How To Write An Effective And Optimised Job Advert

Successfully recruiting new candidates for a job is a challenging task. The first step is to write a compelling job advert that entices potential employees to apply, feel interested in your business and want to join your company in a growth journey. 

As technology advanced over the years, job boards dedicated to job searches can now match potential candidates with job adverts that fit their profile, flagging posts. However, postings must be optimised for search engines to do this.

Most people looking for a job will begin their hunt by using search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Job boards are the best way to discover great opportunities when looking for something more specific, and more experienced job hunters will also use platforms such as LinkedIn or Indeed. If you want the right candidate to find your advert and get as much traction as possible from potential applicants, consider these tips.

Think like your potential candidates

To write an effective job advert, it is important to think about what you might want to see contained in the job advert if you were the candidate scanning multiple job boards daily.

This is an excellent opportunity to include any extra or catchy information that might sell the job to the candidate.

Put yourself in their shoes and include some content you think potential candidates would find attractive.

Considering what your candidates might be looking for will also guide you when deciding keywords. It also highlights the importance of keeping some items short and objective.

Provide all the key details

Writing an effective job advert is much more than writing a basic description of the opportunity you have available. There is an art to creating a successful advert that attracts the best candidate to your role. 

Including all the essential details of the position you are offering is crucial to writing an effective advert. This is often overlooked by companies and recruiters. Jobseekers want to know all the critical details of a job right ahead. 

By quickly understanding what companies want, what they offer and what the job itself entails, people won’t have to go through multiple adverts. As a result, applications are much faster. Potential employees will quickly identify which opportunity fits their profile and which to skip.

The opposite can also happen. Companies that do not provide the full details of what they are offering might need more applications. 

Some key items that you should include in your job advert are:

Job title

Choosing the right job title is essential if you want to be found by suitable candidates.

Remember that this is the information your future candidates will see first and probably the keywords they’ll use when job hunting. For this reason, ensure that the title you use actually describes the role and the position. The best approach is to be direct and think about what your ideal candidate is likely to search for.

Businesses will often try to be too quirky with the title of a role. For example, they will try to attract candidates by using a title such as “Sales Superstar” instead of “Sales Executive” or “Sales Manager”. The more precise and common the title, the more likely it will reach the candidate you want. 

Job location

Candidates will often seek jobs in their area or in a place where they are looking to move to. It is always best to include the location of your company or the position you are trying to fill in your job advert.

Job boards will require you to enter a specific location, some even a postcode. This is used to match up candidates willing to travel to your location. Therefore, if you’re in a particularly remote region, it may be worth using the area where most of your employees travel from instead of your exact office location. This will help you attract more candidates. 

As remote work becomes more widespread, it is also a good idea to specify if the position you are advertising is remote, hybrid (in which some days people are expected to go to an office) or on-site. According to LinkedIn, remote work has attracted the most applicants. Even though they represent only 20% of the jobs advertised on the platform, they’ve received 50% of applications.

Contract type and hours

Another crucial piece of information is the type of contract and the number of hours people will be doing every week. This will allow applicants to find opportunities that match their interests and availability. 

When it comes to remote work, especially, this information will allow candidates to understand if the position will fit their lifestyle. 

Job description

Your job advert should also include a brief but detailed description of what the role entails. This allows applicants to have a better idea of what they can expect to do if they are hired. 

However, a job description must be short and to the point. You don’t need to include every minor task or detail future employees might find when working for you. Give them an overview of the primary responsibilities.

Writing too much at this stage can have the opposite effect and turn people away from your job. 

A brief description of your business

A job advert is an advertisement of your company. This is your chance to give candidates an overview of your business so they can work out if they are a good fit for you. Standard details to include are your location and industry, but it’s also an excellent opportunity to go into some more depth. 

Offering some background on your company and what sets you apart from your competitors is a fantastic way to attract candidates to you instead of a similar job at a different company. Don’t be afraid to get a bit creative – you want your business to stand out, so candidates are excited about the prospect of working for you.

Job requirements

Of course, it is important that you briefly list what you require from candidates. This includes specific qualifications, certificates or experience. 

Many businesses like to use ‘Essential’ requirements for the absolute deal breakers and ‘Desirable’ for the experience/qualifications that are a little bit more flexible. If potential candidates are missing a few essential requirements, they should know not to apply. Likewise, candidates should be more likely to apply if they meet all of the essential and at least a few desirable requirements. 

Being as open as possible about your requirements ensures you and the candidates are not wasting each other’s time.

Salary

Including the salary of the job role within the job advert is a great way to increase the overall visibility of the job advert on the job board. It also allows potential applicants to get an idea of how much they will be paid for the role. Alternatively, many businesses choose to leave this out or just put a range instead, as many salaries are determined by the candidate’s experience and set accordingly.

We suggest providing some salary range if you are not comfortable with sharing exact amounts or are willing to negotiate based on experience or performance. This gives candidates a better idea if your position fits their expectations and saves you from interviewing people who might later decide the compensation is not what they are looking for. 

It is important to keep in mind that the number of applications a business receives usually drops if a salary is not listed in an advert. According to Jobsite, adverts receive 25% to 30% fewer applications when they don’t have compensation listed compared to ads that do.

Benefits

Aside from the salary, it is becoming increasingly important for candidates to be made aware of the other benefits available to them from your business. These may range from bonuses and health insurance to company socials. It can be anything to present that you are willing to go the extra mile to keep your employees happy and strengthen the bond between your business and the workforce.

Since a job advert is also an advert of your company, consider what benefits could attract potential candidates. Benefits can vary. They can be a gym membership, days off, or any other perks employees might get. For some companies, even remote work can be considered a benefit or hour flexibility.

A good idea is to assess what companies of similar size and business as yours are offering to see how you compare to the competition.

Include keywords

When writing a job advert, you will want to consider what organic keywords can be included throughout the advert. This can help boost the traction and visibility your job advert will receive as people search by keyword on the job board.

Take, for example, if you are hiring a tax accountant in a particular city. An applicant might search for ‘Tax Accountant Roles in Manchester’. Including the job title and location in the job advert increases the chances of this candidate finding your posting. 

When posting on job boards, keep the title of the role objective. Since these platforms ask applicants to determine their location when searching for an opportunity, you don’t need to be too specific.

You can add keywords to the title of the job advert, the meta description and even the URL of the page the job advert sits within to further boost visibility.

Keywords might be the position, the location, and even the responsibilities.

Diversity and inclusion in job adverts

The words you use in a job advert are extremely important. In male-dominated industries, you are likely to find ads with gendered language discouraging women from applying. The same can be said for leadership positions. 

When choosing keywords, check your unconscious bias and try to be as inclusive and diverse as possible. Choose gender-neutral words and make sure you are not describing characteristics generally associated with one gender or the other. 

For instance, male-oriented ads might use a word like “competitive” and “dominant” more often, while ads aiming for female candidates will include words such as “sociable” and “dedicated”. Being aware of unconscious biases requires effort. The first step is recognising that there are gender stereotypes and that we often perpetuate them. Take active steps to change that and make conscious choices to encourage diversity. 

The more inclusive your ad is, the more candidates you will attract, making your talent pool bigger.