A strong event manager job description leads with a clear job title and salary range, lists five to eight core responsibilities, separates essential from desirable requirements, and gives candidates a real sense of what working for your company is like. Detailed descriptions attract qualified applicants; vague ones attract spam. Treat the JD as marketing copy — it's your callout to talent, not an HR formality.
If you're struggling to find the right candidates for roles or you're experiencing high turnover, it might not be the interview stage that is letting you down. It's often much deeper than this, and it often starts with the job description.
A strong job description will attract qualified and engaged candidates that are actively looking to work for your company. A poorly written job description might only attract those who are looking for any kind of job and don't mind where.
High turnover, candidates quickly becoming out of their depth, and candidates that appear impressive on paper but don't live up to the hype are common symptoms of poor job descriptions.
To help you attract the best event managers to your company, read our advice for crafting the perfect event manager job description, and see the qualified candidates come rolling in.
Many employers feel more comfortable at the interview stage, as they can judge the person in front of them, but in order to get the best possible candidates to this stage, you need to be coming up with a solid job description.
The job description is the callout to interested candidates. It's not just for the unemployed looking for work — it can also help to convince talented event managers to consider making a move to your organisation.
If you're tired of feeling like the candidates that show up to interviews aren't as strong as you would like, then it might be time to review your job descriptions to make sure they are saying all of the right things about your company.
If your job descriptions are too vague, candidates might be reluctant to apply because they can't see themselves in the role — simply because they can't see the role. Likewise, a job description that is too detailed might intimidate candidates who feel they aren't one-hundred-percent up to the task.
If you want your job descriptions to inspire candidates to put their best foot forward for the role, then you need to make sure you are painting a positive picture of the role and your organisation.
A good job description will feature some common parts, including:
You might also consider mentioning things like reporting structure, where the role fits within the organisation, what metrics are used to judge success, and what the company culture is like.
The more detailed information you can provide, the more detail candidates can provide in their application. Writing a detailed job description is also a great way to sanity check the role. If you feel like you are asking for too much, it might be time to review the seniority of the role, or consider hiring multiple people.
The job title is vital to get right, as this will often be the keyword that candidates are searching for. It's vital to choose the right job title for the position, whether that is an event manager, event producer or an event coordinator.
The roles might seem similar, but there are key differences in the responsibilities. They also attract very different candidates, so you want to make sure you are attracting the right skillset.
Salary banding is another helpful way to attract candidates at the right stage in their career. Make sure you are looking at competitor listings to see if your salary ranges are up to date.
The responsibilities section helps the candidate to see if they are at the right stage in their event planning career to be able to apply for the role. This should be a list of bullet points, starting with the most important tasks that will fall on the event manager's shoulders.
If certain tasks are only occasional demands, you should also make this clear. Some job descriptions will include a percentage indicator to help candidates get a clearer picture of how much time they will spend on certain tasks.
Now it's time to make a wish list for your ideal candidate. Be as detailed as possible at this stage, as this will help to ensure that you find candidates that are a perfect match. Remember that you can list skills and requirements as essential and desirable, to help broaden your search.
Include all of the hard skills and the soft skills that would be desirable in a candidate. You can also include personality traits such as "self-motivated" or "positive". If your company has a particular culture and you're looking for someone who will fit seamlessly into this environment, don't be afraid to mention this in the job description.
Just like employers skim CVs, candidates also skim job descriptions. Their eyes will be drawn to a few different sections, usually the job title, the salary range, and a brief look at the top skills and requirements. They'll make a quick assessment about their suitability for the role, and then either continue reading in order to tailor their CV, or they'll move on to the next role.
If they aren't a good fit for the role, or if they lack relevant experience, then moving on is no bad thing. What you want to avoid is having qualified and skilled candidates moving on because they can't see themselves outlined in the job description.
This is why it's important to paint an accurate view of what the job is really like, and what it's like to work for your company. Writing the job description in collaboration with your employees can help to make it a more accurate reflection of the job on offer.
Employers tend to think that keeping things brief will attract more applicants, but the opposite is often true. When you keep details sparse, candidates won't want to do the work of filling in the gaps. They might assume they are over- or under-qualified for the role and never even bother putting in an application.
You can also attract lots of spam applications from candidates who are firing off applications to anything and everything, without any thought for the role at hand. Trawling through hundreds of applications to find the serious ones can be very time consuming.
Another common mistake is making the role seem impossible to achieve, or underpaid. You might think you're making it look like an incredible opportunity for growth, but candidates might interpret it as an underpaid and overworked position.
Every section is laid out and the bracketed placeholders are ready to fill in. Edit in Word, Pages or Google Docs — then export to PDF when you're ready to send.
Download Job Description TemplateReady to find excellent candidates for your next role? Use the template above and then post your event job today.
With 3 years of experience in the events industry, Sophie understands the events job market and what companies and candidates need from an industry-specific job board.