This Has Never Happened Before! Have you ever found a job description that sounds too good to be true? Maybe the company is really small and has only a few positions but the responsibilities are described like you would have 30+ with all kinds of benefits and hours… but they don’t have an actual human being? There’s no website? You just found out that this company actually exists? If so, congratulations on having the most amazing (but weird) experience ever! It would be more rare for a company to exist with no human presence than for a company to exist with a human presence that is not a person. We’ve been approached by a lot of startups, start ups within companies, and individuals who want us to review their job description. What they’re looking for: They want to make sure their work is unique, the business is viable, their service is attractive, and their jobs sound interesting. It’s not unusual for someone to come to a job posting, read through the copy and think, “OK, this is it. I’m going to apply for this job.” But then they look at the email address and figure out that the owner of this thing does not have a cell phone, the website is down, there’s not even a company website. The owner of this entity is a robot! (Or it’s a human with no time to hire anyone yet!) You might wonder: Wouldn’t it be more useful for the company to just create a website and use that instead of having a job posting that’s really just a listing? The answer is yes. It would. But at the moment, that doesn’t work. For one, there’s too many people with too many similar job titles. For another, companies prefer to maintain a completely anonymous profile until they reach their “launch date.” We’ve also noticed that it’s easier to have a job description that is both professional and a bit creepy if you don’t have a company attached. There’s just something more appealing about something that looks like a person…even though it’s not. It helps to build a level of mystery around the whole thing. Oh wait, there’s also the fact that a job description is meant to be as unflattering and as unemotional as possible. There’s a whole lot of stuff on there that wouldn’t make it into a formal interview request. This makes sense, right? This whole thing is kind of a secret. It’s meant to be surprising, but in a good way, so that your audience is compelled to click the job description and read it to find out more about the business. For example, what company in the history of business had ever opened with this intro line: “This is an introduction to our company….” That’s a very direct, almost rude way to say, “This is an introduction to our company. It might be interesting, but you shouldn’t read on unless you are extremely curious about this business.” We get it. We’re not even trying to tell people about our business (we hope!). We’re just giving you all of these great options to create a “what is this business about” ad. Maybe you want to have fun and have a lot of job listing options, including “No Job Description” or “Not Ready for Primetime” or “Something Awful.” (You might want to be able to switch up that message from time to time so you’re not too predictable.) Or maybe your business is so small you don’t have an “About Us” page. (We’re actually in the process of redesigning our site and this whole concept of no about page is something that came up when we discussed our blog design and business plan.) You can do it. You can have fun with it. And we can all laugh at those companies that post stuff like this: Job Description: I want to be on fire Or this one: Job Description: Wanted: Reptile Boy (OK, so we don’t know how many job postings there are like that…that one is just an example. But it makes us giggle just the same.) If you can put in those kinds of details, let us know what you have and we’ll see if we can make you a job description that’s just as interesting. For free! Just drop us an email. It’s free. In the meantime, here’s one of our favorite job descriptions to check out: Job Description: “We’re not hiring” We love the way this job description opens with an image and a description that’s perfectly suited to grab our attention and get us reading. And if you read it right, this job description even shows you some of the reasons why it would be good to work for this company. We get a glimpse into their values, their expectations, and what makes them tick. So here’s the best part: We want to hear from you! Tell us about your job descriptions and if you can, share your favorite ones! Leave a comment Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Spam is bad! Let's get to know each other. I like to work on things I love, with people I like. I'd love to talk to you about how we can collaborate on what you love, too! (And get you paid for it. Mmm.) You can reach me at erin (dot) johnston (at) gmail (dot) com.