Employers: Ask Yourself – Does Your Job Description Suck?
- Dec 2, 2025
- 2 min read
Not getting the applicants you want? Or any applicants at all?
Before you blame the job seekers, the job boards, or this “terrible job market,” stop and take a hard look at your job description—because there’s a good chance the problem is the way you are presenting the opportunity.
Let’s be brutally honest:
Job seekers react to your sloppy posting exactly the same way you react to a sloppy resume.
You delete theirs.
They scroll past yours.
And then what happens?
You get frustrated.
You say things like “no one wants to work” or “Indeed doesn’t work” or “the talent pool is awful.”
Meanwhile, the culprit is staring you in the face:
Your job description and application process are driving away good people.
Here’s the HeadHunter Corey no-BS blueprint for fixing it:
1. Stop Posting Dead, Boring Job Titles
If your title looks like a barcode or internal code—“Level II Specialist Req# 4982”—you’ve already lost.
Make it clear. Make it real. Make it something an actual human would click.
2. Tell Them Who You Are — Quickly
Two upbeat sentences about your company.
No corporate mumbo-jumbo.
If your company sounds miserable, candidates assume the job is, too.
3. Give a Real Position Overview
A simple snapshot:
• The job
• The schedule
• The location
• And YES, the pay range (stop hiding it… it’s 2025)
Candidates should know what they’re stepping into without hunting for buried clues.
4. Spell Out Duties Like You Actually Thought About Them
Bullet points. Real daily tasks.
No vague, recycled “responsible for utilizing cross-functional collaboration to achieve results.”
Nobody knows what that means—and nobody cares.
Paint a picture of the workday.
5. List the Requirements — Not Your Fantasy Wishlist
Keep it realistic.
No more “Entry-Level, must have 5 years experience.”
What’s actually needed to do the job well? List that.
Skills, software, physical needs, certifications.
Clear. Simple. Honest.
6. And Now… the Big One: STOP THE APPLICATION MAZE
This is where employers lose droves of potential hires.
Pay attention:
Job seekers are tired—T-I-R-E-D—of:
• Clicking a link…
• Then another link…
• Then being redirected to a “careers portal”…
• Then told to “create an account”…
• Then asked to upload a resume…
• Then asked to retype the exact same resume into 37 boxes…
• Then hitting “Submit” and getting a broken link or error message
• Then being asked to log back in to “finish your application”
Nobody is doing all that. Not in this market. Not ever again.
Every extra click loses candidates.
Every broken link loses trust.
Every “click here to go there to come back here” makes job seekers say,
“Forget it. I’ll apply somewhere else.”
The simpler you make it, the more qualified people you’ll get.
Period. End of story.
Bottom Line:
If your job ad looks lazy, vague, or confusing…
If your application process is a multi-level scavenger hunt…
If your links don’t even work…
Don’t blame the talent pool. Blame the experience you’re giving them.
Better ads = better applicants.
Better process = better hires.
Write like you care.
Hire like you mean it.
And stop making people run a digital obstacle course to work for you
Comments