Posting a new creative role is exciting. You made the case to leadership. You got approval. You checked all the boxes. Now all you need to do is post on your job board of choice, right? The team is ready to fill this role like yesterday.
Karen, your VP of Marketing, is overwhelmed. She needs a social media manager, content strategist, and GTM performance marketer. So, you figured you’d start with hiring one catch-all “Marketing Specialist” to cover it all.
Let’s stop there.
Before You Post the Job: The Internal Hiring Gut Check
Approval is not alignment.
If you’ve been paying attention to hiring recently, you already know there’s a lot amiss. Before you post that role, there are a few pivotal questions creative leaders must answer internally before shipping this job posting into a sea of applicants:
- Where does this role actually sit within the company structure and its deliverables? Are there specifics, beyond buzzwords and generic skills, in the job description that outline a realistic “day in the life?”
- What will this role truly own and be accountable for? Any anticipated outcomes or 90-day KPIs?
- Is compensation clear? Is there a trajectory and a growth structure?
Urgency makes this worse. It’s not that you're not thinking about these things; it’s that they don’t feel like priorities.
The pressure to “just get someone in” becomes more important than taking the time required to build a role that actually functions in a nimble, evolving creative team. And we can’t ignore how drastically the hiring landscape has shifted and how the pipeline of applicants now far outpaces the time and resources most hiring teams have to thoughtfully manage it.
That imbalance creates real stress, even on a good day.
So let’s rework the narrative. Instead of building a role that tries to appeal to everyone, build the right job for the right one. Create clear guardrails so you’re not staring down 5,000 rejection emails you never had the capacity to send in the first place.
“Internal competition for talent stems from governance and alignment gaps, not speed,” shares Lynne Williams, Executive Director of the Great Careers Network. “To avoid rushed hiring decisions, teams should take time to define quarterly hiring priorities, require checklist approval before posting, centralize candidate pipeline management, standardize interviews and rubrics, and build a company-first hiring culture.”
In other words, speed is rarely the root issue. It's alignment.
Bottom line: We may never eliminate the overflow of candidates, but we can reduce the chaos around it by doing the work internally beforehand.
Architecting a role properly saves thousands of dollars, hours of onboarding confusion, and months of stalled momentum. In a hiring landscape flooded with applicants, specificity isn’t a burden but rather a filter. Transparency on both sides saves time, money, and a whole lot of bruised egos.
Get Clear on What This Role Will Actually Do
It’s tempting to include “SEO Rockstar,” “Marketing Ninja,” and “Spreadsheet Legend” in job descriptions. Let's skip that.
Get specific. What CRMs, technology, and hard skills does this person need to 100% have to be successful in this role, and what can be learned? Have this conversation with key people this hire will work with most. Outline a realistic 30, 60, and 90-day plan tied to outcomes, not just activity.
“Proactive hiring begins with clear business outcomes, not just a job description,” explains Williams. “Identify why the role is needed: is it for growth, backfilling, new capabilities, or cost control? Define specific, measurable outcomes and the timeline to achieve them, using S.M.A.R.T. goals.”
Once you know the specifics, you’re on the way to drafting a job description.
Tips for Writing an Accurate Creative Job Description
Pete Newsome put it plainly on his Hire Calling podcast:
1. Use clear, industry-standard titles.
Avoid internal jargon that only makes sense inside your Slack channel.
“This is not the moment for 'Code Wizard Level Three,’” he jokes. “It’s Senior Software Engineer. Stay in the center lane.”
Clear titles attract the right candidates and filter out confusion early.
2. Provide a concise introduction to the role and its purpose.
Explain how it functions within your company and why it matters. Highlight ownership, impact, or visibility.
(This is also your time to add personality and passion to an otherwise bland read.)
“Too often, job descriptions are just cold,” says Newsome. “And candidates? They’re more emotionally driven than ever. So use that. Don’t strip the humanity out of your posting. Most job descriptions read like contracts. The great ones read like invitations.”
You don’t need hype. You need humanity.
3. List core responsibilities with specific language.
Paint a clear, realistic picture of the day-to-day so candidates can see themselves in it or clearly opt out.
“If you have too many requirements, and what you're really describing is a ‘unicorn,’" Newsome warns. "you're going to miss out on otherwise really strong candidates who you would like to see.”
High standards are good but it’s all about balance.
4. Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves.
Be clear about what is essential versus preferred. This narrows your candidate pool strategically instead of accidentally.
5. Be explicit about role structure.
Clearly state whether the role is remote, hybrid, or on-site. Note travel requirements or physical expectations.
“If you offer flexibility, say so,” explains Newsome. “If it’s in-office five days a week, say that too. Clarity here saves everyone time.”
Define Role Ownership Before You Hire
Posting a job description should call for clear, honest conversations with team members about their pain points and hopes for the company.
Maybe Karen doesn’t need someone who “does it all.” Maybe she needs someone who tracks page views, owns SEO analytics, and ties marketing activity to traffic and conversion. In that case, “Marketing Specialist” is too vague. A more defined title like Demand Generation or Performance Marketing Specialist sets clearer expectations from day one.
Williams notes that a role is truly essential when the need is ongoing, business-critical, and cannot be met by existing resources:
“Has root cause analysis been done? Apply the People, Process, and Performance framework — the who, how, and what. Recognize active (people, software) and passive (equipment, materials) resources crucial to efficiency. Consider: Without this hire, could the brand, culture, or business relationships suffer? Could a temporary or contract solution suffice for short-term spikes?”
Ownership creates clarity. Clarity prevents someone from becoming the default firefighter for whatever fire needs putting out that day.
If you can’t articulate what this person is accountable for right now, pause. Have the conversations. Gather feedback. Align internally before communicating externally.
Stephen Goldberg reinforces this approach, noting effective job-creation often includes meeting with team members individually to understand their tasks, required skills, and minimum performance standards. From there, draft the description, circulate it for feedback, and refine. Alignment rarely happens in one pass.
Align the Role With Long-Term Team Growth
Now, zoom out.
A new hire for a creative team can often feel inspired but unclear on how the role evolves as the company grows. That ambiguity often surfaces during annual reviews. It should be addressed before the job is posted.
Is this entry-level with a path to mid-level? Is it foundational to a growing function? Or is it a short-term solution?
Obviously, the answer matters. Growth trajectory can attract the right candidate or quietly push them away. When clarified upfront, you are not just filling a seat. You are signaling direction.
As a helpful HR Redditer elegantly put it, “focus on what a candidate will be able to accomplish in the role, how they’ll grow, and what makes working on my team better than a lot of the other opportunities out there (benefits, comp, travel, professional development, impact and visibility of the role, etc.).”
Let’s Talk Budget Approval and Salary
With scope and trajectory defined, compensation needs to be equally clear.
Avoid the “salary dependent upon experience” approach. Candidates want numbers. Clear salary bands create alignment early and help determine the appropriate title and growth path.
”When establishing salary bands, HR professionals and hiring managers need to choose titles that accurately reflect the actual position,” writes Rosie Greaves. “The title should indicate the role’s duties and the employer’s expectations, reflecting the way the role fits within the organization.
Compensation should account for company size, industry, and geography. Cost of living, housing, transportation, and regional market rates all influence expectations.
Williams adds that investing time up front on compensation alignment can prevent months of delays and candidate loss. Leverage available platforms for salary research by locale, assigning this to a compensation analyst. Just as important, remember to analyze total compensation, including benefits, in advance so managers know negotiation options.
Budget clarity is not red tape. It is preparation.
Are You Ready to Manage Applicant Volume?
You’ve defined the scope. You’ve clarified ownership. You’ve aligned on compensation. Now, it's time to prepare for how quickly you'll get hundreds or thousands of applicants.
The question becomes: are you actually prepared to manage that influx well?
Choosing the right platforms matters, Paul Petrone details in his LinkedIn blog. Sure, LinkedIn may be your primary lever, but there are other boards that can expand reach quickly. But with that reach comes volume, and with volume comes noise.
Beyond choosing the right posting platform, Williams notes that internal readiness extends beyond writing and posting the job, but rather about having a fast, aligned decision-making system.
“Ensure internal alignment on outcomes and criteria, with a defined hiring workflow and timelines,” she says. “Confirm that screening can handle applicant volume, and that compensation and decision authority are approved. Set up rapid, consistent candidate communication, an onboarding system for offer acceptance, and a backup plan if the offer is declined.”
Before you press publish, ask: Do we truly have the time and infrastructure to manage what’s about to land in our inbox?
If the answer is “not really,” that’s okay. It just means you may need support. If you’re staring at the launch button and wondering whether you’re ready to manage the wave that follows, don’t hesitate to reach out to gauge your needs.
Sometimes working smarter simply means not sorting through thousands of applications alone. This is a strategic move that is less about outsourcing and more about protecting your team’s time, energy, and momentum while ensuring the right creative talent rises to the top.
