Tips for Making Job Postings That Attract Stronger Candidates

As the nation piled back into work post-pandemic, it seemed around 755,000 fewer employees came back to the office. Amid a labor shortage, how can an HR team ensure they’ll hire and retain a quality employee?

Enticing a talented individual to unwaveringly fill a gap in the team begins with the tried-and-true job posting. Much like how a liaison would market the benefits of their business, they’ll need to be like-minded about marketing the job posting.

Regardless of the industry, the American people are in a technology-forward era, and the perfect job advertisement should be mindful of that.

An HR department will use as many sites as they see fit, including relevant social media and job boards. They’ll provide search engine optimization (SEO) keywords so wherever their ideal candidate is looking, they can still find their perfect job.

Of course, understanding that the internet and social media are valuable for the attraction and retention of the best employee is only the beginning. The best insights on how to make job postings reach the next most incomparable staff member are just below.

Be clear and concise when writing job postings

Postings with 450 words or more will entice about 17% fewer applicants than a job posting with up to 150 words. That’s the benefit of keeping a short and sweet advertisement.

The ideal candidate wants to get to the point so they can quickly decide if this is the company they want to work with. They’ll make their decision based on the important points and then they’ll read the other mundane details later.

Include specifics in the title and position purpose

The title of the job posting should be the shortest section of the listing. No matter how precise it is, it will set the biggest impact as the bottom line of the duties and level of experience. This is the first thing the best candidate will see and is the first thing that will draw them in or turn them away.

Specifics will mean the difference between getting the person who can’t do the job at all versus the person who does the job extremely well. If they’re hiring entry-level associates, they’ll need to say that.

Seeing the initial title; “Entry-Level,” “Associate,” “Senior,” or “Executive” means everything to the job seeker and saves everyone significant frustration.

For example, a beginner fresh out of college might not waste time applying for an executive position. A more capable Senior Vice President might be more inclined.

Outline detailed responsibilities

Instead of using the same cookie-cutter verbiage, like “candidate is great at high-demand multitasking,” it will help to be specific about what tasks they will be multitasking with.

Expectations need to stand out and be pertinent to the job. Saying something more like, “Candidate is capable of answering phones and emails consecutively” or “candidate is able to compile data files while interacting with customers daily” will suffice better.

This shift away from ambiguous terms avoids the redundancy of other postings which will separate better postings from the rest. It will also assist by briefly explaining their duties. Supervisory roles and sales associate roles could vary from employer to employer.

Having a short list of responsibilities shows a candidate what it takes for them to have the right qualifications in the first place. Depending on the role, each daily responsibility will be specific.

It could be a smart move to ask an existing employee what their day-to-day looks like or survey the entire department to relay accurate expectations.

Make qualifications and experience skimmable

Once a potential employee is interested in the position based on their matching qualifications, they’ll want to know what experience they must have for consideration. The readability of both the qualifications and experience needed for an employee is very important.

The section reserved for qualifications and experience should have a listing in a bulleted format. That way, it’s easier to skim through.

A reader will begin with the first bullet “Bachelor’s Degree,” and mentally check “yay” or “nay” and keep going down the list until they hit something that doesn’t pertain to them. For this reason, it might be a good idea to separate the qualifications by the “must-haves” and the “can take or leaves”.

The section reserved for qualifications and experience should have a listing in a bulleted format.

A great example of this is a data company looking for its next data analyst. They’ll want their next employee to definitely know how to analyze data, and maybe know about the tools they use to do so.

Another great hint is to specify what type of education a worker must have. General knowledge of a skill is different from working knowledge. A student may know the basics of their preferred position, but a former employee will know how to function within the environment.

Advertise the compensation and benefits in the posting

Disclosing the minimum and/or maximum compensation for the role is beneficial to both the company and the potential employee. Many job seekers find their pay to be one of the top factors in their decision to apply. Businesses that are forthright with their pay and other incentives give candidates the chance to consider their engagement on a broader scale.

Some of the best future employees may be relocating from a different state and don’t know what the economy is like. California’s employers are paying about 13.8% more than Texas employers because of the large gap in the cost of living.

Knowing the salary will ease their minds on the drastic fluctuations in compensation between the 2 areas. On the off chance of missing the opportunity with the company that has pay listed, they’ll be likely to apply as soon as they see it.

Being transparent about salaries will give you an edge over the competition

Consider the advantage a company will gain over its competition. If the salary point is higher or the benefits are better, employees who exactly match the mold of the empty role will begin to weigh out their options. In this scenario, a company is showing prospects that they value its employees more than others do.

On the contrary, if raising the salary point just isn’t feasible, they’ll still have a leg up when they list the compensation. They’ll just pick from the able candidates that turned away from their adversaries. In fact, 65% of current employees are looking for another job, and they’re for reasons other than pay.

Much like the important set of qualifications and experience, an HR professional or small business owner will want their benefits listed out as well. They don’t have to limit themselves to the important parts, like paid time off, medical insurance, or retirement, which they should list first.

They’d consider the perks that matter to the employees, like free snacks, free parking, or casual Fridays. For some people, it’s the little things that matter.

Even if the potential employee doesn’t find compensation to be their favored entity for a future job, simply having the compensation listed will give them the basic information that they deserve. This is saving the company time by not dealing with the group of persisting negotiators.

Write a short summary of the job listing

Once all the important bits are out of the way, the remaining candidates still reading the listing are the ones who decided that they meet all of the criteria. The end is where a company can put all of the remaining details the reader might not have cared about before.

This consists of 1 or 2 sentences about the company and the culture and environment expected. This is a great way to give the soon-to-be-employee a taste of what it feels like to be a part of the team. It will be wise to include a link to the company site. That way, they can begin doing their research after they’ve applied for the position.

Final thoughts: Job postings should be straight to the point

Each legitimate job posting should be straight to the point. They should list specific details about the job and the expectations of a truly qualified applicant. The summary should be short and sweet, and lay out important details about the company and vision.

Once they’ve laid out the fundamental parts of the job posting, all that’s left to do is simplify it. Then, important keywords and proofread it. Even the smallest typo will drive away the most meticulous workers, which might be exactly whom they’re looking for. They’ll make their language easy to read, mature, and optimized for only the most paramount staff.