When managers are hiring for entry-level, junior or intern roles, they’re looking for early career talent who may not have much work experience.

This is why it’s important to look beyond the resumes and degrees to find highly motivated people with suitable skills, so they can dive into the role and grow from day one.

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How do I find people with the right skills for my role?

Before writing your job description

If you’re writing up a job description, you don’t need a long laundry list of requirements for a role. Jot down the skills you need with these tips and questions:

• What skills are needed to succeed in the role?
• Think about other team members who have been in the role, what great skills did they have?
• If there's a current team member in the same role, ask them to jot down the skills they believe will help the role thrive.

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‍Need some inspo? On Hatch, employers highlight the top 3 skills needed to succeed in the roles they’re hiring for. Here are examples from Turo, Eucalyptus, General Assembly and Infrastructure NSW.

• Turo is hiring a Junior Customer Support Agent and prioritises written communication, service orientation and verbal communication.
• Eucalyptus is hiring a Junior Lifecycle Marketer and they're looking for skills like written communication, decision making and attention to detail.
• General Assembly is hiring an Entry-level Inside Sales Associate who has good verbal communication, resilience and results orientation.
• Infrastructure NSW is hiring for a Project Analyst Intern with good written communication, collaboration and critical thinking.

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Nailing your job description

Job descriptions have been one-sided for a long time, where employers add long lists of requirements and what they’d like from the candidate. But it’s 2023 and in order to attract great talent, you need to show that you’re a great employer.

Your job description should give people a realistic snapshot of what it’s like to work in the role and be in your team. By being more transparent, you’re also giving today’s young talent a deeper connection to your employer brand.

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Let’s focus on how you share your role details. Here are some starting questions:

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What are the big-impact tasks involved? ‍

These are tasks in the role that need to be completed so the rest of the team and company can keep moving. Here's an example from Turo’s role:

Your role will comprise of many activities, including: monitoring and fixing reservations, providing top-quality customer support to our users, assisting customers with bookings, and troubleshooting issues.

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What are the most frequent tasks done on a typical day in this role?‍

This helps candidates get a real picture of the day to day life in the role. Eucalyptus' role sums it up like this:

Launching new campaigns and flows every week, learning from content and segmentation that’s worked, and iterating on what hasn’t.

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What type of skills are needed in this role? ‍

These are the most important skills needed to succeed in the role. Here's an example from General Assembly's role:

Able to think on your feet, try new approaches and bounce back when things don’t go your way.

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Why are these skills needed in the role?‍

Explaining why you need particular skills helps to give people a better understanding of what the role needs and how they might be applying the skills. Here are some examples:

You’ll need strong detail orientation to ensure all social media posts don’t have mistakes and ensure all parts of our community events are organised.

Or

You’ll need good service orientation as you’ll be the main point of contact for all our customers who will look for their queries to be resolved quickly and smoothly.

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What skills are nice to have, but can also be learnt? ‍

This helps you find more high-potential candidates and gives them an understanding of how you can help them grow in your team.

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Attract more talent, including people you didn’t realise were great!

We live in a digital world that’s filled with more clutter and noise than ever. Posting a traditional text-only job ad to the usual job boards will only get you so far.

Here are some quick tips to improve your job ads to attract the right talent.

Clearly communicate the skills you need

Highlight the most important skills you’re hiring for in simple bullet points. Remember, don’t turn it into a long list!

Even better, add a quick video outlining the skills you’re looking for and why they’ll succeed in the role. These points are are great in a video because they can get a little lengthy to summarise in writing!

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Open your door to more talent with the skills you need

Explicitly call out that you’re hiring for skills and not purely based on resumes and degrees. Here are some example statements to use:

‍We encourage you to apply for this role if you feel you’re a good match, even if you don’t meet all the requirements.

Or

We know that skills and experiences come in all forms. We encourage you to apply and use examples from your work, education, volunteer and personal experiences.

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Give candidates the opportunity to show you their skills upfront

You can save a lot of time (for you and the candidate) by openly asking for applications to include information that will help you get a better idea of the candidate’s skills.

Here are some starting ideas for your job ads:

• Ask candidates to highlight how and why they match the skills you need.
• Ask candidates to do a small work sample. A work sample is a small piece of work that represents or mimics a part of the job, that helps you get a better idea of the candidate’s skills. This also gives candidates a feel of what the job might look like in real life.

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Here are some examples of work sample questions.‍

Customer Support:‍

Write an email in response to a customer email complaining of delays in shipping.

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Social Media & Content: ‍

How would you use a one-minute product video across the brand’s different social media platforms?

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Avoid using words and language associated with specific genders

Some words naturally make you think of a particular gender over another. You could be restricting people with the skills you need from applying to your role because they felt they didn’t match your description. Not sure if there’s bias in your job ads? You can check on this Gender Decoder page.

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Use Hatch to attract and hire people with the right skills for your role

If you’re struggling to achieve all of the above, don’t worry! Hatch helps you go beyond the resume to find and hire people for their skills, values, and motivation. How does it work?

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Create and post a role that stands out

• Highlight the skills and responsibilities you need for the role PLUS add a Skill Snapshot for candidates showcase their skills and potential for you.
• Share your team work style and values to find candidates who match or complement your team.
• Add a team video to bring your role to life and give people a glimpse inside your team.

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Get to know candidates better, as soon as they apply

• Review applications as soon as they’re submitted.
• Learn about your candidates’ professional and life experiences.
• See their skills in action in their Skill Snapshots.
• Check out their work style and team values.
• Watch their video intro to see their motivation.

Create a role now - it’s free to post and hire on Hatch

Want more insights and tips? Download our Manager's Ebook: How to attract and hire Gen Z talent with your #1 superpower a.k.a your team