Master the art of creating a great job advertisement. Try these quick ideas.

Creating a job advertisement is one of the first things recruiters must learn. However, most recruiters don’t invest enough time learning it, thus creating boring recruitment ads, simply listing the requirements and an unappealing call to action like the one below.

Example of an ordinary job advertisement:

This blog highlights some of the best ways you can improve your job advertisements to boost the number of applications you receive.

1. Write a compelling paragraph about your company

When a job seeker comes across your job advertisement, let them see a compelling paragraph about your company as the first thing. 

Let’s see a section of Starbucks’ “About us” as an example. It has an eye-catching company description you must consider to take inspiration from in writing your job ad. 

“We make sure everything we do honors that connection – from our commitment to the highest quality coffee in the world, to the way we engage with our customers and communities to do business responsibly. From our beginnings as a single store over forty years ago, in every place that we’ve been, and every place that we touch, we've tried to make it a little better than we found it.”

2. Write a job overview that gets candidates excited about

After nailing the company description, focus on writing the job overview that appeals to the target candidates.

Effectively pitching a job vacancy is crucial to engage qualified candidates. Start with a short and exciting overview of the hiring process. Let us look at the hiring process overview of the “Amazing Platform Software Engineer” recruitment ad. 

Our Hiring Process:

1. You find or get sent this job ad.
2. You read the ad.
3. It piques your interest and/or makes you want to disprove our claims.
4. You tell us you are interested (apply, email, shout, call).
5. We send you a link to use our awesome software and tell us more about yourself (includes coding).
6. You come meet the team and verify all the truths (and more) written here.
7. You tell everyone how amazing your life has become.
8. Your friends come on over and you earn a sweet referral bonus – for each one!

3. Be specific in writing duties and required skills

Further down in the job advertisement, specify duties and responsibilities. Being specific and including more details improve the chances of attracting the right candidates.

An example of writing duties and required skills for a Software Developer job ad – 

4. Include infographics

Infographics can transform a boring textual recruitment ad into a visually appealing ad that grabs attention. IBM’s job ad above is a great example of creating an infographic job ad with textual information and symbols that engage candidates.

5. Figure out the best way to mention perks and benefits

Highlighting perks and benefits is one of the most easy ways to woo prospective candidates. Consider listing them in the form of infographics for greater impact. Mention benefits like paid time off, health insurance, learning and development opportunity and various recognition programs.

6. Consider search engine optimisation

Promoting your job vacancy to the right audience will fetch a lot of qualified candidates. However, it is best if you also post them on unpaid channels. Include keywords people search for when they look for jobs on the internet. Job posts optimised for search engines attract qualified candidates and is a cost effective method to reach out to target candidates.

Following the above tips, you can create a job advertisement that reaches out to millions of potential job seekers and successfully sells your vacant positions to top contenders. However, you will need to adopt technology to keep with the recent recruitment trends. Consider using the PyjamaHR applicant tracking system that simplifies your end-to-end hiring process, while also allowing you to post job ads on various job boards in a few clicks.