Beyond Resumes and Coaching: The Untapped Value of Position Descriptions

August 1, 2026 | Don Orlando | Blog, Career Coaching, Résumé Writing

Of course, you use announcements and, if you can get them, position descriptions (PDs) to guide your AI tools to help you write for and coach your clients. Supposedly, announcements and PDs capture what the hiring officials are looking for…except when they don’t.

First, what’s asked for is often shown in “key words.” They’re little more than traits or responsibilities. For example, firms looking to hire sales professionals all want the same core skills: the ability to communicate, to have empathy, be resilient, and negotiate. Of course, product knowledge and foundational IT abilities round out the package.

Now consider these questions. Would any company hire an applicant who didn’t have those skills? Wouldn’t it be universally helpful to provide more details? Some companies try.

As an example, consider resiliency. A company might ask for applicants who have encountered rejection. That’s a very basic start. But suppose the announcement went further:

“Successful candidates can illustrate how they learned from rejection and applied the resulting solutions to increased sales.”

Second, vague standards are just one shortcoming. Another is a product of corporate functions. HR drafts most announcements. They try to discover needs by speaking with supervisors. Sadly, often neither supervisors nor many HR professionals get the training they need.

Please don’t misunderstand. HR staff do vital work, even when the pace of operations doesn’t equip them completely.

My client is a senior emergency actions planner. It’s complex, fast-paced work that demands solutions right now. HR knows as much about the details of what he does, as he knows about US 29 Code, §210, paragraph (a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 as amended!

As a career professional you have the insights, and often the “big” picture, of the relationships between what companies really need and the value your client brings to those needs. With just a little research, you could write superior position descriptions (PDs) that serve companies, HR professionals, your clients, and grow your practice.

You already know the two vital questions that would define an excellent PD:

Which visible indicators of an employee’s performance would leadership accept as best practices? Nothing vague will do. The indicators must describe actions and results.
Which resources must be given to a team member so they can deliver excellence? Resources go beyond time, money, and knowledge. Those might include decision-making authority, the ability to hire and fire, access to key individuals, and the like.

Your work with clients gives you those elements. You’ve documented those beautifully in résumés, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and client posts.

Here are suggested steps to turn that wisdom into more value for each client, exceptional knowledge recruiters too often lack, all while growing revenue for your practice.

Step 1: In which fields are you highly experienced? From which fields do most of your clients come?

Step 2: Choose an announcement or PD that is better than most.

Step 3: Now fold in the answers to the two vital questions you saw above.

To help you, I’ve attached an actual position description I drafted for one of my clients. Watch for the elements that add real value.

How do you “sell” your new PDs? Network with your clients. You have shared their recent experience in struggling with announcements. They can usually tell you about previous jobs whose vague PDs limited their advancement.

After you’ve established a good relationship with the appropriate clients, have them tell you of the obstacles poor PDs presented. Then offer to draft a PD, send it to them, and ask for feedback.

Once they see the value, offer a final version as an investment. If your work gives them an edge in earning raises, bonuses, and promotions the ROI will be obvious. In this example, the PD got my client a promotion. He invested about $1K with me. Even though his new job offered only a $5K raise, that’s a 500% return on his investment!

AI may have cut the number of clients you once served and could depend upon. I’m suggesting you enter a market that is much overlooked. The concept I’ve described above can expand your market share broadly and deeply.

Once your abilities become known, companies may well ask if you have clients they can interview. That becomes a commanding part of your brand: on your website, on LinkedIn, on the posts you write, on the podcasts in which you appear.

It’s very possible you are one of the few professionals who will ever read this article. That’s one more reason to act now.

Questions? Email me any hour of any day or night. I’ll respond promptly.

Position Description Example

Coordinator of Communications

Reporting arrangements

The Coordinator of Communications reports to the Executive Director.

The Coordinator of Communications’ mission statement

The Coordinator of Communications is our team’s “capability multiplier.” Without the Coordinator, virtually every program we build for our members, every report our decision-makers rely upon, and every marketing program we need to grow, might become academic exercises. While rarely the sole author of information, the Coordinator plays a vital role that helps The Association get desired actions or reactions from everyone it seeks to influence.

The Coordinator has four main responsibilities.

Coordinating all external communications including but not limited to Association publications, presentations, websites, blogs, podcasts, and publicity materials. This requires extensive experience in the areas of writing, artificial intelligence, social media, photography, graphic design, and web site management.

Deciding which media we use to communicate is the Coordinator’s second bailiwick. Here the Coordinator helps balance efficiency (cost control) with effectiveness in transmitting ideas to constituents and decision-makers.

Increasing visibility of the Association through external communications. The Coordinator makes certain that what we send outside our organization reflects the power of our brand. A reminder: a brand is not a jingle nor collections of nice-sounding words. They are specific promises of actions that deliver value to those we serve internally and externally.

Ensures integrity and accuracy of information disseminated to membership and the general public is the last, but certainly not the least, of the Coordinator’s responsibilities.

In sum, the Coordinator of Communications must be a team player and a trusted, discrete advisor.

Minimum qualifications to serve as
the Coordinator of Communications

The Coordinator of Communications is a facilitator.

Before the Executive Director interviews candidates, candidates should be told what types of publications the Association produces and the software used. The candidates can then gather samples of previous work to prepare for interviews. Candidates should be told how each interview is formatted: AI or person to person.

The best candidates have demonstrated experience and knowledge in the areas of artificial intelligence, social media, writing, photography, graphic design, and web site management. In addition, they have specific examples to illustrate their abilities in the four responsibilities outlined above.

The purposes of this document

In general, this document describes the tasks for which the Coordinator of Communications is responsible. It is not meant to tell the Coordinator how to do those jobs. Nor does it repeat the specific tasks listed in position descriptions of the Association staff members who may work with the Coordinator routinely. Finally, this position description includes only suggested content of publications, posts, and our web site.

The Executive Director should use this document to help in these ways:

As a guide when hiring a new Coordinator of Communications,
To guard against giving the Coordinator of Communications more responsibilities than he or she can handle,
As a check to be sure the Coordinator of Communications has the resources—including time and access—to meet all responsibilities,
To add new tasks and remove outdated ones, and
To help refine the performance evaluation instrument used to reward, counsel, or support firing of the Coordinator of Communications.

The Coordinator of Communications should use this document in these ways:

To get a quick overview of the tasks for which he or she is responsible,
As a guide to help set priorities, and
As a framework against which to record examples of work to help the Executive Director review the Coordinator’s performance.

The Coordinator of Communications is responsible for these tasks

Supports the mission of the association in these ways:

Coordinate all external communications including, but not limited to these:
- Print and electronic media
- Association publications
Help recruit members statewide:
Recommend media to reach potential members.
Develop partnerships and networking opportunities with other professional organizations and constituents.
Set up and administer our e-mail, social media, and text systems.
Maintain our job bank for members.
Coordinate national scholarships and recognition programs such as Superintendent of the Year, MetLife Principal of the Year, McDonald’s Leader of the Year and the Discover Card Award Scholarships.
Will adhere to the principle of providing reliable and accurate information.
Assists in the Association’s legislative efforts.

Supports the Association leadership in these ways:

Provide annual summary reports to the Executive Director answering these questions (at least):
- How well is our web site performing?
Decide on, and defend the choice of, statistics used to measure website performance. Typical choices might include these measures:
- Demographic information
- Page views per visitor
- Revenue per click
- Cost per click
- Average click throughs per time period
Supports the membership in these ways:
Produces timely publications including, but not limited to, the Association magazine, newsletter, brochures, social media posts, and flyers.
- Coordinates and solicits advertising for magazine and website.
Establish and maintain a website that is easily found, navigated, and updated.
- Assure website visibility:
- Register with search engines,
- Select and employ search engine optimization tools,
- Establish links with other useful sites.
Educate our membership, constituencies, and other hiring decision-makers on the website and social media channels and their value to them.
Work with our staff to determine what information should be made available to which constituency. Likely information on the site might include hypertext to these areas:
- Consultative and training services the Association offers,
- Pending legislation affecting our mission in Alabama,
- The Association’ views on pending legislation,
- Latest trends in our mission area in Alabama,
- A job bank for members.
The Coordinator of Communications performs other mission-related duties as assigned by the Executive Director.