Here are our Top Ten Tips for making Architectural Job Ads that aren’t total rubbish...

Job Ads are 90% Science, 10% Art

"The Job Description is the landing page where someone buys into your product or not. In this case, the product is your company."

The key reasons you’re not reaching the right quality and diversity of architectural candidates all begin with your Job descriptions. This is the first time a candidate comes into contact with you and your business; why would you not do everything to ensure it’s highly optimised for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and attracts the right quality and diversity of candidates to apply:

1. Job Title -?please don’t use internal jargon?and only use job titles that only resonate with the architecture industry. If candidates can’t find your job ad or do not understand what it is then they can’t apply for your job ad. Use Google Trends to search for trends and use Indeed auto type; they sort the job titles by most searched for.
2. Length -?keep it to between 700-2000 characters?- this is incredibly important. This isn’t an essay and you don’t need to include 40 bullet points.
3. The order in which you write the advert is essential and the length - for example, The Role, Remuneration package, Responsibilities, Must-haves (driving license, etc). About the company/mission and vision.?68% of candidates consider how well the job description fits their skills, qualifications and aspirations?when deciding whether to apply for a job. If they can’t do all your 40 requirements, then there's a good chance they will not send an application.
4. Whilst your company's mission and vision are critical to you, it’s not to?79% of job seekers.?What is more important to them is location, salary, flexibility in working conditions and the projects they will be working on.
5. With 71% of online searches via a mobile device,?you have around 15 seconds to pique the candidate’s interest on a mobile screen,?check how your job ad looks on mobile before you post on your website or job boards.
6. Avoid conscious and unconscious Gender bias in language and description?- who are you trying to attract and how will your job ad appear to male and female applicants? There are several useful tools online to help check this as found here:?https://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/
7. Do not continually copy and paste and copy competitors' Job Ads,?quality job descriptions draw talent and perform well in search.?The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, as well as the reader seeing another "exciting opportunity..."
8. Add in a Call to Action at the end of the job description?- Click here, Apply Now, Contact Us for More Information.
9. Always keep in mind the most critical question when drafting a job vacancy: "Would you apply to this job?" - try and visualise it from the reader's perspective and?always retain a sense of empathy, especially given the current economic climate.
10. "Keep it short, stupid" -?The infamous saying in design applies to writing job vacancies as well. If its long-winded to read and equally arduous to apply, you'll have many people drop off from applying and search elsewhere.?You risk losing up to 4% of candidates with every minute you?add to your application process.

Now that you've heard our top ten tips let us know your thoughts and also, don't forget that every Architecture Practice can advertise one job vacancy a month on Architecture Social's directory for free here -?https://architecturesocial.com/advertise/free/