Writing a good job advert/making your job adverts a bit less pants

Fancy yourself as something of a wordsmith? then great; however even if you don’t there are still simple things you can do to stop your job adverts sounding like a regurgitated pile of corporate codswallop.

Firstly, what is the point of a job advert? (and please don’t just say to advertise the job) It is to attract candidates to want to work for your company and show them what you really need them to be able to do for this role.

If you get this right, you’ll stand out against rivals and hopefully cut down the amount of irrelevant applications you’ll get. (Even if you are some kind of literary lothario , you won’t stop this completely!) 

Top 5 or so tips

1. Include salary , ask yourself would you bother to apply for something that says competitive? Competitive with what? This just smacks of underpaid, if this is the case why might someone want to work here still ? If it is underpaid and no good points to working with you, you probably have bigger problems than the job advert…..
2. Don’t leave someone flummoxed with the job and what it involves , in fact don’t use words like “flummoxed” simple words (around 5 letters) can be easier to read.
3. Consider KISS (keep it simple, stupid.) It hasn’t done the Navy SEELS any harm.
4. Don’t state the obvious, i.e. must be computer literate. Much better to say something like you’ll be used to doing all the things you’d probably expect of a (insert job) things like: 
5. Be honest, if the jobs going to be hard say it , be honest you don’t want to paint a picture that isn’t real, back this up though with why someone might want the role, don’t want to encourage going full 360 and just slating the job……

Something like this for an Executive Assistant worked well.

“You'll be used to working with Director's and understand the difficult roles they have. you'll be busy, very busy so you'll be someone who enjoys this! In return you'll be an extremely valued and integral (some might say the most integral) part of the business with a unique insight into corporate life.”

Finally give an insight into the company and what you do, what the people are like but avoid cliches. (If you don’t know what your team really thinks about working at the company we can provide a recruit happiness tool that clarifies this for you and gives you a great insight into employers thoughts.)

Looking for advice when it comes to fine tuning your job adverts?

Whether you’re wanting training on how to write a good job advert or looking for someone to write these for you, we’d be happy to help. Get in contact.