The Hottest Job Descriptions in the NYC Tech Scene


The Hottest Job Descriptions  in the NYC Tech Scene

Posted on Nov. 2, 2016, 11:19 a.m.

It’s not often that you see the words “hottest” and “job description” in the same title — but, yes, we went there.

Recruiting is marketing. You’re marketing your company. You’re marketing the job opening. You’re marketing the company vision to candidates just like you’re marketing it to customers. Your job description is a key piece of your marketing collateral. So why is it that job descriptions usually get pushed to the bottom of the priority list?

Well, it’s because we’re all really, very, extremely, unbelievably busy. As recruiters, hiring managers, and founders, we have a million other things to do.

Let me lay it out for you candidly, though: STRONG JOB DESCRIPTIONS ARE CRITICAL. They set the stage for the entire candidate experience. Job descriptions are the candidate’s first look at their next potential (and remember, life-changing) career move.

Think I’m being overly dramatic about job descriptions? I’ve seen candidates turn down interview requests with exceptional companies because the job description looks boring, lists unrealistic expectations (we can’t expect engineers to know every single language), or lacks the basic information they need to know to move forward. Candidates are busy people, too.

So, we wanted to dig deeper by looking at our own data. We asked a simple question: what job descriptions are most popular with UpScored members? By analyzing our user feedback and interaction data, we identified the three most popular job descriptions among four categories: Marketing, Software Engineering, Data Science, and Design across +200 companies hiring in NYC.

The Hottest Job Descriptions in the NYC Tech Scene Are (drum roll)

Marketing

  1. Digital Marketing Manager, Cloud @ MongoDB
  2. Marketing Manager, Partnerships @ Uber
  3. Digital Marketing Manager @ Blue Apron

Software Engineering

  1. Software Engineer (Web) @ Namely
  2. Front End Software Engineer @ Google
  3. Software Engineer - Front End @ Squarespace

Data Science & Analytics

  1. Machine Learning Data Scientist @ Gilt Groupe
  2. Data Scientist @ Bonobos
  3. Data Scientist @ Birchbox

UI / UX Design

  1. Interaction Designer @ Google
  2. Web Designer @ Squarespace
  3. Senior Product Designer (User Experience) @ Spotify

What Do The Winners Above Tell Us?

We realize there are other factors at play here — many of the companies listed above are large and well-known (ahem, Google).  But perhaps there are other important takeaways? For example, Google’s Interaction Designer role starts off with “Design and user experience are at the forefront of everything we do.” That would get me pretty excited as a UX candidate.

Bonobos’ Data Scientist role explains thatthe mission of the Data Science group is to champion the value of intellectual honesty and data-driven judgment in the organization. We use our data to extract signals that close the loop between our personalized physical shopping experience, our e-commerce platform, and our customers.” Yep, I’m sold.

Blue Apron’s Digital Marketing Manager role clearly states that “you’ll report to the Director of Customer Acquisition and work across a variety of digital marketing channels.” Bonus points for identifying who the hire would be reporting to within the company.

The point is that the job openings above have a number of commonalities. They are concise, yet exciting. They explain to the candidate what they’ll be doing, who they’ll be working with, and what they’ll be working on. They don’t go overboard with too many requirements while still listing the important qualifications of the job in an articulate way.

We’ll Leave You With This…

Below are a few questions to ask yourself when you’re polishing off your job description. Most answers should be “Yes” (sans the last question). On the flip side, if you’re a job seeker reading this post, these are questions you can ask during the interview process.

  • Does the job description describe the specific group and/or division the candidate will be working in — and how that group fits into the overall company?
  • Does the job description identify who the hire will be reporting to within the organization?
  • Does the job description describe any examples of cool projects or problems the candidate will get to solve once hired?
  • For technical roles, does the job description list the company’s stack?
  • Does the job description have less than 8 requirements and less than 5 preferences? Because it shouldn’t be longer than that.
  • Once you’ve read through the job description yourself, are you excited about the position? If not, try again.
  • Does the title of the job description include words like “ninja” or “guru” or anything akin to these asinine descriptors? If yes, remove immediately.

The data aside, we talk to our members regularly to better understand their actions on our platform. One thing I know for certain is that they care about what the job description says, especially for startups who don’t have the brand recognition of the Ubers and Airbnbs of the world. It’s important to set the tone at the beginning by taking time to write a job description that articulates the position’s full story — a compelling story that gets candidates excited.

 - The UpScored Team