A well-crafted job ad can make all the difference in attracting your ideal candidate. This becomes even more essential in a competitive job market where employers are vying for the attention of the same pool of applicants.
Your job posting needs to be both informative about the details of the job, but also persuasive to convince applicants to actually click “Apply.” It’s a lot of heavy lifting for 300-600 words, but also why it’s so important to put the time and effort into getting it right.
This article is your guide to crafting quality job postings that help you stand out from the crowd. We'll walk you through the essential steps and components to create job ads that leave a lasting impression and get the right candidates to apply.
What is a job posting, really?
A job posting serves as both an advertisement for your job vacancy and a reflection of your organisation's brand. They are often the first point of contact potential applicants have with your organisation. And in a competitive job market, that first impression really counts. However, many companies fail to use the full potential of job ads as a marketing tool for the position and the company.
In today's crowded and sometimes overwhelming digital recruitment landscape, there are countless options for where and how to showcase your job ad. This abundance offers tremendous opportunity to reach your ideal audience.
Yet, getting your ads in the right channels, in front of the right people, and written and formatted in a way that resonates with potential candidates can be challenging. Without proper attention to each of these steps, the success of your advertising efforts can be majorly impacted.
Staying updated with the latest trends, platforms, and best practices is therefore key to creating ads that reach and resonate with your target audience.
Important components of a job advert
Job postings can vary when it comes to content, tonality and design, but they usually consist of the same key elements:
- Expected experience: Include the relevant education & work experience applicants need to have.
- Skills: Separate the required skills from the nice-to-have ones.
- Role description: Provide a concise overview of key responsibilities and the tasks associated with the role.
- Job location: Specify if the job is remote, hybrid or location / timezone specific.
- Contract details: Indicate whether the position is full-time, part-time, or contract work.
- Company introduction: Offer a brief history of the company and what it does.
- Contact details: Include information on who applicants should contact for questions.
- Application deadline: Specify if there is a strict date and time that applications need to be submitted or if there is a rolling deadline.
- Call-to-action: Candidates need to know how to apply. This could be a direct link to your applicant tracking system, for example, or an email that candidates can send their applications to.
Since these components are generally expected by applicants, they are must-haves that should be included in every job posting.
While not necessary, the following may be appreciated by applicants and could give them more reason to join your company:
- Start date: Include when the applicant should ideally be available to start, specify if there is or isn't flexibility.
- Benefits: Let applicants know about the perks and benefits you offer employees. This can be general benefits of the company or ones that are specific to the team or role. If there are learning and development grants, for instance, that is great to include and can be a key differentiator for candidates.
- Salary: More and more companies are including salary details in their job ads. If not the specific amount, consider including a range applicants can expect to earn. This helps pay equity but also ensures that you and the candidate are on the same page when it comes to salary expectations.
- Application process: Include what applicants can expect after they apply and when they can expect to hear back.
- Application instructions: Inform candidates on what to include as part of their application before they click apply.
Even though you want to be informative in your job ads, it’s important to keep it short and to the point. Balancing informativeness without making the text too long and detailed is essential for creating high-quality job ads.
Pro tip! Read through your draft out loud to check the flow and tonality. The job posting should read like your company would talk and how you want to come across to applicants. Also, reading out loud can help catch spelling or grammar mistakes.
A crucial part of attracting top talent
The benefits of producing high-quality job postings are many. Conversely, the risks of not putting enough effort into making them great are significant. Just as recruiters source, review, and sort a large number of applicants, candidates often go through the same process with companies before applying.
Given that job postings are crucial tools for reaching potential employees, it should be an obvious choice to prioritise investing time and effort into making them quality. Beyond simply advertising vacant positions, job ads also function as a platform to highlight what sets your workplace apart. Therefore, it's essential to consider how your job postings reflect your company's unique brand and values.
Now that we’re established the importance of ensuring high-quality job postings, let's dive into our best tips on how to write one that checks all the boxes.
Creating a job posting that works – our best advice
The hallmark of a quality job posting can be narrowed down to a few key traits and elements. By following these tips, your job ads will have the best conditions possible to attract your desired target audience.
1. Be specific
Being too vague in your job postings is a mistake that can lead to multiple negative outcomes. The obvious risk is to lose potential applicants who won't understand what the role entails and will therefore never apply. Conversely, if it's too broad, you may receive an influx of unqualified applicants, creating a bottleneck for recruiters as they wade through the piles of irrelevant applications.
2. But…avoid being too detailed
While being precise and specific is great, a job posting is not the right forum to fully go through all details of the role.The applicant expects a bulleted summary of the roll rather than an exhaustive job description.Therefore, it is important to figure out what information to prioritise to make sure it strikes a balance between being short and concise, but detailed enough for applicants to make an informed decision.
3. Make it "readable"
The increasingly lowered attention span of internet users makes it more important than ever to write your job postings with readability in mind. This means making ads that are scannable—has headings, bullet points, short paragraphs, and lots of white space. It should be possible to get a general understanding of the role by just scanning the text.
Here are a few important examples of what to do and what to avoid when making job postings with readability as a focus point:
DOs:
- Add an informative title
- Create sufficient spacing between sections
- Separate content using headings and subheadings
- Use lists and bullet points
- Choose a font that is easy to read
DONT’s:
- Write large paragraphs without spacing
- Include too many links
- Use unnecessary technical and/or complicated terms
4. Add visual appeal
Don’t underestimate the importance of design and visual elements that can make your job postings stand out. Ensure they reflect your company and your unique visual branding.
Also, applicants appreciate authenticity. If possible, avoid stock imagery and use real photos from offices or premises and include actual employees.
5. Use modern job posting solutions
Creating, posting, and promoting job ads can be time consuming. By using modern job ad solutions, you can reduce time on administrative tasks and give your job ads the best possible chance to reach the right audience.
Social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, for example, offer excellent opportunities to reach new and diverse talent pools. With around 70% of the global workforce considered passive candidates—those open to new opportunities but not actively looking—advertising on these platforms can be invaluable for connecting with potential candidates, especially for hard-to-fill positions.
6. Be transparent
While some details may be confidential, consider sharing relevant information that could benefit candidates without compromising your company. For instance, salary is an example of information that you could be transparent about in your job ads.
If you prefer to not divulge specific numbers, an approximated range will work just fine and offer valuable insight compared to vague terms like "competitive salary."
7. Promote your company
Even though job postings mostly focus on the specific role, it’s equally important to explain what makes your company special and why it's an excellent place to work. Remember, candidates are not only looking for a new job, but also a workplace culture they resonate with.
Offer insights into your team dynamics, company culture, and core values. This approach will likely increase applications from candidates who align with your overall values, increasing the likelihood of finding a suitable fit for your team.
Summary
A high quality job posting can be described as one that is informative and engaging. It takes time and planning to ensure your ads reach and resonate with your target audience, but it is time well spent to ensure you attract the right talent for your organisation.
By following our tips, we hope it will help you create stellar job ads, attract the candidates you want, and improve your overall recruitment process. Good luck with your next job posting!
