Thread by @QuinnyPig

One of the reasons job descriptions are hard to write is because they’re not just about the role, they’re about what you’re signaling—whether you realize it or not.

You're often too close to the role and fail to recognize what makes your company distinct.

I mean, we don't do on-call at the Duckbill Group because why would we? But I forgot to mention it in a draft of the job req, and the candidates we want are often mired in on-call hell.

"We're fun, so we should make 'a sense of humor' mandatory!"

Yeah, but "must have a good sense of humor" is often used by some incredibly toxic workplaces to justify shitty behaviors, and candidates are sensitive to that.

One of the contributors to my deciding to start the Duckbill Group was that I was looking at SRE jobs and they were all about the tech stacks used.

"10 jobs all alike within a block of each other" is just soul sucking.

That's probably not true, but they didn't tell a story.

I care about what your tech stack is a hell of a lot less than I do what kind of people you are.

But you have to show that too. "We value diversity" and then your teams page is white dudes and other, whiter dudes.

"Hey! The admin assistant is a woman!" You aren't helping.

Take a step back and *think*. Why do you work there? You presumably have options; you choose to work there and you continue to make that choice every day.

Tell that story.

A bad result is 0 applicants. Only slightly better is 5,000 applicants.

You want to get the right people applying, but some folks spam their résumés into every job they see. Disqualify those and move on. Don't put them on blast. It's hard out there. Be kind.

I like to add a little bit of friction to the process. Not "retype your résumé into a bunch of form fields," but intelligent friction.

"What interests you about working here" is a good one. I want to see that you've at least read the req.

(apply.workable.com/duckbillgroup/… is the req we opened yesterday. There's another non-principal one opening soon.)

The answers are telling.

"lols" is a bad answer.

"I'm not entirely sure that I do, but I was interested by X and would like to explore further" is a fine answer.

https://twitter.com/esnyds/status/1372729645112586242

"What're going to be the parts of the role I'll hate" is a fine interview question to ask a prospective employer. If they don't tell you, or get defensive? I'd keep looking elsewhere.

https://twitter.com/resplendentmoi/status/1372730320638857220

We built that req upthread out of things we always hated about other job postings.

We include the compensation range. We talk specifically about benefits. We talk about what the day to day will entail. We touch on our company ethos.

None of this should be rare.

"I'm not interested" is a *TERRIFIC* response! Filter out people who wouldn't be happy in the role for one reason or another upfront. Give them enough information to self-select out.

https://twitter.com/jbminn/status/1372731516455903232

An example! We pay less than tech unicorns will for the skillset, and we don't offer equity because it'd be pointless for a company like ours. We offer a bunch of other things instead, and we call all of that out up front.

If that's not okay with a candidate, let's find out now.

Everything I'm talking about is for small companies like ours. I have no clue how to hire 20K people into an org.

https://twitter.com/midijeffg/status/1372734366439251969

Reminder that at least in California companies are required to disclose the salary range if an applicant requests it.

https://twitter.com/reluctantpotato/status/1372735027906191362

I do admit that I snuck a bit of personality into the job req.

https://twitter.com/ciannait/status/1372746006543040518