Writing a marketing job description that attracts the right person

A job description is a filter, and most marketing ones filter for the wrong thing. A list of twenty duties attracts people who are comfortable with twenty duties, and that isn't the same as people who are good at the three that matter. Write three accountabilities, publish a salary and add one honest sentence about the state of the marketing, and you'll get fewer applications, but better ones.

The honest sentence is the part people flinch at. It's also the part that makes the right person apply.

Accountabilities, not duties

A duty is something you do. An accountability is something you answer for. "Manage the social media channels" is a duty, and anybody can claim it. "Responsible for the number of enquiries we get from unpaid search, and for being able to explain month to month why it moved" is an accountability, and it tells a reader straight away whether the job is for them.

Three is the right number. With more than three, none of them is real.

Before you write them, you need to have settled what the role is for. If you haven't, choosing between a generalist or specialist is the decision to make first, because the advert can't be clearer than the thinking behind it.

Say what the job is not

One line saves everyone months. "This role does not include design: we use a freelancer." "This is not a people-management role, and will not be for at least two years." "You will not be writing the strategy; you will be running it."

Good candidates sort themselves on this line, and the people it puts off are the people who would have been unhappy in the job.

Be honest about the state of the marketing

Give it one sentence: "We have never done this properly and you would be starting from a blank page." Or: "There is a working Google Ads account, a neglected website, and nobody has looked at the analytics in a year."

It works for three reasons. It attracts people who like that kind of problem, and some excellent people only like that kind of problem. It stops you losing someone in month three, when they find out for themselves. And it tells every reader that you aren't going to oversell the job, which is a rarer signal than you'd think.

Publish the salary

Give a range, with the top of it a number you would actually pay. The reasons are practical. People who need more than your maximum don't apply, so nobody wastes a fortnight finding out, and candidates increasingly read a missing salary as a sign that the number is disappointing.

If you can't publish one, say why in the advert. Silence is worse than an awkward explanation.

What to leave out

• "Ninja", "rockstar", "guru". They say more about the employer than the job.
• "Wear many hats", unquantified. If it genuinely is a broad role, say which hats and roughly how the week splits. Left vague, it reads as "we have not decided what this job is".
• Fifteen tools. Listing every platform you use filters for people who have used your exact set of tools, not people who can learn one. Name the two that genuinely matter.
• "Fast-paced environment" as a euphemism. If what you mean is that priorities change every week, say so. Somebody will be fine with it.
• A degree requirement you don't believe in. It removes good people for no gain.

What to put in that almost nobody does

• Who the person reports to, and who decides. Candidates care enormously, and they're rarely told.
• The budget they'll be responsible for, or the fact that there isn't one yet.
• What success looks like at six months, in a sentence. It also makes your first review conversation much easier.
• How the team works: whether it's remote, how decisions get made, and whether there's a cycle or a plan. If you've put any thought into how the team organises its work, say so, because people who have been in chaotic teams are looking for exactly that signal.

Write it, then test it

Read it back and ask three questions. Could somebody tell from this what they would be accountable for? Could they tell what they wouldn't be doing? Would somebody good read the honest sentence and think "that is my sort of problem"? If any answer is no, it isn't finished.

Then show it to whoever currently does any part of the job. They'll spot the thing you've quietly left out.

Once your new marketer accepts, the first month decides a lot, and a marketer's first thirty days sets out how to use it. If you'd like somebody to write the accountabilities with you, and to stay on for the first few months while the new person finds their feet, our fractional and part-time marketing leadership is priced by the day for exactly that.