AI prompt for writing a job description

Written for Claude. Compiled as a writing task — producing original prose: articles, essays, stories, letters, and long-form copy.

<role>
You are a senior writer and editor with a decade of experience in this exact form.
</role>

<audience>
This is for candidates currently employed elsewhere and not actively looking. Pitch the level of detail, vocabulary, and assumed background at that reader specifically, not at a general audience.
</audience>

<context>
What the person will actually do: {{actual_work}}. Team and reporting: {{team}}. Genuine requirements: {{requirements}}. Salary range: {{salary}}.
</context>

<task>
Write a job description for a {{job_title}}.
</task>

<constraints>
- Describe what the person will do in their first three months, concretely.
- Separate genuine requirements from preferences, and keep requirements short.
- Include the salary range.
- Do not describe the company culture in adjectives.
- Avoid rockstar.
- Avoid ninja.
- Avoid wear many hats.
- Avoid fast-paced environment.
- Avoid work hard play hard.
- Treat length as a hard requirement and state the word count you targeted at the end.
- Write in plain, direct prose. Do not restate the prompt, and do not open with a throat-clearing sentence.
- Vary sentence length. Do not begin consecutive sentences with the same word or structure.
- Do not invent facts, statistics, quotations, or attributed opinions.
</constraints>

<output_format>
Respond in Markdown. Use descriptive headings, and keep paragraphs to three sentences or fewer. Length: 400 words. Treat this as a requirement, not a suggestion.
</output_format>

<before_you_start>
If anything above is unclear, or you are missing information you need, ask up to three specific clarifying questions before producing any output. Do not invent facts, names, numbers, sources, or quotations to fill a gap — if you do not know something, say so plainly.
</before_you_start>

Now, write a job description for a {{job_title}}.

Open this in the prompt builder to add your own context and see what would improve it most.

What makes writing a job description hard to prompt for

Job descriptions are written to filter and read as warnings. Long requirement lists deter the strong candidates who self-assess honestly and are ignored by everyone else, which inverts the intended filter.

Why this prompt works

Background comes before the instruction

The model reads the situation before it learns what to do with it, which stops the instruction being diluted by everything that follows. The task is then restated as the final line, where models weight it most heavily.

Rules a writing task assumes but nobody writes down

Write in plain, direct prose. Do not restate the prompt, and do not open with a throat-clearing sentence. Vary sentence length. Do not begin consecutive sentences with the same word or structure. These are added automatically because leaving them implicit is the most common reason this kind of output disappoints.

Uncheckable words replaced with checkable ones

"short" reads like a requirement but cannot be verified by the model. The prompt swaps it for a property that can be checked, which is the difference between a request and a specification.

Permission to ask instead of guess

This brief leaves room for interpretation, so the prompt tells the model to ask before inventing details. That converts a confidently wrong answer into a question you can actually answer.

What to replace

Check the output before you use it

• Cut every requirement that is really a preference. Requirement lists over six items deter good candidates.
• Check the first-three-months section describes actual work, not responsibilities in the abstract.
• Confirm the salary range is present.

The same prompt for other models

Identical content, packaged the way each model reads most reliably.

## Role

You are a senior writer and editor with a decade of experience in this exact form.

## Audience

This is for candidates currently employed elsewhere and not actively looking. Pitch the level of detail, vocabulary, and assumed background at that reader specifically, not at a general audience.

## Context

What the person will actually do: {{actual_work}}. Team and reporting: {{team}}. Genuine requirements: {{requirements}}. Salary range: {{salary}}.

## Task

Write a job description for a {{job_title}}.

## Constraints

- Describe what the person will do in their first three months, concretely.
- Separate genuine requirements from preferences, and keep requirements short.
- Include the salary range.
- Do not describe the company culture in adjectives.
- Avoid rockstar.
- Avoid ninja.
- Avoid wear many hats.
- Avoid fast-paced environment.
- Avoid work hard play hard.
- Treat length as a hard requirement and state the word count you targeted at the end.
- Write in plain, direct prose. Do not restate the prompt, and do not open with a throat-clearing sentence.
- Vary sentence length. Do not begin consecutive sentences with the same word or structure.
- Do not invent facts, statistics, quotations, or attributed opinions.

## Output format

Respond in Markdown. Use descriptive headings, and keep paragraphs to three sentences or fewer. Length: 400 words. Treat this as a requirement, not a suggestion.

## Before you start

If anything above is unclear, or you are missing information you need, ask up to three specific clarifying questions before producing any output. Do not invent facts, names, numbers, sources, or quotations to fill a gap — if you do not know something, say so plainly.

Now, write a job description for a {{job_title}}.

**Task**

Write a job description for a {{job_title}}.

**Role**

You are a senior writer and editor with a decade of experience in this exact form.

**Audience**

This is for candidates currently employed elsewhere and not actively looking. Pitch the level of detail, vocabulary, and assumed background at that reader specifically, not at a general audience.

**Context**

What the person will actually do: {{actual_work}}. Team and reporting: {{team}}. Genuine requirements: {{requirements}}. Salary range: {{salary}}.

**Constraints**

- Describe what the person will do in their first three months, concretely.
- Separate genuine requirements from preferences, and keep requirements short.
- Include the salary range.
- Do not describe the company culture in adjectives.
- Avoid rockstar.
- Avoid ninja.
- Avoid wear many hats.
- Avoid fast-paced environment.
- Avoid work hard play hard.
- Treat length as a hard requirement and state the word count you targeted at the end.
- Write in plain, direct prose. Do not restate the prompt, and do not open with a throat-clearing sentence.
- Vary sentence length. Do not begin consecutive sentences with the same word or structure.
- Do not invent facts, statistics, quotations, or attributed opinions.

**Output format**

Respond in Markdown. Use descriptive headings, and keep paragraphs to three sentences or fewer. Length: 400 words. Treat this as a requirement, not a suggestion.

**Before you start**

If anything above is unclear, or you are missing information you need, ask up to three specific clarifying questions before producing any output. Do not invent facts, names, numbers, sources, or quotations to fill a gap — if you do not know something, say so plainly.

Now, write a job description for a {{job_title}}.