A job advertisement sounds like an easy and straightforward thing to cook up, right? It can be, but poorly written job ads will only attract applicants of the same level. For recruiters who want to go the extra mile, we’ve compiled some simple but highly effective pointers on creating a compelling job advertisement. The goal is to attract the right candidates who are ready to take on the job. To attract candidates that actually want to add value to the company.

Moving on, here are our tips and tricks on making a great job advertisement.

1. Remember to Make It SEO Friendly 

Making the job ad easy to find on search engines is one of the main steps to consider before creating the job posting. Make sure to use the right keywords that are related to the job position. It is important to note, however; that recruiters should use the keywords organically, and not forcefully. This will ensure that the listing will rank well on search engines.

2. Find More Insight on the Role

Job ads should be engaging and consumer-friendly, while also including all the technical details about the position. It is still an ad, after all. It needs to draw people in. If a job ad is too dry, chances are that many great potential candidates will overlook it.

That’s why recruiters should consider communicating with employees in the organization who occupy the same position or are in a similar role as the one in the job listing. This can be done online or offline. Of course, the recruiter has to ask the employees the right questions, we can give you a few examples:

  • What do you enjoy about this job?
  • What are your goals moving forward?
  • What do you want to offer people with your work?

Or something along these lines. 

This is a simple additional step to take before writing a job ad, as it lets the recruiter gain more insight into the role. This will give the job listing more depth and make it more personal. If recruiters understand the motivations of employees in a specific role, they’ll know exactly what to put in a job ad that pulls people’s strings. 

3. Write Up an Attractive Job Description

If the job ad is written well, engaging, and wasn’t done in a rush, then the ad will probably attract better candidates. If recruiters want to find the best candidates out there, then their ad can’t be just another run-in-a-mill job ad.

Evaluate the text in the ad and make sure that:

  • Grammar, syntax, and spelling are good.
  • The ad should directly speak to the candidate. Replace “The candidate is going to work on..” with “You are going to work on..” 
  • The text has been adequately formatted and broken down into smaller readable chunks, instead of being a huge wall of text.
  • The tone of the text is the right fit for the candidates that the company wants to attract (e.g: young adults looking for an entry-level role, older professionals looking for a senior role).
  • It has been proofread by a professional several times over. The easiest way to do that is to hire a professional essay editing service .

If the goal is to create a compelling job ad, try to write the ad in a way that demonstrates what the company can offer to the employee. And even if the recruiter is looking for the best-skilled employees out there, the ad should still be attractive and not demanding. That’s why inbound marketing works better nowadays than outbound marketing.

Unclear on what those terms mean? Inbound marketing is essentially marketing that attracts customers in a more passive way. It’s meant to be magnetic. Outbound marketing pushes ads and services to customers whether they want it or not.

The job description is a crucial part of the job ad, so make sure it shines. Don’t let it be too wordy and extensive, but do use descriptive words from time to time since it makes it less dry and more engaging. 

4. Include the Corporate Culture

Company culture is an extremely important aspect that needs to be highlighted in a job ad. Candidates are looking for employment, but they are also looking for a workplace where they feel a sense of belonging. This could be a more subconscious need to some, but it’s there for the majority of candidates. 

Make sure to include: 

  • Company culture and workplace
  • Company’s values
  • Company’s vision and mission

5. Include the Salary

There’s a huge debate and a lot of disagreement on whether the salary should be included in the job posting or not. However, mentioning the salary will inevitably attract applicants who know exactly what they’re getting into and what they can get out of the job. Everyone has bills to pay, after all. And statistics back this point up. Approximately 70% of all job applicants want the questions of salary to be the first one to be addressed by a recruiter.

And what this can do, additionally, is weed out applicants who might want a higher salary from the get-go. Listing the salary actually makes the job ad more effective at attracting exactly the right applicants. It gets rid of expectations. And it helps assure applicants that the company will pay a decent salary for the work that is required. 

Conclusion

The hiring process can be tough for both employers and applicants. Finding the right job isn’t a walk in the park, and finding the right candidate is challenging and will either affect the company positively or negatively in the long run. We hope our pointers will help recruiters sharpen up their job advertisements into something more compelling and magnetic for the right candidates. At the end of the day, an effective and well-written job advertisement serves to save recruiters time and energy and to attract the fittest candidates from a sea of applicants.