[LRUG] [OT] A blog post about writing tech job ads

[Najaf Ali]

Konbanwa minnasan,

Strong agree with everything Hannah had to say in that blog. Here's what
I'd add:

* *Include a clear description of the application process* - A step-by-step
explanation of exactly what's going to happen from when a candidate sends
you an email to when you extend them an offer. This should include whether
or not they're being formally assessed at each stage and an approximation
of the time interval to expect while you're considering their application.
I stole this wholesale from here <http://matasano.com/careers/> (from "Our
hiring process" down). This helps busy candidates (who've probably had
*plenty* of horrible job application experiences) figure out how much
effort the process will take and how to prepare.

* *Mention the downsides of working with you* - Put genuine negatives to
working with you here. Be wary that you may have backwards rationalised
things to yourself that are unpalatable to the average developer (e.g.
"Rails 2.3 isn't so bad..."). Doing this serves to disqualify candidates
for whom these negatives are absolute deal-breakers, which is cheaper at
the application stage than it is during probation. It also adds credibility
to the rest of your post. Try not to insult the intelligence of the people
you're trying to hire though, they'll see right through veiled attempts at
aggrandising yourself framed as a negative.

** Ask ideal candidates for feedback on the job post *- Pick four or five
developer acquaintances of yours that fit your job description and ask them
nicely to review the post. Ask them to be brutal and uncharitable in their
reading of it. Is any of it unclear? Is there anything exclusionary? Is
there anything preventing them from applying? What other information would
they like to see? Thank them graciously for whatever feedback they give
you. You don't have to take all of their feedback on board but that's not
the point. Like in a good first UX test, you're looking for the
head-slappingly bad mistakes. In particular, if diversity is important to
you, I'd suggest that you include people from a demographic
underrepresented on your team in your reviewers. A nice side benefit of
asking for feedback is that if your "ideal candidates" happen to like your
job post, they may end deciding to apply to it (exactly what happened with
us, the candidate got the job).

All the best,

-Ali, http://happybearsoftware.com

*P.S. We were until recently hiring a senior developer using all of the
above for the job listing, but as I mentioned the position was filled
before we went public with it. It got broadly good feedback from reviewers
so let me know off-list if you'd like to see it.*

On Wed, May 6, 2015 at 8:00 PM, Thayer Prime <thayer at team-prime.com> wrote:

> Just came across: "Writing an effective tech job description", by
> @smokingpun >
> http://contentedstrategy.com/blog/2015/05/01/Writing-an-effective-job-description.html#.VUnx3qbXiw0.twitter
>
> It's got some really important and smart points in it, and I know
> there's plenty of hiring and job description writing on this list,
> figured it may help anyone in the position of writing ads to really
> think about hiring for the team you want to be, instead of just hiring
> for a project or work or back filling a role (likely, male) that just
> opened up.
>
> Particularly, as I was reading I was +1ing about the diversity stuff
> she writes about.
>
> We (Team Prime) get asked by all our clients to hire for diversity as
> their number one priority (which is brilliant! Yay ace clients!), but
> often that takes some changes in the org and structure to accommodate
> what they're after. Well worth bearing in mind if you want to reap the
> benefits of having a diverse team - it's not just about Getting More
> Minorities Sat At Desks, it's about how you structure your company and
> recruitment process to allow for diversity to be encouraged and
> embraced.
>
> Cheers
> Thayer
>
> --
> Thayer Prime
> --------------------
> CEO & Founder
> Team Prime Ltd
> http://www.team-prime.com
>
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/thayerprime
> http://www.thayerprime.com
> @Thayer
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