When it comes to writing job ads, forget the numbers, think about the message.

How many words should I write in a job ad? It's the age old question! Well, a question that people have been asking pretty much since online job advertising became a thing well over 20 years ago. Let's take a look.

Search the web and you'll find all sorts of suggestions and theories. Articles that say their research has shown that ads containing between 90 and 135 words (or 500-749 characters) generate the most response and others that claim no more than 700 words is fine. A limit of 10,000 character or 2,000 words is quite OK with one site, while yet another article states that if job descriptions (they mean 'ads') contain less than 1,000 characters, their findings show that click-to-apply rates dropped to 3.0 percent - i.e. the opposite to what another organisation's research showed. Today, I saw an article where Indeed suggest that job ads that have between 700-1000 characters "sees an average 30% increase in apply rate". Confused? I'm not surprised!

So what IS the answer?

Er, there isn't one.

That's right. There is no single answer to the recommended word count for a job ad. Suggested guidelines, yes. Definite numbers that can ensure success, no.

Response to recruitment advertisements should never be about quantity. It should always be about quality. So what if, according to some research that just took into account numbers, more job ads with a certain average number of characters got more response than those with a different word count? Were those jobs all in the same sector asking for the same thing? What was the response like quality wise? Was every applicant top notch? Did each ad make sense? How many of the responses were unqualified or irrelevant, thus creating an administrative nightmare for the person who had to deal with them (and possibly didn't get back to everyone who applied because it was too much hard work)? And, why is the research I showed above so contradictory?

The fact is that when you're setting out to write a job ad, you should, of course, aim to be succinct. But, there are no hard and fast rules (you can even start sentences with 'but' or 'and' if you like). It depends on the vacancy and the story that needs telling. If you're recruiting an HGV Driver, sure, there are only certain things you need say about such a role. The would be applicant knows what the job entails. If, however, you're trying to find someone to fill a far more complex role in a very niche or competitive market, chances are you might need to wax lyrical a bit more about what's in it for that person. Try doing that in 90-135 words!

Essentially, you should be aiming to write something that is in the target audience's tone of voice and appeals to their career aspirations/ambitions. You should also be putting in enough information to encourage relevantly qualified and experienced people while at the same time discouraging those who don't have the required skills. You can't stop the world and his wife/her husband applying, but you can make it clear what sort of person you are looking for. You could even say "only those with the skills and experience listed will be considered" rather than "if you haven't heard from us within X weeks, etc." if you want. It might stop a few of the people who apply to everything, and, even if it doesn't, you've told them not to expect to hear from you, even if they didn't bother to read it.

Generally, I try to aim for around 250-300 words as a guide, but sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less. As I say, it depends on a number of factors. The important thing is to be sure that you've told an engaging story, included all the best bits about the job and the career prospects and put in a few bits to put off the 'apply one, apply all' type of person.

Or, you could, as many organisation's in the commercial and not for profit sector do, (elevator pitch coming) use the services of a copywriter that specialises in writing for the recruitment marketplace and get on with worrying about the other bits of your busy day, rather than how many words there should, or shouldn't be, in a job ad.