Writing Job Adverts like a Pro

Writing Job Adverts like a Pro

If you want to try your hand at advertising your roles, it starts with a great advert.  An advert's role is to attract the largest pool possible of the most suitable candidates (it’s easy to create a pool of unsuitable candidates!).  If you decide to try this for yourself here are some tips that you should follow to appeal to the right people.

Job description vs job advert

So many companies post job descriptions and think these are good enough adverts.  Think of it as the difference between a technical product manual – for something like a washing machine compared to a television advert to entice you to buy.  Job descriptions are essential documents and are a great place to start to give you the information you need to create the advert.

The Basics

These are 5 things that I believe every advert should have:

1. Salary range

You don’t need to give pounds and pence, but a range or an up-to level.  You will get 53% fewer applications if your advert doesn’t include this information.  Salary is currently the number one motivator for candidates, so it needs to be there.  If this creates any internal issues – for example if you are offering the new role at a higher level than someone else in your organisation doing the same job you need to address this first.

2. Job title

This should be a standard job title, not the quirky internal title you may have for the role.  Research different titles that the role could have, by looking on job boards and use a title that candidates are searching for.

3. Location

You should include both a location and a postcode.  This is to do with machine and human searches so including both will get more applications.  If the role is covering a territory find the postcode of the local post office in the middle of it and use that.

4. Other benefits

What else can you offer the successful applicant?  Have space for your other benefits on the advert, including holiday entitlement, flexible working, WFH, gym membership etc.  If you have it, shout about it.

5. Timelines

Let candidates know what you are going to do and when you are going to do it – start building trust from the outset.  Let them know when the closing date is and when the interviews will take place – make sure you put these deadlines in your diary, so you adhere to them too.

More advanced considerations

• Tone of voice

How do you want to communicate with your audience?  Do you want to come across as formal/fun-loving/young etc.?

• Personal connections

Adverts are more effective with younger audiences if you try for a personal connection.  Speak to them personally by asking questions of them directly: “ Are you looking for a role that will challenge you…?”

• Emotional Appeal

How can you show you are a company that cares?  This will help you stand out in the local jobs market.

Finally

You do need to cover some of the key aspects of the role you are recruiting for and what skills and experience you are looking for too.  Remember you want to tempt candidates to apply, not bore them!

Action points for you:

Considering this information as an SME business owner/hiring manager you may want to:

• Review your adverts to see if they are appealing to your target audience.
• Optimise your adverts so that both candidates and computers find you!
• Make your language inclusive and your benefits visible to set you apart from the local jobs market.

If you want to reduce the time you spend on recruitment and optimise your hiring processes to attract the best candidates book a quick call with me, Caroline Hunt at Emerald Starfish HERE.