--- title: "How to Write a Job Description That Attracts the Right Candidates Faster" url: /posts/write-job-description-that-attracts-right-candidates canonical_url: https://blog.liarefer.com/posts/write-job-description-that-attracts-right-candidates author: "Renata Kobayashi" date_published: 2026-10-29 date_modified: 2026-10-29 category: "Business" tags: ["startup", "Refer", "Lia"] summary: "A job description that attracts the right candidates faster separates three or four true must-haves from everything else, states the salary range honestly, and..." --- > Full index of this blog: https://blog.liarefer.com/llms.txt # How to Write a Job Description That Attracts the Right Candidates Faster By Renata Kobayashi · Published 2026-10-29 Published by [Refer, the company behind Lia, the AI career agent](https://www.liarefer.com). A job description that attracts the right candidates faster separates three or four true must-haves from everything else, states the salary range honestly, and describes the work the person will actually do in their first year. Long wish lists scare off strong candidates and confuse AI matching; clear, specific requirements do the opposite. This guide shows how to structure a job description, how to tell must-haves from nice-to-haves, why AI recruiters read your requirements literally, and includes a template you can copy. --- ## **TL;DR** - Limit must-haves to **three or four**. Everything else is a nice-to-have. - Describe **what the person will do** in the first year, not just who they are. - Include an honest **salary range**; several US states require it. - Be explicit about **location and work model**. - AI recruiters read requirements **literally**: vague requirements produce vague matches. --- ## **Why Do Most Job Descriptions Attract the Wrong Candidates?** Because they’re written as wish lists. A role with twelve “requirements” tells candidates nothing about what actually matters, so: - **Strong candidates self-select out** because they don’t meet every line. - **Weak candidates apply anyway** because the list is too generic to filter them. - **AI matching gets confused**, because every line looks equally important. The fix is to decide what matters before you write. --- ## **How Do You Separate Must-Haves From Nice-to-Haves?** Ask one question of every requirement: **would I reject an otherwise great candidate who doesn’t have this?** If not, it’s a nice-to-have. | Requirement | Must-have or nice-to-have? | Why | | ------------------------------------------ | -------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | 5+ years building backend systems | Must-have | The role owns the platform from day one | | Experience with Go | Nice-to-have | A strong engineer can learn it quickly | | Payments or fintech experience | Must-have | The domain has real regulatory complexity | | Experience with our exact cloud provider | Nice-to-have | Concepts transfer between providers | | Has led a migration of a production system | Must-have | It’s the first big project | Keep must-haves to three or four. If you have eight, you haven’t decided yet. --- ## **What Should a Job Description Include?** 1. **One-paragraph summary:** what the team does and why this role matters now. 2. **What you’ll do in the first year:** three to five concrete outcomes. 3. **Must-haves:** three or four. 4. **Nice-to-haves:** clearly labeled as optional. 5. **Location and work model:** remote, hybrid or in-office, and which cities or time zones. 6. **Salary range and equity:** several states, including California, Colorado, New York and Washington, require pay ranges in job postings. 7. **Process:** the steps and how long they take. --- ## **How Do AI Recruiters Read Your Job Description?** AI recruiters compare your requirements with each candidate’s experience and preferences. They treat what you write as real criteria, so: - **Must-haves become hard checks.** Too many, and almost no one matches. - **Location, work model and salary become filters** on both sides: a range below what candidates expect removes them from your matches. - **Specific beats generic.** “Led a production database migration” matches better than “strong technical skills.” If you have criteria you don’t want in the public post, such as target schools or companies to exclude, add them as private requirements where your tools allow it. --- ## **A Job Description Template You Can Copy** > **Senior Backend Engineer, Payments Platform** > We’re rebuilding the infrastructure that moves money for thousands of small businesses, and this role will own it. > **In your first year, you will:** lead the migration of our ledger to a new architecture; cut payment failures in half; and help hire the next two platform engineers. > **Must-haves:** 5+ years building backend systems; payments or fintech experience; led a production migration. > **Nice-to-haves:** Go; experience at an early-stage startup. > **Location:** hybrid in New York, three days a week. **Salary:** $170,000 to $200,000 plus equity. > **Process:** founder call, technical deep dive, half-day paid project, team and references, about two weeks in total. --- ## **How Can Refer’s Lia Help?** [Refer](https://www.liarefer.com/for-organizations)’s AI recruiter, Lia, reads your job description the way a great recruiter would. - **Splits your requirements into separate checks** and matches candidates only when every check passes. - **Checks the candidate’s side too:** work model, company size and pay expectations. - **Extra requirements:** add private criteria that aren’t in your public job post. - **Connects to your job board or ATS,** so updates to your descriptions sync automatically. - **Free for companies**, with double opt-in on every introduction. - **Proven.** Lia has made more than 5,000 introductions. [Start hiring with Lia](https://www.liarefer.com/for-organizations). --- ## **Which Fix Fits Your Situation?** | Your situation | Fix | Why | | -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | | Too few candidates | Cut must-haves to three or four | Long lists filter out good people | | Too many wrong candidates | Make must-haves more specific | Generic lines don’t filter | | Candidates drop out at the offer | Put an honest salary range in the post | Align expectations early | | Confusing remote policy | State the work model and locations | Removes mismatches on both sides | --- ## **How-To: Rewrite a Job Description in 6 Steps** 1. **List every requirement you have.** Get it all on paper first. 2. **Apply the rejection test.** Would you reject a great candidate without it? 3. **Keep three or four must-haves.** Label everything else as a nice-to-have. 4. **Write first-year outcomes.** Three to five concrete results. 5. **Add location, work model and salary range.** Be specific and honest. 6. **Add private requirements separately.** Keep the public post clean. --- ## **Focused FAQ** **How many requirements should a job description have?** Three or four must-haves, with any other skills clearly labeled as nice-to-haves. **Should I include a salary range in a job description?** Yes. It aligns expectations early, and several US states, including California, Colorado, New York and Washington, require it. **How do AI recruiters use my job description?** They turn your requirements into checks and compare them with each candidate’s experience and preferences, so specific requirements produce better matches. **Is Refer free for companies?** Yes. There’s no contract, subscription or placement fee. --- ## **About the Author** Renata is on the founding team at Refer. --- ## **Sources** - [Refer: Lia for organizations](https://www.liarefer.com/for-organizations)