Writing job adverts can sometimes seem intimidating. It can be difficult to decide whether to keep your advert open and get as many applicants as possible or make it niche, in order to get that perfect candidate who could take a bit longer to find. Whatever you decide, you want to put your best foot forward, as this will most likely be the first interaction that a potential employee has with your company.
Finding the right candidates
Once you have mapped out who your ideal candidate is, you will need to enhance your advert so that it can be seen as soon as possible by the right people. This will ensure that when they search for a role, you will appear towards the top, attract their attention and give them a reason to apply.
Structuring your adverts
You want to keep your readers engaged so the structure of your advert is important.
Introduction: Your intro needs to be short but sweet to make sure you entice the applicant. Remember the first few lines will be shown within the search results, so it needs to make the reader want to click on the ad. Be clear about who you are as a company, and what you are looking for. Think of it like a sales pitch, ask yourself why should talented candidates want to come and work for you.
Objectives: This is where you sell the role to the candidate. What are the main points of the role, and who will they be working with/ reporting to? Make sure you talk about the benefits here, is there progression opportunities? Is this a permanent role or a long-term contract?
Responsibilities: Break down the day-to-day responsibilities of the role into bullet points so they are easy to read. Here your main aim should be to give the applicant an idea of what their potential role will entail, so it’s always a good idea, to be honest about what you will expect from them if they do get the role.
Requirements: Be sure you know what is a necessity and what is just nice to have, this could be anything from education or qualifications to soft skills or personality traits. Your candidates should have a clear view of what is required and be able to work out what extra they can bring to the table.
Shortlist Questions: Most job boards will give you the option to set ‘eliminator’ questions. This will allow you to pre-shortlist applicants, which can be extremely helpful if you have a very specific role or one with minimum years of experience or certain qualifications. Whilst these can be extremely helpful and save you time, be careful not to overdo it as you could miss out on a lot of good applicants if you set them too strictly.
Taking the time to perfect your job adverts is hugely beneficial, with more accurate CVs to review and the best candidates to shortlist. Following our guide can help to maximise results when advertising roles, but to save you even more time, why not contact us for help advertising your roles? We will even do the shortlisting for you.
Our experts would love to talk through what we can do for your organisation and the services we offer, visit our Client Services page, or speak to the team on 0203 176 4790.
