On this page: Key takeaways · What should a warehouse job description include? · What does a completed warehouse job description template look like? · How do you separate what is required from what would help? · Which shift facts belong in the advert? · What mistakes make warehouse job descriptions fail? · What changes when an agency writes the advert? · What should you change in your next warehouse advert? · How Radius helps · FAQ
Key takeaways
- Put pay, shift times, the site and the start date in the first lines. These are the facts a frontline candidate decides on.
- Split requirements into "required to start" and "helpful, not required". If you would teach it in the first week, it is not required.
- Describe the task, not the person: "cartons of up to 15 kg through the shift" says more than "strong" or "energetic".
- List the certificates the role needs, and say which training you provide.
- Keep one version per site and shift pattern. A generic advert hides the details candidates most need.
What should a warehouse job description include?
It should give the decision facts first, then the work, then requirements.
Many templates online open with a company story and a long list of duties. A candidate reading on a phone between shifts needs something else first: how much, when, where and from when. If those facts are missing, people either skip the advert or apply and find out later, which costs both sides time. Use these ten sections, in this order.
| # | Section | What to write | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Job title | The task people search for, plus the shift: "Order picker, night shift" | Candidates search by task, not by internal grade |
| 2 | Pay | Gross hourly rate as a figure, plus shift allowances | "Competitive" tells a candidate nothing |
| 3 | Shifts | Days, start and end times, rotation, overtime and how far ahead the rota is set | The pattern decides whether the job fits a life |
| 4 | Location | Site and town, and how people get there for the start time | A 06:00 start with no bus is a real barrier |
| 5 | Contract and start | Hours per week, temporary or permanent, direct or through an agency, first day | People plan around a start date |
| 6 | The work | Four to six tasks in plain words, the physical side, the conditions (chilled area, noise, height) | An honest picture of a normal shift |
| 7 | Required to start | Three to five lines you will actually check | The bar every candidate is held to |
| 8 | Helpful, not required | Skills you would value but would teach | Keeps good people from ruling themselves out |
| 9 | Training you provide | Induction, scanner training, courses you pay for | Shows what a newcomer does not need yet |
| 10 | How to apply | One step on a phone, and what happens next and when | Each extra step is a point where people give up |
What does a completed warehouse job description template look like?
Short enough to read on a phone, with every decision fact visible.
How do you separate what is required from what would help?
Required means you would not let someone start without it.
Run each line through two tests. First, the day one test: would you turn away an otherwise good candidate who lacks it? If not, move it to helpful. Second, the first week test: could you teach it in the first week? Then it belongs under training, not requirements.
The required list matters because it is the bar you will hold every candidate to, so write each line as something you can ask about or check against a document. A review of selection research by Sackett and colleagues (2022) found that structured interviews came out on top among selection methods for predicting job performance (international research, not Dutch frontline data). That is where requirements get tested. The advert sets the bar; it should not try to do the screening. Years of experience is a weak stand in for the task itself, as we argued in Three Years on Reach Trucks Tells You Less Than You Think, so ask for the task instead.
| Typical line (illustrative, warehouse) | Where it usually belongs | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Available for the stated shift pattern | Required | The rota does not work without it |
| Can reach the site for the start time | Required | A missed first shift helps nobody |
| Forklift or reach truck certificate | Required for driving roles where your site or client asks for one; otherwise helpful | Depends on the machine and the site; either way, say what training you give before anyone drives |
| VCA | Required if your site or client asks for it; otherwise helpful or provided | Some sites ask for it, many do not |
| Follows safety briefings in the language they are given | Required | It is what the work needs |
| Two years of warehouse experience | Helpful at most | Name the task instead |
| Hand scanner experience | Helpful | Taught in one shift |
Which shift facts belong in the advert?
All of them: times, days, rotation, overtime and travel.
Write the actual start and end times, not "early shift". Say which days, whether shifts rotate and how often, how far ahead the rota is published and when overtime is expected. Add how people get to the site at the start time, because an early start with no public transport changes who can take the job.
Honesty also shapes how people judge an employer. A review of 52 studies with roughly 17,000 participants found that realistic job previews affect voluntary turnover mainly by raising how honest people perceive the organisation to be (Earnest, Allen and Landis, 2011; international studies of job previews in general, not of adverts or Dutch frontline jobs). The advert is the first preview a candidate gets. We made the wider case in Tell Candidates About the 05:30 Start: telling people about the hard parts is a courtesy to them.
To see how warehouse teams handle shifts, certificates and peak volume, explore Radius for warehouse hiring.
What mistakes make warehouse job descriptions fail?
Vague facts, wish lists and describing a person instead of a job.
- "Competitive salary." Fix: give the gross hourly rate as a figure, and the allowances.
- "Flexible hours." Fix: give the times. If hours really vary, say how much and how far ahead the rota is set.
- A wish list under requirements. Fix: apply the day one and first week tests, and move the rest to helpful or training.
- Describing a person. "Strong", "young team" or "native speaker" describe people, not work. Fix: describe the task ("cartons up to 15 kg") and the language the work uses ("follow safety briefings in Dutch or English"). Wording matters more than it looks: in experiments with job adverts, masculine themed wording made jobs less appealing to women by lowering their sense of belonging, not their view of their own skills (Gaucher, Friesen and Kay, 2011; not Dutch data).
- Asking for a CV and a cover letter. Fix: a short application on a phone. Collect detail in the interview, where you can ask everyone the same questions.
Pay and hours, vague and as figures
“Competitive salary.” “Flexible hours.”
“€16.00 gross per hour, plus a night allowance. Four or five nights a week, Sunday to Thursday, 22:00 to 06:30.”
A gross hourly rate answers the first question most frontline candidates have; “competitive” answers none.
What changes when an agency writes the advert?
The agency needs the site facts from the client first.
An agency often writes the advert without having seen the site. Before you post, ask the client for the real rota, the start times, the travel options at that hour, what a full shift involves physically and which certificates the site asks for. Keep one version per client site, not one per job title. Say plainly whether the job is with the agency or with the client, and where the work happens. Candidates who get these facts from you early have no reason to feel misled in week one.
What should you change in your next warehouse advert?
Move the decision facts up and cut the requirements list.
Put pay, shifts, site and start date in the first lines. Run every requirement through the two tests. Replace words about people with words about tasks. Then check the advert on a phone. If the facts a candidate decides on are not visible, they will not stay long enough to find them.
How Radius helps
Radius Hire is the AI hiring platform for frontline roles. It interviews every applicant in the same structured way and shows the recruiter the evidence behind each requirement, and a person makes every hiring decision.
- In Match, your vacancy becomes the bar: for each requirement you set, Radius shows whether it is backed by a document or a check, rests only on what the candidate said, or is still missing.
- The AI Interviewer asks every applicant about shifts, pace and physical work in a short, structured voice interview they can take on their phone, in the language set for the role.
- Where the employer uses Radius Passport, certificates are recorded with their expiry dates, so a recruiter can review them before an offer.
Radius never rejects a candidate on its own. A recruiter reviews the evidence and makes every hiring decision.