage of working with the latest and greatest technology.

Recruiting

Composing job postings that sell is just the first step in attracting the right candidates and filling your open position. The second step, and equally as important, is recruiting. You need to identify select candidate markets to best target the talent that you need. Your hiring team then has to find these candidates by promoting your open job positions in a variety of ways, including Web postings, print, and job expos or conferences.

Consider the following tips to maximize your employee search:

• Where   Determine the top five places to seek experienced candidates to fill your open positions. To do this, think about where you would search if you were looking for a job or where your team members would go if they were seeking a new job.
• Who   Often, the best candidate is the one who isn't looking for a new opportunity. Put yourself in the shoes of a headhunter. How could a headhunter find you if you were not actively seeking a position? Are there industry-related, or even non-work-related, sites you visit on a regular basis that could be good places to promote your openings? Are there trade publications, events, or special interest groups that would draw the type of candidate you need for your team?
• Why   Take time to ensure that everyone involved in the recruiting process knows the top three reasons that someone should work on your team. Make sure that they can represent your job opportunity, either in print or in person, as well as you can. The better those involved in the hiring process understand the role of the job and the function of your team within the company, the better they can market and sell your job.
• How   If you are working with a recruiter, set mutual expectations. Give a commitment of your time and your team's time. Find out what you can expect in return, and what the average number of days to fill a position is for your type of openings. This can vary widely depending on the job category and level of position, as well as the volume of openings on your recruiter's plate.

Your ability to write a compelling job posting and to work with your recruiting team to design and implement a creative search strategy will enhance your hiring efforts. There is also the potential for gaining favorable public relations when the positions advertised are seen as exciting and interesting. Before you write your next job description, take a few minutes to review the suggestions outlined in this article.