Job Advertising 101

Before you set about writing the most amazing job advertisement that was ever written you must take some time to consider what your applicants actually want.

According to The Candidate Experience Awards, 48% of applicants have no previous relationship with your company. Some may never have even heard of your company when they see your job ad.
That’s a lot of people who will be hearing about your company for the FIRST time through your job ad. Better make a good first impression!

With such a high number of people knowing so little about your company it’s vital to convey as much information as possible about what your company does.

Do not assume that the applicant knows:

• Anything about your company
• Anything about your product
• What makes you different
• Why others work with/for you

You have to lace all of this information in throughout your job advertisement to really capture the applicant’s imagination and interest.

When job applicants were asked “What is the most valuable job-related content to you?” the top answers they gave were:

Job Description

This is often the first introduction the candidate has to your company. It’s hugely valuable to job seekers.

Salary Range

Only 22% of employees list the salary in their job description. This gives you the chance to really make your job advertisement to stand out. If you are able to give an insight into the salary range offered. This is one of the top things your candidate is looking for and most of your competition isn’t providing. Take advantage!

Benefits

Job seekers want to know about what sort of benefits a potential employee could offer.

Successful Candidate Profile

Many job seekers want you to describe what a great employee would look like. Only 33% of employers talk about what their ideal employee would look like so this is another huge opportunity for your advertisement to attract job seekers.

Career Path Examples

Accepting a job is a huge milestone in people’s lives. Applicants are looking for an understanding of the different career paths that are available if they were to accept this role. The job must be presented as a stepping stone in their career with the potential for them to move on to other things. Only 49% of employers do this, so over half are not explaining what sort of career the job seeker can expect from this role. Map out the potential career paths that an applicant could pursue from this role and people are guaranteed to show an interest.

When you tie all of this together you have the recipe for a great job ad that will provide the applicant with all of the information they feel is most important to them as a job seeker.

Let’s have a closer look at building the perfect job advertisement know that we know the components.

Job Specifications ≠ Job Advertisements

A job specification is for internal company use only. This is created for legal reasons and is NOT the best way to attract your ideal applicant. A job advertisement has one objective, to entice people to your company.

When Creating Your Job ad…

Use Images

Using real images of your office and current team give your job ad more authenticity. If you can include a video that’s also great for conveying quality content that showcases your company.

Headings

These help structure your job advertisement. Even simple techniques like bolding your keywords can help job seekers focus on the important parts (like the ones we listed above) of your job ad. Remember most people skim hundreds of job ads at a time so give your company the best chance to make an impression.

Pro Tip: Try not to include bullet points- they don’t work!

Instead of using bullet points try creating a job ad that has detailed paragraphs to share all of your information.

So What Does The Perfect Job Ad Look Like?

Describe the Employer

Assume they know nothing about the employer. Explain why the company is a great organisation to work for.

About the Job

Tell them more about the job. Use different language like You, Your and Yours. This type of language will engage the potential applicant more and will make them feel part of the process as they read the job ad

Make sure to stick to the sticky principles we discussed above.

About the Ideal Candidate

Remember the research that suggests a Supportive/Candidate Centric description is going to engage more people of a higher quality. Tell them how you will develop their skills and help them progress in your organisation

Requirements

List the requirements, making sure to separate the ideal from minimum so you can filter out people you will never consider. Define what is absolutely required in simple human language so there is no confusion for your prospective candidates. Then you can add in the things that are necessarily a requirement but are a benefit to have

Salary Range & Benefits

Mention salary range and benefits if possible, not all companies will allow you to do this in your ad. If you are restricted from posting this, you could maybe add “Call me to discuss!”
Great people will actually take the time to contact you if they are seriously interested in the role.

Application Process

Define the application process. It’s important to be courteous to all applicants no matter who applies. Candidates want to know what happens next once they have applied. Set expectations of when they will hear from you. Giving people an idea of what the process is, reduces their risk and fear and will increase the likelihood of great talent applying to you

Call to Action

Close with a great call to action. Remember not all candidates will have an up to date resumé ready to send to you immediately. Consider passive candidates as well as active candidates.

Now you have all you need to create the perfect job advertising template. Have you found other techniques that work for you? Let us know on Twitter!