A manager sends you a message: “I need someone dynamic to strengthen the team, ideally quickly.” Many recruitments start like this, and it is also why so many job ads look alike and attract off-target applications. Writing a good job description means turning this vague brief into a precise description, then into a clear ad, with no discriminatory criteria. This article distinguishes the two documents, gives you a method for running the brief, details the sections and reviews the wording that is prohibited.
Job description or job ad
The two terms are often used interchangeably. Yet they refer to two documents that have neither the same reader nor the same purpose.
The job description, an internal tool
The job description (fiche de poste) describes a role as it exists within the organisation: its purpose, its duties, its reporting line, its contacts, the required skills and the working conditions. It is used well beyond recruitment: for onboarding, annual and professional reviews, collective agreement classification, career management and risk prevention. It is written to last.
The job ad, a recruitment tool
The job ad (offre d’emploi) is aimed at people who do not know the company. It must make them want to apply and let them see whether they fit. It reuses part of the job description, but rewords it, prioritises it and adds what candidates want to know: the team, working conditions, pay, the hiring process. It is written to be read in under a minute.
Why start with the description
Writing the ad directly, without a description, amounts to describing a role nobody has really defined. This is the main cause of failed recruitments: the person hired discovers a different role from the one presented to them, and leaves during the probationary period.
The brief with the manager
The brief is the stage on which the quality of the whole recruitment depends. Plan a real meeting, even a short one, rather than an exchange of messages.
Questions that clarify
- Why does this role exist? Replacement, new position, reorganisation: the answer changes the profile you are looking for.
- What should the person have achieved after six months? This is the most useful question, because it turns vague qualities into expected results.
- Who will they work with every day? Team, customers, other departments: this says a lot about the interpersonal skills actually needed.
- What would make someone fail in this role? This question often brings out the real criterion.
- Which skills are essential, and which can be learned? Separate the two lists from the brief onwards.
Untangling the criteria
The manager often arrives with an ideal portrait: a specific degree, experience in a given sector, ease with a particular tool. Your role is to distinguish what is really necessary from what is a habit. “Master’s from a business school” may hide a genuine need for analytical and writing skills, which another background can also provide. Broadening well-chosen criteria means broadening the talent pool without lowering the bar.
Formalising the brief
At the end of the conversation, write a one-page summary and have the manager approve it. This document becomes the basis for the job description and the ad, and it protects you if the need changes along the way.
The sections of a job description
Headings vary from one company to another, but a complete description almost always contains the following sections.
Role identification
Title, department, line reporting and possibly functional reporting, place of work, classification under the collective agreement.
Purpose
One or two sentences that say why the role exists: “ensuring payslips are produced on time and in line with legal and collective agreement rules”, for example.
Duties and activities
Four to six main duties, each broken down into concrete activities. Avoid lists of twenty tasks: they bury what matters and age quickly.
Required skills
Separate knowledge (technical, regulatory), know-how (methods, tools) and observable professional behaviours. “Service-minded” says nothing; “answers employees’ requests within the day and explains the rules applied” is observable.
Relationships and environment
Internal and external contacts, particular conditions (travel, working hours, on-call duty), resources provided.
Indicators
Optional but valuable: how will you know the role is being done well? Deadlines met, quality, satisfaction of contacts. They are then used in the annual review.
Writing the ad from the description
Changing point of view
The ad no longer talks about the role from the organisation’s point of view, but from the candidate’s. Replace “the post-holder ensures” with “you will”, depending on the company’s tone, and start with what makes the role interesting: the stakes, the team, the project.
A structure that reads quickly
- A clear title, the one candidates type into a search engine, without internal jargon.
- The context in three lines: the company, the team, the reason for hiring.
- The duties, four or five, with concrete verbs.
- The profile, separating the essential from the desirable.
- The conditions: contract, location, work organisation, pay if possible.
- The process: the steps and their approximate length.
The items France Travail asks for
For the ads it publishes, France Travail sets out basic rules 🔗: a publication date, a reference, a job title and description, a place of work, the level of experience expected, the type and length of contract, an address to apply to, and a qualification only when the profession is regulated. The ad must be written in French (a translation may be added) and its information must be real and verifiable.
Building the employer brand without overselling
An ad is also a shop window. It must give a faithful picture of the company: what you promise in the ad will be checked during the first weeks. Our article on the employer brand manager CV shows how this job works on the consistency between message and reality.
Prohibited wording
The non-discrimination principle
The French Labour Code prohibits rejecting a candidate on grounds such as age, sex, family situation, origin, physical appearance, health, disability, sexual orientation or opinions. The Service-Public.fr page on discrimination 🔗 lists these grounds and the available remedies, and the Défenseur des droits 🔗 (the French rights ombudsman) publishes recommendations for employers.
Wording to ban
- Age, explicit or disguised: “25-35 years old”, “graduated less than two years ago” when experience is not the issue.
- Gender: a job title only in the masculine or feminine form; prefer a form that addresses everyone.
- Mother tongue: state the level required (“fluent English”) rather than “native English speaker”.
- Appearance or health: “well presented”, “in top shape”.
- Misleading contract wording: “permanent contract possible after the fixed-term contract” is discouraged by France Travail, since a fixed-term contract must correspond to a specific reason.
Exceptions
A genuine and determining occupational requirement can justify a criterion (an acting role, for example), but these cases are rare and tightly regulated. When in doubt, remove the wording.
Proofreading before publishing
Have the ad read by someone who did not take part in the brief. If they do not understand what the person hired will do, candidates will not understand either.
What writing ads says about you
Being able to write job descriptions and ads is a skill expected of a recruiter or talent acquisition specialist, and it is worth showing on a CV with a result: “rewrote twenty ads with managers, markedly reducing off-target applications”. The talent acquisition CV example and the head of recruitment CV example show how to include it, and our article on the talent acquisition CV details the metrics to mention. To format these lines, create your CV for free: the editor handles the presentation, and the PDF is correctly parsed by screening software, the very tools you use to read applications.
Sources
- France Travail, Writing a job ad: some basic rules 🔗.
- Service-Public.fr, Discrimination 🔗: grounds of discrimination and remedies.
- Défenseur des droits 🔗: recommendations and complaints on hiring discrimination.
Frequently asked questions
Should you state the salary in the ad?
It is not a general obligation today, but candidates increasingly expect it, and the European pay transparency directive provides for information on pay before the interview. An honest range also avoids processes that fail at the offer stage.
Who should write the job description, the manager or HR?
Both. The manager knows the content of the role, HR knows the method, the legal framework and the consistency with other roles. The most effective approach is for HR to write it from the brief and for the manager to approve it.
How long should the brief take?
Half an hour to an hour is enough in most cases. This time is quickly recovered: a well-run brief reduces off-target applications and unnecessary interviews.
Should the job description be updated after hiring?
Yes. After a few months, compare the description with what the person hired actually does. Gaps are common, and the updated description will be used for the annual review and the next recruitment.