Writing a Job Posting

How do you let potential employees know about your vacancies? At a minimum, you have to post the vacancy through the state system for posting jobs. This information lets you know what is required for such a posting, and gives some hints to get the most benefit out of posting your position through the state system. For strategies to advertise your position elsewhere, view the article on advertising your job.

Posting the Vacancy

State law and policy require that positions for which management will openly recruit be posted. The purpose of posting is to:

Sell the job,
Attract applicants who can do the job,
Provide information for applicants to use in determining whether or not to apply, and
Support hiring decisions.

It is important to prepare and plan carefully before posting a position. Management will need to determine, prior to posting, the duties and responsibilities of the position, as well as the competencies needed for work to be accomplished in the position. This decision will depend on the work demands, knowledge, skills and abilities needed to successfully perform assigned responsibilities; the knowledge, skills and abilities of other employees in the work unit, as well as financial/budget constraints.

There are several steps in developing a posting. Some of these steps are completed by the hiring manager, with consultation by the recruiting professional. The steps include:

Step 1: Assist the hiring manager to define the business need.

Consider departmental, divisional, and organizational goals and objectives.
Consider workforce planning needs.
Consider the availability of workers.
Consider funds available.

Step 2: Assist the hiring manager to identify the knowledge, skills and abilities required.

Review the position description, classification specification and competency profile, if applicable.
Review previous performance evaluations and/or competency assessments if you are posting an existing position.
Recruiting professional and hiring manager meet to determine required experience, knowledge, skills and abilities and preferred experience, knowledge, skills and abilities.

Step 3:

Include the training and experience requirements described in the specification.

Step 4:

Establish the recruitment range as appropriate, considering financial resources, appropriate market rate (career banded positions), internal pay alignment and required knowledge, skills and abilities.

Step 5: Establish the pay range.

Generally, the entire banded pay range
If there is a limit on the level of duties possible for a job, consider setting a range maximum below the salary range maximum. This sets appropriate expectations for those applying for the job.

Step 6: Take care of the details.

Will you consider lower level candidates or trainees?
The administrative rules and policy require specific elements within a vacancy announcement. Vacancy announcements should have the following components:

Position number — The assigned number unique to the position.
Position title — The official class title is required.
Working title — A title that more specifically and descriptively describes the job. A working title may be needed to provide a better understanding and recognition of the job responsibilities.

Intensify your message: use of a highly descriptive — or even an honest-yet-creative — working title can help to capture the interest of your target candidates.
Competency level (banded positions) — Management should identify, based on the competencies necessary to complete the assigned work tasks and responsibilities, the competency level for the position opportunity (contributing, journey, or advanced).
Salary range — See above.
Recruitment / Hiring range — A recruitment or hiring range can be used to further define and present a realistic expectation of the salary range for the position.
Salary grade equivalency (banded positions) — The salary grade equivalency is necessary to properly consider and apply employment and re-employment priorities (see "Salary Grade Reference Inventory" on the Office of State Personnel Career Banding website).
Essential functions — The essential functions and/or key duties of the position should be clearly stated. While it is impossible to include all functions, the key duties/responsibilities should provide a clear description of the position. The essential functions should directly relate to the required knowledge, skills and abilities listed on the vacancy announcement.

Intensify your message: of course you need to honestly describe the essential functions; but be sure you aren't selling the position short. If a position has three fun, challenging, interesting duties and one that's more ordinary, be sure you are emphasizing those more exciting responsibilities appropriately. A recent advertisement on the state web site emphasized keeping records and reports — which many jobs do — and, almost as an afterthought, mentioned that the position would be working with some interesting technologies. Keep the candidate in mind — they are not just looking for a job, but, rather, are looking for the next step in their career progression.

Many agencies and universities also use this section to describe the work unit, the division or even the organization as a whole. If you do this, you are enhancing the picture of the job you are advertising.

Use language that reflects your organization's culture and reputation. If your organization is conservative and formal, and this position will be working in such an environment, be sure the language you use reflects that. If your organization is focused on working with the latest trends, your language can reflect that, too.
Required knowledge, skills and abilities — (KSA's) — Required KSA's are a key component used to determine the pool of qualified applicants. It is imperative that management determines the KSA's needed for a position and include that information on the vacancy announcement. Describe KSA's, targeted specifically to the position and directly related to the position duties. The KSA's listed reflect the minimum that candidates must have to be considered qualified.

Intensify your message: this is another opportunity to capture the interest of your top performers. Describe not only the KSA's they will use, but how they will use them. Don't just try to eliminate the unqualified, try to compel top performers to apply.
Preferred KSA's — Preferred KSA's are not required to perform the assigned job responsibilities. They are, however, directly related to the job and would be beneficial to accomplishing assigned work tasks.
Minimum training and experience requirements — There is an established minimum training and experience requirement for each position classification. The minimum training and experience requirement will capture the basic level of training and experience needed for the entry level of the position
Career Banded classes may also have "training & experience guidelines" developed by the job family transition team. The guidelines will be specific to the three competency levels in the banded class.
Posting period — A position must be posted for at least the minimum number of working days currently required by State policy.
Contact information/How to apply — This section should explain how candidates may apply for the selected vacancy and whom to contact if they have questions.

Intensify your message: this is another opportunity for candidates to learn about your organization, even if indirectly. Do you strive for equal employment opportunity? Are you willing, by providing all of your contact information, to answer candidates' questions and help them through the process? Tell the candidates how the recruitment process works, or point them to your merit recruitment policy which should outline the process. Let candidates know how you choose the highest qualified candidates and the importance of the information on the application. If possible, include information about your privacy policy.

The vacancy announcement is the primary mechanism to inform potential candidates about the available career opportunity within the agency/university. It should spark interest in the position, realistically portray the duties/responsibilities of the position, clearly articulate the competencies needed for successful performance, and list any special, necessary requirements such as licensure, registration, certification, residency requirement.

State Application — The State Application for Employment (or its equivalent) is the official, legal document to apply for a specific position within North Carolina state government. The information contained in the State Application is used in screening applications to determine if the applicant is qualified based on the posted requirements for the specific opportunity. It is incumbent on the applicant to articulate the KSA's and related work experiences that demonstrate their qualifications.

Supplemental Application Tools — There may be a need to utilize supplemental application tools to help applicants identify, document and describe their KSA's related to the position. Additional application tools may also assist HR in determining the pool of qualified candidates.

Supplemental application tools are specific to the vacancy and target the required KSA's. Once developed, these tools can be modified for similar positions.

Tools that can be developed include a KSA questionnaire and skills inventory. These tools can be used to help determine the qualified pool (i.e. tool used with the initial submission of the application) or to further refine the pool to the most qualified.