As with the construction of any advertisement, you should begin writing your job description with your target candidate firmly in mind.
This will enable you to tailor the advertisement to suit what will be of most significance to them about the available role while ensuring that it is posted in the most relevant places online. To give your recruitment process a boost, follow our 5 tips for writing an effective job advertisement.
1) Make an amazing first impression
The key to good advertising is grabbing the attention of the right people. If you are seeking a high-caliber, hard-working and knowledgeable candidate then your job post needs to be more than just one more on a job board.
The more energy and careful thought you put into writing your job advertisement, the better chance you have of attracting the high-achieving candidate your vacancy requires.
2) Writing search-friendly content
Just as with a web page, your job advertisement should be easily found in the search engines by relevant candidates. Consider the queries your candidate will be using when job seeking online and tailor your language accordingly.
You can increase the searchability of your job advertisement through the inclusion of keywords relating to the job type, the rank of the role, and the organization in clear sentences within your advertisement. However, it is vital that you do not overuse keywords as this will appear unnatural to the search engines and may decrease your ability to rank well for those keywords, thus having a detrimental effect on your achieving your goal.
3) It’s all in the formatting
An effective job advertisement is brief, clear, and to the point. You can achieve much of this with the format you choose to use. As many of your prospective candidates for a role will be job-seeking online using smartphones, tablets, and laptops during their commute or after work, brevity is key.
Your candidate will be scanning reams of job advertisements for key phrases – this is significantly more difficult to do when presented with a hefty paragraph. Instead use short, one-sentence paragraphs and bullet points to convey your content. Try beginning each bullet point with a verb, as this implies to the candidate that you are getting straight to the point.
You may also consider using color coding, graphics, and interesting typography in order to alert a potential candidate to your advertisement. For instance, if the role requires the regular use of problem-solving and analytical skills, why not take a different approach and make the candidate work to find the key information by first solving a puzzle? This might be in the form of a word search or a mathematical problem.
Not only will this capture the attention and interest of the right type of candidate, but you are immediately disqualifying anyone who cannot solve the puzzle and therefore does not fulfill the criteria for the role.
4) What does your candidate want to know?
Your job advertisement should engage your candidate and lead them to contact you about the role; in order to achieve this result, you must identify what information is necessary to include. The structure of a job advertisement can differ according to industry, but generally, your key facts should be presented as follows:
- Line 1: Overview of the position
- Line 2: What differentiates this position from other roles of its sort in the same sector?
- Line 3: What experience, knowledge, skills, and qualifications are required?
- Line 4: Call to action
However, as discussed in point 3, in the appropriate context you can think outside the box when writing and formatting your job advertisement. Certain industries provide the perfect opportunity to let the creative juices flow, but it is vital to keep in mind the following:
- The core elements that your candidate will want to know – such as the job description and title
- The platform on which you are placing your advertisement – a job board is not the ideal place for the more creative job advertisements, while a relevant industry magazine or website is.
5) Make it interesting with visuals
Dependent on the industry you are recruiting for and who your candidate is, it may be appropriate and beneficial to include interesting visuals within your advertisement. This is particularly relevant to those within the creative industry and media – to whom a job advertisement with an eye-catching layout with visuals can make all the difference.
Secure your top candidate
Finding a candidate with skills, qualifications, and personality to fit the exact specifications of a job brief can be exceedingly difficult. By following our tips for writing an effective job advertisement we hope that they find you.
Author: Danielle Middleton is a digital content writer for legal recruitment specialists, BCL Legal.
