How to Write and Pitch Your Own Job Description

We all dream about stumbling onto that perfect job posting, one that combines our skills, interests, and expertise into one ideal position. But even if you combed through all of the three billion job listings posted at any given moment, you still might not come across this job.

Why? Because nobody might possess exactly the same capabilities you have. Or because companies might not have identified how impactful a position with specific responsibilities could be in your industry.

Create and Pitch Your Own Job

How, then, can you find your ideal job while solving a problem in your industry? By crafting your own job description.

Identifying the Need for a New Position

To make a case for a new role, you first need to argue that currently-held jobs aren’t meeting a particular need. Use your experience in the field, along with research, to get started.

Start by identifying a problem. You may also want to research other companies that have solved problems by developing a position that your company, or a company that interests you, doesn’t offer.

Say, for instance, that your colleagues are not receiving timely, well-organized communications from your C-Suite. This makes your company seem less transparent and limits efficiency.

Next, argue that this problem is significant enough to warrant a new position to solve it. Finally, explain precisely how a new position would solve this problem.

Writing a Job Description

Don’t just pitch this position to your employer or the company you’d like to work at without considering exactly what your responsibilities would be in this position. How would your job tasks mitigate the problem you have identified?

First, name your position in a way that provides a clear overview of its expectations. You might dub the role described above “Internal Communications Director.”

After that, craft a statement that describes how this role would fit into the company’s values. What would this role do to better support that mission?

Next, consider the expectations for this role. For instance, if you were focusing on pitching an Internal Communications Director role, you could write:

“My responsibilities would be to attend regularly C-Suite meetings to stay abreast of plans and proposals. I would create channels in which I could share information and employees could share issues with me. In turn, I would bring concerns from employees that upper management need to address.”

After crafting a duties statement, write a summary of the daily responsibilities of the position. What would a day in this role look like? Make sure that you’ve include a reasonable amount of tasks that would neither overwhelm nor bore you during a normal workday.

Finally, address how your specific qualifications would prepare you for this role, as well as describing how you’ve come to understand that this position would be necessary for the company. If you’re a long-time employee, this might be an easier task, but it is still possible for you to explain the value of your position to another employer.

Selling Your Job Proposal

Creating the job you see a need for is just a part of the process. You also need to figure out who to contact in order to pitch the job. Identifying the correct point of contact is an important first step.

After that, transform your job proposal based on how your employer wants to receive it. If they’re looking for a written proposal, don’t overwhelm them with anything longer than 700 words. If they want a spoken pitch, bring visual materials that help prove your points. With either type of presentation, persuade your contact by preemptively addressing any concerns your they might have.

Next, be prepared to share your job description and why you’d be the right person to fill the position. You may also want to include the following components in your proposal, as well:

• Quantifiable benefits, like time saved, efficiency increased, or money earned.
• A hierarchy chart. To whom will this position report? What other roles will report to this position?
• A list of goals and their achievements timelines. For instance, creating a new communication channel in two months.
• Challenges that may arise when creating this role and how you might address them.

Even if your contact doesn’t accept all of your job duties or responsibilities, this pitch meeting can help you modify the expectations for the position. After all, you may have overlooked certain capacities that could make the position even more meaningful to you.

If you passively wait for your ideal job posting to come along, you might wait forever. Instead, take charge of your career future. In proving the need for a position that matches your qualifications, you will not only create your ideal job but also will add value for your company.

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Want to pitch a job but need guidance? An executive career coach can help!

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