Job Description Checklist to Attract Top Talent

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A winning job description serves as the critical tipping point for exceptional engineers who are only passively looking for another job.

As an example, read the email thread below. See how the engineer’s reply dramatically changed in response to learning seemingly minor details about the role:

Email thread with engineer

Killer Intro

If you merely start describing the role, your job ad will primarily attract candidates who are desperate for a new job. Your goal is to get the candidate who is ‘only looking around’ to fill in the application.

If your job doesn’t have a unique selling proposition, then it will look like a generic job description.

You don’t need to convince them to join your company in one sentence, but you want to persuade a high value candidate to get on a call with you. Without this call, nothing else matters.

Every company has a different unique selling point (culture, product, networking opportunities, etc) — be sure you can articulate yours clearly. This is something you can brainstorm with your team, why do they love your company, what do they love about their job etc.

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" - Godfather

Once you have the candidates attention, here’s some useful information to keep the candidate engaged.

Founders & Direct Reports

Introduce the founders, their capabilities, notable achievements, and industry experience to give candidates a sense of the leadership behind the company. Discuss who the role reports to and other crucial interactions within the team.

Highlight the excitement of working with these individuals, including mentorship opportunities, industry connections, and potential for professional growth.

Must-Haves vs. Nice-to-Have Skills

While it might be tempting to list every qualification you imagine for your ideal hire, including too many requirements can deter potential candidates.

Focus on separating the must-have skills from the nice-to-have ones. This helps clarify what’s essential for the role and encourages a more diverse group of candidates to apply.

What does a typical day look like?

Provide a realistic view of daily responsibilities to help them picture themselves in the role. Outline some of the tasks and activities, tools they will use, and the colleagues they interact with.

By offering a clear snapshot of a typical day, you enable candidates to better understand the role and assess how it fits with their skills and career goals. This transparency sets clear expectations, leading to a more successful hire.

Should you mention the salary?

Including the salary range in your job description allows candidates to quickly determine if the role meets their financial expectations, saving time for both parties by attracting only those comfortable with the offered compensation. This transparency shows your commitment to fair and competitive pay.

Avoid using phrases like “competitive salary” since they are overused and make you seem generic.

Pitfalls to Avoid When Writing Job Descriptions

Even if you’re able to get the candidate’s interest, you may lose it if the important information is buried under low value content. Being long-winded can turn a good sales pitch into a bad one, but no amount of eloquence can fix a ‘weak proposition’ to come and work for you.

  1. Engineers don’t like fluff! At RareSkills, we publish the most advanced blockchain resources, and our community loves our content for being fluff-free. If you want engineers to read your job description, keep it direct, short, and concise.Here’s are list of words that you should avoid in a JD:
    • Revolutionising
    • Innovating
    • Disrupting
    • Transforming
    • Leading-edge
    • World-class
    • Game-changing
    • Cutting-edge
    • Groundbreaking
    • Next-generation
    • State-of-the-art
    • Best-in-class
    • Market-leading
    • Pioneering
    • Trailblazing
    • Paradigm-shifting
    • Forward-thinking
    • Industry-leading
    • Hyper-growth
    • Visionary
  2. A common mistake companies make is using a single job description to attract both highly experienced candidates and rising stars. Avoid trying to appeal to both senior and junior candidates in the same JD; it needs to be laser-focused on the specific role you are hiring for.Clearly specify if the role is for leading an initiative or being a team player. Leaders should have X years of experience or specific credentials because you don’t want them learning on the job when critical tasks depend on them.However, be cautious with hard requirements, as they can discourage talented candidates with imposter syndrome.
  3. Don’t rattle off technical buzzwords. It sounds like you don’t know what you are talking about if your team uses duplicate tools for the same job. For example, it’s very unlikely an application would use both web3.js and viem.js or both Hardhat and Foundry. Be specific about the frameworks you use, but separately say experience with a related framework is accepted.
  4. A job description that requires specific degrees or extensive experience – especially in web3 – can exclude some of the best candidates. I’ve personally interviewed over 200 engineers for our Advanced Solidity bootcamp, and at least 80% are self-taught blockchain engineers. Traditional education institutes often do not provide the industry-specific knowledge needed for these roles.

  5. If you have locations you cannot work with (ex – China, Iran, Russia, North Korea), be very clear about that to avoid wasting candidate’s time.
  6. If you’re an early-stage venture aiming to attract talented individuals who lack the specific experience you’re seeking, consider adding a general application section. This allows candidates who don’t meet specific job requirements but still want to join to submit their CVs.

Great engineers already have great jobs. They aren’t actively job hunting and may only browse passively, so they don’t spend hours on job boards. How can you capture their attention?

One effective way is to work with a web3 engineering recruiter like RareTalent – recruitment arm of RareSkills. Top engineers, protocol leads, CTOs, and lead security researchers seek us out thanks to our free educational materials and paid bootcamps. By partnering with us, you can tap into this highly skilled audience to find your ideal engineer.

For more details, schedule a call with our COO, Gayantha.

Do’s

  • Intro
  • Founders & Direct Reports
  • Mentorship & Growth
  • Must-Haves vs. Nice-to-Have Skills
  • Daily Realistic View
  • Salary Transparency

Don’ts

  • Avoid Fluff
  • Target Specific Roles
  • Be Specific with Tools
  • Location Restrictions

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