3 Simple Steps To Craft The Right Job Posting

A well-written job posting is critical to finding the perfect candidate for an open position. The key is giving candidates the information they need to decide to apply.

Job postings should turn passive job seekers into active applicants.

Here’s how to create a job advertisement that gets noticed on job boards or the always busy free job posting sites.

1. Be Clear

The job posting serves as a checklist for both the employer and the candidate. Advertisements should be specific about the experience, job skills and education desired while at the same time provide potential applicants with an honest preview of the job.

Job seekers most want to know about a potential employer’s compensation, location, work/life balance and health benefits.

Vague job postings also make it more difficult for potential applicants to determine if the organization is the right cultural fit. Put yourself in the job seekers’ shoes for a moment to understand what they may be thinking, feeling and searching for. Explain why it’s great to work at your company. It’s also important to give candidates a realistic idea of the type of work they’ll be doing.

2. Be Concise

Job postings of roughly 4,000-5,000 characters (500-600 words) produce a 12-15 percent click-to-apply rate. That means for every 100 people who viewed the job ad, 12-15 people clicked to apply.

If it’s too short, there’s not enough information, and it’s not compelling enough for people to take the time to apply.

The same idea applies to job titles. Titles that comprise of 50-60 characters, including spaces, work best, outperforming other titles by 30-40 percent. Very short and long titles suffer a relatively quick click-to-apply drop-off.

3. Be Consistent

Ms Veronicah Gikonyo, a recruitment manager at Corporate Staffing, recommends including the following four elements when crafting job ads:

• A description of the position and requirements. List the most important skills and requirements first.
• An explanation of the specific duties involved.
• A brief, appealing description of the company and the opportunity presented.
• A description of the benefits and intangibles.

At the end of every job description, include a single, clear call to action.

Make very clear what the next step is and set expectations around what candidates need to do, whom they are dealing with and when they can expect to hear back.

Also, limit the number of response options. Offering an e-mail address, a link to your careers site, an ‘apply now’ button and perhaps even a mailing address leads to job seeker confusion. The fewer the options, the better. You will also be making your life easier by reducing the number of candidates who apply for the same job through multiple means.

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