The first article I found is by David Lewis 2013, and he explains the importance of a well-written job posting. Lewis explains that one of the most important tools a company can have is a strong job posting. If the job posting is written wrong, then a company is looking at consequences of longer then usual hire times and negative effects on daily business. On the other hand if a job posting is written correctly, then a company will save time and money. Lewis provides some tips that he believes to be crucial when writing a job post to attract top talent. His first tip is that you need to treat a job posting as a sales document or a marketing strategy. Lewis explains that more often then not, job postings are just thrown together without any thought as to the competitiveness of the job market and incentives prospective candidates are looking for. When candidates see these thrown together job postings, they tend to think the company has thrown together business strategies or an unorganized environment. Furthermore, some companies believe that the shorter the job posting, the better. This strategy was fine when companies had to pay per letter to post a job posting. This is no longer the case. Therefore, it is important to not have a short or thrown together job posting. Instead Lewis explains that a good job posting will have the following included. The first is an explanation of who the company is, their history, the business, and any other selling points about the company. The second area to include is the title of the role and a list of key responsibilities the candidate would possess. The third area to include is a list of requirements that focus around past experiences, schooling, skills, core competencies, and attitude. The fourth area to include is the company’s benefits, compensation, perks, and culture. Some examples of these are casual wear, a cafeteria, in house day-care, flex work, telecommuting, and so forth. The last or the closing area should include how to apply to the company and what information must be provided. Lewis also warns that there are a couple of legal issues to be aware of in order to avoid them. One is to be mindful and careful about implied age discrimination, which may come from statements about maximum years of experience. For example, on job postings companies may be required three to five years experience needed. Instead, it is more politically correct to say three plus years in the job posting. Also, focus the job description around the nature of the role and responsibilities instead of the number of years of experience desired. Another point that Lewis explains to be mindful of is implying in the job description that someone needs to be physically able to perform tasks. A statement like that could imply that people who are not physically fit or handicapped are not welcome. An implied statement about physical fitness can lead to legal trouble. Lewis advised when in doubt, ask the human resource team to make sure that your job posting will not lead to legal trouble. Lewis explains that the above framework may seem like a lot, but all of his ideas do not translate into a long job post. Lewis actually warns that to lengthy of a job posting will cause readers to get lost or not apply. Therefore, be careful to not make the job posting to long. However by implementing all the strategies discussed in Lewis’s article, better candidates in a shorter amount of time will apply to your company (Lewis 2013). I would have to agree that Lewis provides very important points to include in a job description. When top performers are looking for jobs, there are a few factors that they know they want out of a company. For example, candidates starting their careers are look for companies that are group and idea oriented, that encourage going green, maybe have a gym in the building, and have opportunities to grow. On the other hand, more experienced candidates who have more experience in the job market will look
