Job descriptions for your screen printing shop are how you attract better employees.
We’ve seen on Facebook Groups for screen printers that print shops struggle to communicate about the amazing jobs they have.
Most people don’t know what screen printing is, how T-shirts are printed, or the many opportunities for employment and advancement in the screen print industry.
This article shares several tips for writing job descriptions and gives you some sample job descriptions for typical roles in a print shop:
- Graphic Designers
- Sales Representatives
- Production Managers
- Press Operators
It’s not enough to say you have a great job and ask people to show up at your shop – remember, your business is competing for workers.
An accurate, insightful, and positive job description attracts better candidates. It’s possible to write a job description that makes people want to work for you.
Use our readymade templates for screen printing job descriptions to speed up the process. Just fill out the form below for a free copy!
Job descriptions are advertisements
Most job descriptions are not very good.
This isn’t because the job isn’t good.
It’s because the job description spends too much time on the “what” and “how” of the job – and not enough time on the “why.”
Compelling job descriptions are just great advertisements for working at a business.
“Why should anyone want to work in your shop?” should be top-of-mind as you write any job description.
Above: Jeff Bezos’ first job description for Amazon. You may not be able to be that short and concise. But brevity is the soul of wit – and a great job description.
What needs to be in a job description for screen printing?
Many print shops fire off a long list of duties employees will do – that’s great, but your job description could say much more about your business.
Job descriptions should always contain:
- Information about your company
- The story and history of your business
- Major achievements
- The culture
- Why you’re hiring for this role
- Growing, replacing someone, adding new capabilities
- Pay, perks, and benefits
- Get as specific as possible
- Use pay ranges rather than exact salaries
- What this role does
- Not just “prints shirts,” but the big-picture view
- Specific activities and expectations
Some dos and don’ts for screen printing job descriptions
Avoid cliche, generic jargon like “fast-paced,” “team player,” “rockstar.” Try to use your own words and ideas instead of stock phrases.
Why should you avoid cliches? These make your job descriptions seem generic – and worse, careless. Many job seekers view generic job descriptions as a coded way to describe the negative aspects of the job.
For example, “fast-paced” could mean “chaotic and disorganized” to some people – even if you mean to say, “We do a high volume of work and keep busy.”
It’s best if you’re as specific as possible to your shop!
Compare these two sentences:
We are a fast-paced shop looking for a hard-working rockstar to join our family and print tons of T-shirts!
This is so generic! It doesn’t reveal much about the job or the shop.
We are a high-volume print shop searching for a diligent and interesting person to help us serve our community. Want to print custom apparel for firefighters, police, universities, and more?
The second is more specific. It shows it’s a “high-volume print shop” versus a “fast-paced shop.”
The candidate doesn’t need to be a “hard-working rockstar” but a “diligent and interesting person.”
Then, the candidate can “print tons of T-shirts” versus “help us serve our community…for firefighters, police, universities…”
The real goal here? Simple! Broaden the number of people that could be interested in your job.
Do your research: use terms people search for in screen printing job descriptions
The second biggest tip for writing job descriptions is doing basic keyword research on your terms.
Too many print shops use overly technical or specific language in their job descriptions, meaning fewer people see the job descriptions since they aren’t searching for the terms the shop uses.
You can get a decent grasp on how many people are searching for terms by using the Keywords Everywhere plugin.
Here are some examples to show you how to use broader keywords to get more people looking at your job posts.
- “Marketing Associate – Recent College Graduates Wanted” instead of “Outbound Lead Prospecting: Sales Development Representative”
- “Manufacturing – Help Us Print Awesome T-Shirts! – Press Operator” instead of “Press Operator for Print Shop” or “Press Operator”
We’ve written about hiring on Indeed before – worth reading.
Look to Spanish speakers
A final word of advice: Spanish speakers are a huge potential source of high-quality employees.
Depending on your location, there could be an untapped labor pool that you’ve overlooked merely because you post your job ads entirely in English!
Luckily, we’ve already written about hiring Spanish-speaking workers.
There are some great ideas in that article, including:
- Using Facebook to find employees
- Quick ways to find people that want work
- How to translate your job ads
- Tips for keywords to use
So, check that out if you’re struggling to find anyone who’s a good fit for your shop.
Sample screen printing job descriptions for shops
Take a shortcut to writing your own descriptions and use our samples below.
To write your job descriptions, we recommend a simple 4-part framework:
1. About the Company
Truthfully describe why your business is a great place to work. Focus on the culture!
Some prompts to make this easier:
- How do your products make customers feel?
- What’s the best job you’ve ever printed, and who was it for?
- Why does this company exist? What’s the story?
- What are you trying to accomplish? What are the goals?
- Who works at the company now, and why do they love it?
2. Why they want to work at the company
Show-and-tell that the company is somewhere people want to spend their time.
Some prompts to make this easier:
- How are employees free to shape the direction of the business (i.e., process improvements)?
- What kind of opportunities for growth or advancement are there?
- What makes what they’ll do “special”?
3. Pay, perks, and benefits
Outline the pay, perks, and benefits of working at the company.
You can detail salary or hourly wages here. Make compensation transparent. It’s common to offer a range that depends on experience (“DOE”), though high-value roles like Production Managers may not have a salary listed.
Remember: Production Managers often come from highly technical backgrounds. Their compensation may be quite high.
Ultimately, your job is an ad. An enticing description of the pay and benefits offered to employees is a sure-fire way to get more responses.
4. What they’ll do at the company
It’s still important to show people exactly what kind of tasks are involved with their potential day-to-day job.
We suggest listing these tasks last – and focusing on the broadest possible aspects of their job. You can iron out the exact details later once the person is hired!
Some ways to make this easier:
- Ask a current team member in the same role to list out their most common tasks
- Describe HOW they’ll accomplish something versus WHAT they will do
- Example: “Solve technical challenges with multi-color prints” vs. “Print multi-color prints”
- Keep the list short and sweet – focus on the primary tasks
If you prefer to copy/paste, here are the text versions:
Graphic Designer / Digital Artist
[Company] is a fast-growing screen printing and embroidery shop located in [City]. From 9 to 5 on Monday through Friday, we make custom apparel that gives back to the community. We’ve printed nearly 2 million T-shirts in the past 5 years, volunteering at local events and donating thousands of shirts to charity. Join a stable and friendly team and make a difference in your community!
You want to work at [Company] because 85% of our employees have been with us for more than 5 years. Don’t take our word for it. Graphic designer Jared said, “[Company] is somewhere you can develop your skills, sharpen your craft, and be part of something bigger than a designer typically gets to be. I’ve worked with Pepsi, one of my favorite bands, and dozens of local businesses that know me by name now.”
Pay ranges from $30k to $55k, depending on your experience. Send us some sample work – particularly if you’ve done apparel or logo design before! If you’re worried you don’t have enough experience, talk to us. Any new employee will have to learn how designers complement our screen printing and embroidery work, even the most experienced!
We have yearly team trips, health insurance, a 401k, paid time off, and weekly catered lunches. Yes – really. It’s kind of a sweet deal. Oh, and you can borrow our screen printing press during off-hours if you’re trying to build your own brand. Did we mention you get one day a quarter for research & development? We call it our hackathon!
As a graphic designer at [Company], you’re how our customers turn their ideas into reality. You’ll solve design challenges, help educate clients about the best way to achieve their goals and learn how to prepare high-quality art for screen printing. Working closely with our friendly sales team and our hard-working print staff, your role is crucial in making our prints look world-class. We expect you to be fundamentally competent in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and the Google Suite of tools. Expect to learn, grow, and communicate!
Sound interesting? Email us or call us – and have your portfolio ready. We want to see your work!
Sales Representative / Salesperson
[Company] is a fast-growing screen printing and embroidery shop located in [City]. From 9 to 5 on Monday through Friday, we make custom apparel that gives back to the community. We’ve printed nearly 2 million T-shirts in the past 5 years, volunteering at local events and donating thousands of shirts to charity. Join a stable and friendly team and make a difference in your community!
You want to work at [Company] because 85% of our employees have been with us for more than 5 years. Don’t take our word for it. Sales team member Antonia said, “[Company] is somewhere you can develop your skills, sharpen your craft, and be part of something bigger than a salesperson gets to be.”
We pay a salary and commission. Most of our sales team earns between $45k and $65k. We take great pride in a fair and equitable pay structure – you’ll understand our pricing and our process and act as our first line of defense against bad orders that don’t make us money. This isn’t just a sales gig! You’re the very first part of our entire manufacturing process.
We have yearly team trips, health insurance, a 401k, paid time off, and weekly catered lunches. Yes – really. It’s kind of a sweet deal. Oh, and you can borrow our screen printing press during off-hours if you’re trying to build your own brand. Did we mention you get one day a quarter for research & development? We call it our hackathon!
As a salesperson at [Company], you’ll see how sales turn ideas into reality. You won’t just sell T-shirts. You’ll sell [Company] to our customers. From our process to our inks to educating customers about how to get exactly what they want, a salesperson at [Company] is constantly using email, phone, and even knocking on doors to stay top-of-mind. We have a powerful sales funnel and use Printavo as our CRM to stay organized. There will be a learning curve, but you’ll catch on quick!
Sound interesting? Email us or call us – and have your pitch ready. Can you sell yourself to us?
Production Managers
[Company] is a fast-growing screen printing and embroidery shop located in [City]. From 9 to 5 on Monday through Friday, we make custom apparel that gives back to the community. We’ve printed nearly 2 million T-shirts in the past 5 years, volunteering at local events and donating thousands of shirts to charity. Join a stable and friendly team and make a difference in your community!
We’re looking for a Production Manager to own, master, and improve our printing processes. If you have experience in project management, manufacturing, and/or tech and you’re looking for a chance to make a big impact – this is the role for you.
You want to work at [Company] because 85% of our employees have been with us for more than 5 years. Don’t take our word for it. Press operator Tony explained, “[Company] is a powerful place to get better at printing and make an impact on our community. I can’t wait to see where we go next!”
We would like to pay our Production Manager a salary commensurate with the impact they’ll make on our business – anywhere from $80k to $120k. You’ll own the shop’s processes, take control when things go wrong, and get lots of glory when things go right. If you’re detail-oriented, process-driven, and love working with your hands, this is your opportunity.
We have yearly team trips, health insurance, a 401k, paid time off, and weekly catered lunches. Yes – really. It’s kind of a sweet deal. Oh, and you can borrow our screen printing press during off-hours if you’re trying to build your own brand. Did we mention you get one day a quarter for research & development? We call it our hackathon!
As a Production Manager at [Company], you’re in charge. You won’t just take orders from the boss. You’ll be the boss. From our process to our inks to educating customers about how to get exactly what they want, a Production Manager at the company leaves no stone unturned. You’ll have wide latitude to implement new policies, procedures, software, and equipment to help us grow and expand.
Sound interesting? Email us or call us. Be ready to visit our shop and give us some early feedback about how we can improve our process.
Press Operators
[Company] is a fast-growing screen printing and embroidery shop located in [City]. From 9 to 5 on Monday through Friday, we make custom apparel that gives back to the community. We’ve printed nearly 2 million T-shirts in the past 5 years, volunteering at local events and donating thousands of shirts to charity. Join a stable and friendly team and make a difference in your community!
We’re looking for a Screen Printing Press Operator to master our printing process, efficiently printing thousands of T-shirts a week for high-profile local and national clients. Press Operator Tony told us, “This is an endlessly interesting job. Every day is different, and each order is a new and unique challenge. Come work with us!”
You want to work at [Company] because 85% of our employees have been with us for more than 5 years. We have yearly team trips, health insurance, a 401k, paid time off, and weekly catered lunches. Yes – really. It’s kind of a sweet deal. Oh, and you can borrow our screen printing press during off-hours if you’re trying to build your own brand. Did we mention you get one day a quarter for research & development? We call it our hackathon!
You’ll start at $15 an hour with quarterly bonuses and raises. We even have a profit-sharing program – when we succeed, you do too. Most of our managers started as press operators, so our company has room to grow! We will pay more if you have screen printing experience – but even if you’re experienced, expect to learn how we do things at the [Company].
As a Press Operator at [Company], you’re how we make our customers happy. You’re the backbone of the entire operation. You won’t just take orders from the bosses – you’ll work collaboratively with them to figure out the best way to print. This is a job with independence and responsibility.
Sound interesting? Email us or call us. Be ready to visit our shop and check out our presses – and if you’re an experienced screen printer, get ready to hop on the press!
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