Most job descriptions are bad. They are vague, generic, or written to sound impressive rather than to recruit effectively. Here is what a good one looks like.
A job description has two jobs: attract people who would be great, and filter out people who wouldn't. Most descriptions fail at both because they're written to cover every possible base rather than to communicate clearly. A hiring manager worried about missing something adds one more line, one more "preferred" qualification, one more vague adjective, until the posting reads like a legal disclaimer instead of an invitation.
Consider a common pattern. A bakery owner named Teresa needs an assistant manager. Her first draft borrows language from a template she found online: "proven leadership skills, excellent communication, ability to multitask in a fast paced environment, 3 to 5 years experience preferred." It gets forty applications, most of them clearly copy pasted from a generic resume, and almost none from people who have actually run a shift. She rewrites it around what the job actually is: opening the store four mornings a week, training two part-time staff, and hitting a daily sales target the store is currently missing. The second posting gets twelve applications. Nine of them are worth a phone call.
That's the tradeoff a job description makes, whether the writer intends it or not: specificity costs volume and buys quality. A vague posting protects nothing. It just produces more resumes to sort, most of which won't survive a real conversation about the actual work.
Every part of a good job description does one of two things: it helps the right people recognize themselves in the role, or it gives the wrong people enough information to opt out before they apply. The order below is the sequence a candidate actually reads in, top to bottom. Templates that jump straight to a wall of requirements bury the parts that actually sell the role, and lose the strongest candidates before they get there.
The Eight Parts of a Good Job Description
0/8These four mistakes account for most of the underperforming job postings out there, and all four are easy to fix once a writer knows to look for them.
| What to do instead | |
|---|---|
| Too many requirements | Listing 15 "required" skills produces either no applicants or applicants who lie about meeting them. Decide what actually matters, and move everything else to nice-to-have or drop it. |
| Vague language | "Excellent communication skills required" tells a candidate nothing. "Will present weekly updates to the executive team and write the monthly newsletter" tells them exactly what they're signing up for. |
| Generic culture statements | "Fast-paced, collaborative environment" appears in every posting ever written. Say something specific: "You'll be the third person on our customer success team, reporting directly to our CEO, with full ownership of onboarding." |
| No salary range | Beyond the legal risk covered below, this alone measurably reduces application quality and quantity. Strong candidates with options tend to skip postings that hide the number entirely. |
How This Varies by State, and Why It's Changing Fast
This is one of the fastest moving areas of employment law right now. As of 2026, a large and growing group of states require employers to disclose a salary range directly in job postings, not just when a candidate asks for one. This is not a minor formality. Postings that omit a required range, or that use an unreasonably wide range (something like $50,000 to $200,000 for a single role) as a way to technically comply while disclosing nothing useful, can both draw enforcement action. The good faith estimate standard most states use means the range has to reflect what the employer would actually, realistically pay for that specific role, not a number chosen to minimize legal exposure while telling the candidate nothing.
This section is a general framework, not legal advice for your specific posting. Confirm your obligations with your state's labor department or an employment attorney before you publish.
What varies by state
Key Terms
Check your understanding
A hiring manager at a 12-person marketing agency lists 15 required skills for a coordinator role, including three software certifications the current team doesn't even use. What's the most likely outcome?
A job posting for a bookkeeper says "excellent attention to detail and strong organizational skills required." What's the main problem with this line, and what should replace it?
A software company headquartered in a state with no salary disclosure law posts a fully remote engineering role. An applicant based in a state that does require salary ranges in job postings applies. Does the disclosure requirement apply to this posting?
Which of these is the strongest "what success looks like at 90 days" line for a customer support hire?
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Check your state's Department of Labor site for the current requirement, and if you post remote-eligible roles, check every state where an applicant could realistically be based. That is the detail multi-state employers most often miss.
Do You Need to List a Salary Range?
Could this posting realistically be filled by someone outside your own state, whether it's remote, hybrid, or relocation-friendly?