A clear job description saves time on both sides of the table. Here is a practical structure for tech roles that helps the right people say yes, and the wrong fit opt out early.
Gloria Marquez··5 min read
Photo: Vitaly Gariev / Unsplash
A job opening often starts failing before the first candidate ever sees it. It happens the moment someone opens a blank document, pastes a list of technologies and hits publish. Then dozens of applications arrive that don't fit, the team gets frustrated, and the usual conclusion is "there's no talent out there". My experience as a recruiter tells me something different: very often the talent is there, but the job description isn't speaking to it.
A job description is the first conversation you have with a candidate, even if you're not in the room. In this article I share how I work on it with my clients, and what I change when an opening isn't attracting the right people.
If I had to pick just one mistake, it would be this one. Most job descriptions I receive say which technologies the company uses, but they don't say what the person will build or why it matters.
For an experienced tech professional, "Java, Spring Boot, AWS and microservices" describes tools, not a job. What really helps them decide whether to apply is understanding the context:
The best candidates usually have several options. Between two openings with the same stack, they will choose the one that tells a clearer story about their future work.
When I rewrite a job description, the first paragraph always answers three questions:
If someone reads only that paragraph, they should already be able to say "this is for me" or "this isn't for me". Both answers save you time.
When a search isn't bringing in good profiles, my first adjustment is almost always to cut down the requirements.
Long lists have a curious effect. Highly experienced people, especially those who are rigorous about their own profile, tend not to apply if they don't meet every point. Meanwhile, others apply anyway while meeting almost none. The endless list ends up filtering out exactly the people you shouldn't lose.
With my clients, I ask one simple question for each requirement: would you reject an excellent candidate for not having this?
Ideally, the must-haves fit in five or six lines. Everything else can go in a separate list with a clear message: "if you don't tick every box, we still want to meet you".
"Cloud experience" says very little. "Experience deploying and monitoring services on AWS" tells the candidate exactly what you expect. The same goes for seniority: instead of asking only for years of experience, describe the decisions the person will make. Will they define the architecture? Will they lead other developers? Will they work with a lot of autonomy?
Some information is essential for candidates to make a decision, and when it's missing, it creates distrust or applications that go nowhere. That's why I ask my clients to always include these four points.
Even if it's approximate. Publishing the range avoids losing weeks with candidates whose expectations have nothing to do with the budget, and it signals transparency. A candidate who sees the range and applies already knows where they stand.
Is the role remote, hybrid or on-site? If it's remote, which countries can you hire from, and which time zone does the team work in? This is key when we recruit Latin American talent for companies in the United States and Canada: "remote" can mean very different things.
How many interviews there will be, with whom, and whether there is a technical assessment. A predictable process improves the candidate experience and reduces drop-off halfway through. It also shows that the company got organized before starting the search.
Who the person will work with, how big the team is, which tools they use day to day and how they deliver their work. Not the ideal list of technologies, but the one actually in use today.
A good job description reads like an invitation, not like a form. A few details make a difference:
If you post openings on your own website, structured data helps search engines like Google understand them and display them better. Google documents the format in its guide on job posting structured data (see sources).
A job description like this doesn't just attract more candidates: it attracts the right ones, and saves the whole process weeks.
Do you have a hard-to-fill tech role? Tell us what you need and let's define it together. You may also like what great hiring managers do differently.
Gloria Marquez is the founder of Talent IT Consulting, a firm specialized in recruiting technology talent. She has more than 10 years of experience in Talent Acquisition and specialized recruitment.
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