Write the job description around outcomes, not adjectives

'Dynamic self-starter with 8+ years experience' attracts no one you want. Outcomes attract.

Open ten BFSI job descriptions and most describe a person who does not exist: fifteen skills, ten years, every certification, immediate joiner. These JDs do not filter candidates; they filter out the good ones, who read them as evidence the employer does not know what the job is.

Start from the twelve-month answer

Write one sentence: "Twelve months in, this hire will have ___." Launched the partnership channel. Cut early delinquencies by a third. Built the three-person risk team. That sentence is the job. Everything in the JD should either support it or be deleted.

Requirements: five, not fifteen

  • Separate "must have" from "will learn" - and be honest about which is which
  • Delete every requirement the last person in the seat did not have when hired
  • Replace years-of-experience with evidence-of-outcome; the years are a proxy, the outcome is the thing

Sell the seat, honestly

The candidates you actually want are employed and cautious. They move for scope, authority and trajectory - so state them: the book size, the budget, the reporting line, the decision rights. Vague seniority language ("fast-paced environment") signals the opposite of what it says.

A JD is the first work product a candidate sees from your organization. Make it look like the work.

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