How to write a great job advert

In my opinion, two of the best job adverts ever written were by Ernest Shackleton and Alan Turing.

The reason they were so good is because they were written to appeal to, and engage with, a specific audience. Shackleton's advert attracted individuals of a certain mindset and was very honest about the role, whereas Turing's advert attracted a specific skill-set, but told them nothing about the role.

When you write a job advert focus on who you are writing to, not whom you are writing for.

A job advert is an advertisement, it is a piece of inbound marketing, it should impel the reader to take action. It needs to resonate with the individual, connect with them and let them see what the benefit is to them. (a washing powder doesn't just clean clothes but makes them "whiter than white"; "removes stubborn stains"; "gives better results at lower temperatures" or "reduces the ecological impact on three-eyed miniature fairy-frogs".

I recently attended the "in-house recruitment live" exhibition where a chap from one of the major banks showed us the recruitment video they had put together to attract developers. What I saw was a group of young people in what looked like the dragons den warehouse set throwing cans of paint around - I thought it was awful but I was not their target audience and what I, or anyone else, thought doesn't matter. What matters is whether it attracts the right people and encourages them to apply. Apparently they did.

Some people like using storytelling in their job adverts though I tend to find that very often they don't get to the point quick enough.

Let me be clear there is no one size fits all approach, different demographics will look for different things, but if you want your advert to stand out and attract the right applicants whilst dissuading the wrong applicants you will need to format your advert (and application process) as you would any piece of in-bound marketing:

A rather pertinent caveat is that the hiring organisation will very likely have guidelines or rules regarding marketing or job adverts - maybe you cannot state the salary; maybe you cannot use expressions such as "prestigious offices" - this will need to be worked around.

Also be mindful that if all your adverts follow the same format then they may start to look the same and lose their impact when viewed collectively.