Why This Is a Well Written Job Description

The other day I came across a job for Jet.com that was for a Manager, Social Media and Digital Engagement – Recruitment Marketing in their Hoboken New Jersey office. As I read it, the structure and wording really stood out to me as a posting that would attract applicants and get them excited about the role.

A job description works best when it’s written as a job advertisement not a laundry list of required skills and duties that may or not be true. This one fits that bill to a tee. So let’s break down why it works so well.

First, read the description in its entirety;


Job description

As Social Media & Digital Engagement Manager you will cultivate brand affinity, engagement, reach, and loyalty for careers with Walmart and our global family of brands. You’ll collaborate with Talent Acquisition teams, Corporate Affairs and other internal partners to create, develop and curate social and digital content that tells a unified brand story and brings to life what truly differentiates us as a desirable career destination. You will work to understand different audiences and personas, tailoring messaging and content so it resonates with the diverse audiences we want to attract. You will attract extraordinary talent through fun, enlightening, and authentic communications that will be shared across multiple digital channels and platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, career sites, Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) tools and more).

You’ll Sweep Us Off Our Feet If

    • You loooove social media and have a deep understanding of the respective strengths, demographics, and crowd-pleasing tactics for each.
    • You’ve built quantitative and qualitative models to tell the story on marketing return on influence, and liked it.
    • You celebrate wit, candor, authenticity and creative copywriting while always keeping the WIIFM at top-of-mind.
    • Your adept at identifying target segments and adjusting tone and messaging to be relevant.
    • You know how to make a business feel human, and make social… well, social.
    • The opportunity to get your work in front of millions makes your spine tingle.

You’ll Make An Impact By

    • Activating our Associate Value Proposition (AVP): Identify and build on proof points to bring our AVP to life through messaging that amplifies what makes us unique, and matters to our audience.
    • Being a Walmart guru: Knowing everything about our company and our brands, staying on top of the latest news and stories, sharing and amplifying and getting others as excited as you are about where we are going.
    • Developing compelling social stories: Continuously generating ideas for organic and paid social content that will engage and captivate our audience.
    • Streamlining workflows: Develop smooth processes and techniques to maximize efficiency and minimize costs (e.g. content curation, legal approval, drip campaigns, retargeting, etc).
    • Crafting a data story: Provide meaningful insights on user behavior, translating successes and failures into optimized tactics, and leveraging this data to inform future content.

Required Quals/Experience

    • Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related field and 2 years’ experience in marketing or related field OR 4 years’ experience in marketing or related field.
    • Experience in social and digital marketing

Preferred Quals/Experience

    • 2 years’ experience working with a cross-functional team
    • Experience of managing paid social media campaigns
    • Social Media community management
    • Experience of developing digital marketing direct response campaigns through CRM tools

Benefits & Perks

Beyond competitive pay, you can receive incentive awards for your performance. Other great perks include 401(k) match, stock purchase plan, paid maternity and parental leave, PTO, multiple health plans, and much more.

Who We Are

Join Walmart and your work could help over 260 million global customers live better every week. Yes, we are the Fortune #1 company. But you’ll quickly find we’re a company who wants you to feel comfortable bringing your whole self to work. A career at Walmart is where the world’s most complex challenges meet a kinder way of life. Our mission spreads far beyond the walls of our stores. Join us and you’ll discover why we are a world leader in diversity and inclusion, sustainability, and community involvement. From day one, you’ll be empowered an equipped to do the best work of your life.


My Take

The posting starts out with a short summary of the role which explains what you’ll be doing immediately rather than some kind of generic opening about the company or department which you often see across most job listings. It does it in a simple, ‘plain english’ way that gets right to the point. In today’s busy world I think it is important to get straight to point when writing for the web.

According to a recent report by LinkedIn, less is more when it comes to job descriptions. “Shorter job posts 1-300 words had significantly higher that average apply rates per view”, the article states. This is especially important since more than half the people looking at them are doing so via mobile.

Next, they crafted two sections that talk directly to the candidate which describe the ideal person. With the header of “You’ll Sweep Us Off Our Feet If“, they paint the picture in your head that qualified candidates can attach themselves to, thus getting they pumped up about the position. That section is followed by “You’ll Make an Impact” which tells prospective candidates the importance of the role and how it fits into the larger organization. These 2 sections are great “hooks” into getting the candidate interested.

Lastly, they share actual perks and benefits which is often missing from today’s job ads. In a tight job market, every piece of of positive reinforcement helps when attracting candidates online.

If I had to change it at all I would do two things. First, split the top paragraph into two so it is more readable for the web. Secondly, I would combine the required/preferred section into one that is just a small paragraph.

While it’s certainly not the best one I’ve ever read it is a very solid example of good recruiting in action. Use it for your own benefit and improve your job ads today—your ideal candidates are waiting to read it.


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