How to write a compelling job advert
Writing a job advert enables you to think about more than just what skills and experience are necessary for your role or the type of person you want. It allows you to think about how you want to connect with potential candidates and positively advertise your brand.
A good job advert will be engaging and enticing and will make it easier to attract the type of candidate you want.?A poorly written advert will result in irrelevant or no responses and potentially damage your brand.
It is important to have a list of responsibilities for the role, but there are other considerations.?It is imperative to demonstrate what flexibility there is, what longer-term opportunity there is and how the position sits in the company, what internal stakeholders are involved and most importantly, what USPs your company can offer.
Don’t forget most potential candidates are employed and need to be encouraged to move with more responsibility, better remuneration, working practices or environment.?
Structure
The advert should not only be attractive but also be well structured. Many applicants will be using a phone, so the advert needs to be easy to read with clear headings and bullet points. On the phone, the information will be easier to read than long text paragraphs. You can separate “must-haves” from “nice-to-haves”.
Job Title
The job title is significant.?It needs to be clear and understandable. If it uses internal terminology or is just confusing, you will be falling at the first fence.?Many people search only for a job title.?
Location?
Essential and necessary information.?Even with the current success of working from home and focus on office overall space, unless you have a specific set-up to allow people to work remotely genuinely, then location is essential.?If you can enable people to work remotely permanently, then you should highlight this as a USP.
Remuneration
Many potential candidates will not apply if they do not see a salary.?If salary is genuinely commercially sensitive, then OK, but you could be missing out on 50% or more applications.?
There are strict salary search criteria on a job board, so at the very least, you need a salary range to pitch the role at the right level.?
“Competitive” really is not that effective at attracting the right applications.
Are there any particular benefits or bonus that you want to highlight?
Job Summary
Open with a strong and enticing job summary.?It is the advert for your advert, the elevator pitch. On a job board, even premium branded jobs list roles with a 3-line snippet.?The job summary needs to be attention-grabbing to get a potential candidate to click and explore more.?It should include keywords that help applicants know right from the start if this role is interesting.
Try to emphasise the job rather than the company at this stage.??
The Opportunity/About The Role
Once the applicant has clicked on the advert, this is a critical section where you need to entice them to apply. The majority of candidates are not committed to moving, so this is where you can speak directly to the candidate by selling your job and detailing its importance.?
Where does the role sit within the broader business?
Who does the role report to, and what are the fundamental interactions.
What are the critical areas of responsibility and deliverables?
What are the short, medium and long-term objectives?
What is the scope for progression and promotion?
Is there training and support?
What soft skills and personality traits are necessary to fulfil this role?
Are there different locations or travel requirements?
Try to avoid screening in this section and humanise the way you describe the job.
You can issue a job spec to applicants you are interested in later.
Essential and Desired Skills/Experience
Be realistic! If you genuinely need specific experience and qualification level, list it under essential otherwise, unrealistic requirements will put off potential applicants.?
Your advert is not necessarily a qualifier. Don’t risk putting off an outstanding applicant just because they are not a graduate, for example. What is genuinely required and what can be learned on the job, or is just a nice to have.??
Company Information
Your advert is your chance to offer candidates a glimpse of your company culture.?
Encourage the applicant to explore your website by including links to testimonials from your employees or photos of team activities.?Try to make it sound progressive.?Describe your culture, clients, achievements, growth plans, areas of expertise, awards, successes, USPs.?
Keywords and Synonyms
Although a technical point, it is essential to try to use various keywords and synonyms in the text.?Many job boards are using AI and machine learning to match candidates and proactively email potential candidates. It also helps your job to be found by manual Boolean searches performed by active applicants.
Again, avoid internal terminology and stick to well-recognised language to appeal to as broad an audience as possible.
Language
The language should be encouraging, and if you can use emotional appeal rather than a dictatorial tone, that is more effective. An authoritarian style does not resonate well.
Consider the right style and language for the role.
Avoid negativity. “You must have ten years experience” is less inclusive or encouraging than “this senior-level role needs circa ten years demonstrable experience.”
Equal opportunities are a vital and a legal requirement, and in practice, a diverse workplace is essential for exchanging ideas and different approaches and experience to draw on.?Try to avoid unconscious bias and use neutral language.?
In 2019 – 17.5m job searches per month online will rise as we switch from a candidate-driven market to a client-driven market.?
Overall a job advert should be both professional and relatable.?You need to grab the applicant’s attention, pique their interest and make it easy to apply.
A well thought out job advert is only the start of a successful hiring campaign.??
The next stage is to manage the candidate experience positively and efficiently.?
Recruitment Rebellion offers a competitively priced, managed, advertised solution for clients for a fixed fee payable in three instalments. This includes:
Client branded advertising gains much more interest from candidates (40% to 50%), distinguishes your role from anonymous agency advertising and creates positive recognition for your company.?
If you find the traditional recruitment agency process too expensive, time-consuming and inefficient, then please schedule a call with us to find out how we can help with your next recruitment campaign and save you ￡1000s.
Please contact Richard Bailey or Simon Benstead on 0800 772 3199 or [email protected]