Why most tech job descriptions are killing your candidate pipeline

The average tech job description asks for 7 years of experience in a 4-year-old framework, requires a degree for a role that doesn't need one, and uses buzzwords that make engineers scroll straight past. The result? Your pipeline is full of people who didn't read carefully — and empty of the people you actually want.

The most common mistakes

Most job descriptions are written by someone who has never done the role, copied from a template that's three years old, and reviewed by a legal team that adds nothing but length. The engineer reading it can tell immediately — and the best ones move on.

Requiring a Computer Science degree for a frontend role. Listing 12 "must-have" technologies when the team uses 3. Writing "fast-paced environment" instead of describing what the team actually ships. These are signals to top candidates that your company doesn't know what it needs.

What great job descriptions do instead

The best job descriptions we've seen are written like a pitch, not a checklist. They explain what the company is building and why it matters. They describe what the first 90 days actually look like. They're honest about the challenges and clear about what success looks like.

They also separate "must haves" from "nice to haves" — and keep the must-have list brutally short. If everything is essential, nothing is.

A simple framework to use

Before you post your next role, answer these four questions in the description: What problem does this person solve? What will they build in their first three months? What does the team they're joining look like? What does growth look like in 12–18 months? Answer those honestly and you'll outperform 90% of job postings in your market.