Job Descriptions on the Intake Form
| Audience | Recruiter · Hiring Manager |
| Module | Talent Tracking |
| Prerequisites | Job description templates turned on · Job Description field on the intake form |
Overview
When you open a new job, the job description is part of the intake form. In most cases it’s already filled in from the job code. Your job is to tailor the parts you’re allowed to edit, choose where it’s posted & submit.
Getting a job description
What you see depends on how your organization has set things up.
| What you do | What happens |
| Pick a job code that has a linked template | The job description fills in |
| Haven’t picked a job code yet | “Select a job code to view linked job descriptions” |
| Pick a job code with no linked template, & your organization is Strict | “No job description found for [job code]. Please contact your admin.” |
| Pick a job code with no linked template, & your organization is Flexible | Select from template or Create new |
| Your form has no job code field | Select from template, plus Create new if your organization is Flexible |
| Your organization has decoupled job descriptions from job codes | Select from template is always there, & so is Create new if your organization is Flexible. The job code doesn’t change the job description. |
If you picked a template yourself, Change lets you swap it.
Editing the job description
- Locked sections can be read but not changed.
- Required sections must be filled in for every language you post in. You can’t submit the form until they are.
- Languages each have their own tab. Each language also needs a job title.
- External & Internal tabs appear when the template has separate versions. Fill in both.
- Generate with AI & Refine with AI help write & polish editable sections.
Copying between versions
Click Copy from external or Copy from internal, keep the sections you want & click Copy. You can copy the job title too, which helps when only the titles differ.
Variables
Text such as {{city}} is a variable. It’s replaced with the job’s value when the job is posted. In preview it shows as [city].
If a variable has no value, a warning names it & tells you why:
- The field isn’t on your intake form, so it can’t be filled in.
- The field has no value yet. Fill it in on the form.
- The field is confidential. Confidential fields are never posted.
The warning doesn’t stop you saving. An empty variable posts as blank.
Choosing languages
If your organization lets recruiters pick languages, each language has a checkbox:
- The default language is always ticked & can’t be unticked.
- Languages already live on the career site are ticked when you attach a template.
- Each row shows what’s left, for example “2 sections empty” or “Job title empty”, split by External & Internal when the versions differ.
- Unticking a live language on a posted job asks you to confirm: “Stop publishing in [language]?”. When you save, that language is taken off the career site. Its text is kept.
Unticked languages don’t appear in the pipeline view or in job distribution.
Note: Language checkboxes don't appear for job descriptions you wrote with Create new. To add a language to one of those, use Create in another language.
Writing a job description from scratch
If your organization allows it, select Create new:
- Pick the first language. This becomes the default language.
- Choose whether internal & external use the same text.
- Fill in the sections.
- Use Create in another language to add more languages. Each one is written separately. Nothing is translated automatically.
Duplicating a job
When you duplicate a job whose job description came from a template, the job description is rebuilt from two sources. You don’t need to do anything.
| Part of the job description | Comes from |
| Section layout & order | Latest template |
| Locked sections | Latest template |
| Your editable sections | The job you duplicated |
| Sections that were locked & are now editable | Latest template |
| Languages added to the template since | Latest template, unticked |
You’ll see a warning only if something needs your attention:
- “Job description could not be refreshed”: the template was deleted or couldn’t be read, so the job description was copied exactly as it was.
- “This job description template is inactive. Check the content before you publish.”
Job descriptions written with Create new are copied as they are.
The new job gets its own postings. It doesn’t reuse the old job’s posting link.
Viewing the job description from the pipeline
On the job’s pipeline, open the Job Description tile & select View job description. The Job description preview is read-only & lets you:
- Switch between languages.
- Switch between the external & internal versions.
- Copy the external or internal posting link.
- Download a PDF, if your organization has this turned on.
Variables show the job’s real values here.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Why can’t I edit a section?
A: Your admin locked it in the template, usually because it holds legal or company text.
Q: Why did the job description disappear when I changed the job code?
A: The job description follows the job code. Changing or clearing the job code changes or clears it, unless your organization has decoupled the two.
Q: Can I edit the job description from the pipeline?
A: No. Edit the job from the intake form. The pipeline view is read-only.
Q: Does a blank variable block posting?
A: No. It posts as blank text. Check the warning & fill in the field if you can.