Consequences of Bad Job Descriptions in IT Jobs

The Mistake That Costs You Your Company’s Future

IT jobs are well paid, in demand, and rank among many of the top spots in the jobs market. Why, then, are you suffering a hiring process swamped with ill-fitting candidates, and IT staff attrition to boot?

It may not be the candidates and employees you should be correcting – it’s the job description. This seemingly basic hiring step could be why you are losing out on the best tech talent. A poor job description could result in missing the IT talent you want to attract. If it is misleading, it could result in your new hire leaving within a few months (SHRM discovered that one third of successful applicants quit their new IT jobs within the first six months).

Let’s head back to the drawing board. In this article, we discuss why it is crucial to make certain your job description does the job it should.

The Damaging Effects of Poor IT Jobs Descriptions

Poor hiring decisions are costly – a negative impact you can’t afford in a fast-paced post-pandemic environment, and further weighted by these crushing consequences:

·      Attracting Unqualified Applicants

If your job description is vague and poorly written, you’ll open the floodgates to confused applicants that will simply apply and hope for the best. Qualified candidates avoid applying (or don’t even notice you), because they can’t identify a connection with their skills and your ad.

You must be accurate and specific with the IT skills you require and those that are ‘nice-to-have’.

·      A Sluggish Hiring Process

As a result of an influx of resumes from under-qualified candidates, screening for the right candidates becomes a mammoth task. Your hiring process becomes lengthier (and more costly).

By the time you identify the needle in the haystack, they’ve signed up with a competitor who acted swiftly.

·      Inability to Identify Key Competencies

With no clarity on what your business needs in a candidate, your hiring process becomes a blind search for all parties. Candidates don’t know who they need to be, and hiring managers struggle to pinpoint who it is they’re looking for.

·      Poor Questioning and Probing at Interview

You’ve managed to gather what appears to be the best from the bunch. But come interview time, how do you create a scoring method without clear criteria of who it is you’re looking for?

You can’t. Consequently, you ask poor questions and leave conflicting abilities and interests hidden.

·      Mismatched Candidate to Culture

You didn’t describe your company’s culture. Instead, you focused only on the IT and technical skills required. You hire your candidate. Then you discover they don’t fit well in your diverse team. They’re driven by salary. Your culture is focused on career development and team innovation.

The outcome? An early exit, after causing turbulence in your IT team. It will take a long time to get things back to how they used to be.

·      Hiring the Wrong Skills

The candidate didn’t know you needed a specific skill in a certain software – you didn’t mention it. You assumed. This candidate tries their best to succeed, and you try your best in supporting them.

But the crux of it is that they’re just not the right person for the role. They don’t enjoy their experience with your company, and you’ve wasted time and resources. Now you need to restart the hiring process.

·      Higher Turnover Rates

Your newly signed IT staff are leaving on discovery that they can’t fulfil or deliver on the role. Your best IT staff are leaving. They’re tired of the constant upheaval within your workplace, and feel unsupported in a team who doesn’t have the skills required.

Put It Right – What to Include in a Good Job Description

A job description is a powerful weapon in your bid to detect and attract the most talented tech candidates. Make certain that it includes:

• Job title – Accurately reflect the work to be performed and the responsibility the candidate will be expected to accept
• Key responsibilities – List all essential functions, avoiding vague, uninformative language
• Format – Make it scannable, with bullet points and some written text
• Skills/qualifications – List every mandatory requirement, then follow with preferred
• Location – This could save a lot of wasted time on one crucial detail
• Details about your company – The culture, the vision, the mission

Avoid a job description that is generic, full of annoying jargon, out of date, and dull. Your job description must provide clarity, with both the present and future in mind, and stir excitement for the best in tech to join your ship on a promising journey.

Fill Your IT Jobs with the Right Talent

The damaging consequences of a poorly written job description are completely avoidable. In times of rapid growth and change, you cannot roll out the same old job description you’ve had for years and expect an innovative team to evolve.

The world is suffering a tech shortage, and competition is ferocious: you must ensure your job description pinpoints who you need, and why they should join you.

Here at NexTech, we know exactly what our catalog of skilled candidates are looking for. We can support you in writing a professional job description, and accelerate your search with an enriched and nurtured tech talent pool. Contact us today and discover the candidates you’ve been looking for.