Job ad and job description with Claude, built from results

A job ad and a job description are two documents with different readers. The ad is for a candidate scrolling on a phone who decides in a minute whether this job is for them. The description is for the hiring manager and the new hire, and it says how the first 90 days will be judged. Claude writes both from the same facts in about 20 minutes, and it keeps the ad in plain language without the cliches most job boards are full of. The facts you bring decide whether the result describes a real job.

Results before requirements

Sit down with the hiring manager and agree on five main results you expect from the person in the first year. "Close the month without weekend overtime" or "take over the key accounts from the departing manager" are results. Then agree on three must-have skills: the ones without which you would reject a candidate regardless of everything else. Results tell the candidate what the job is; must-haves tell them whether to apply.

The rest of the context

Decide the work format (office, hybrid, remote), whether to publish the salary range or keep it hidden, and what the company offers beyond salary. The salary range and the internal structure of the department are confidential, so put into the prompt only what you are ready to see on a job board.

The prompt

Role: you are an HR partner experienced in hiring in {{industry}}. Context: the company {{what it does, size}} is looking for a {{job title}} in {{department}}. Main results for the first year: {{five results}}. Must-have skills: {{three skills}}. Work format {{office, hybrid, remote}}, salary {{range or "negotiable"}}, what we offer beyond salary: {{list}}. Task: write two texts. The first is a job ad for a job board: what the work is, what we expect, what we offer, how to apply. The second is an internal job description: duties, reporting line, evaluation criteria for the first 90 days. Leave out any requirements on age, gender, marital status and appearance. Format: the job ad up to 250 words in plain language without cliches, the job description as a structured list. No long dashes.

Cut the requirements

Even with three must-haves in the prompt, the draft usually grows a longer list: tools, certifications, years of experience, soft skills. Go through it and keep only those without which you would reject the person. Fewer than ten remain in a good ad. Every extra requirement filters out candidates, often the strong ones who read requirements literally.

Check for discriminatory wording, including indirect forms: "young and dynamic team", "native speaker" where fluency is what you need, "recent graduate". Remove them.

Read it on a phone

Shorten the ad until it can be read on a phone in one minute. The first lines should say what the person will do and why it matters. Company history goes last or disappears.

The internal description

The job description's 90-day criteria are what make it useful after hiring. Check that each is observable: "has taken over the payables process and closed one month without the predecessor's help" can be judged; "has integrated into the team" cannot.

What to do

1. Agree five first-year results and three must-have skills with the hiring manager.
2. Decide work format, salary publication and what you offer beyond salary.
3. Run the prompt in Claude.
4. Cut requirements to those without which you would reject a candidate.
5. Remove any discriminatory requirement, including indirect wording.
6. Shorten the ad so it reads on a phone in one minute.

A good pair of texts

A candidate understands what they will do every day and how they will be evaluated, fewer than ten requirements remain, and there are no discriminatory criteria.

Plans

Both texts fit the free plan. Pro at 20 USD per month (17 with annual billing) adds Projects, useful for keeping company descriptions and past ads for consistency; Team at 25 USD per seat with annual billing keeps team data out of training by default. See Claude pricing, the HR manager's version of this task and Claude vs ChatGPT.