At its most basic, a job posting should plainly describe the requirements of the position, the company culture and the overall mission. If it doesn’t, the company is more likely going to get low-quality applicants.
Job descriptions also need to be effective marketing tools. They should attract the eyes of high-quality hires and then sell the idea of working for the company.
Consider the following tips the next time you have to write a job posting.
Use an eye-catching post title
Selling a job to top talent starts by grabbing their attention with a good job post title. Even the most engaging job posting will get skipped over if job seekers are presented with a bland post title, such as simply using the job title. An eye-catching post title, such as “Innovation-driven software engineer”, is more likely to draw the attention of top talent.
Properly word your descriptions
The key to writing effective job descriptions is to maintain a balance between succinctness and giving enough detail so people can figure out if this is the opportunity for them.
Grabbing your reader’s attention has to go beyond the title of the posting. If you don’t maintain interest after the post title, there is chance job seekers will move on to the next job.
Engage job seekers by showing what makes your business a unique place to work and why they should want to apply. Don’t embellish or underplay the job duties. Simply give a sense of the typical day and workload. Many job postings focus on what the applicant will have to produce in the role, but not the process behind it. Job seekers want to understand what their normal day will look like in trying to achieve various objectives.
Give a sense of culture and core values
A quality applicant for any position comes with a set of skills and experiences. But the best type of applicant has a solid background and shares core values with the company.
To attract applicants who will most easily become part of your team, lay out your company’s core values in the position posting and use language in a way that communicates your culture. For instance, a laid-back company that thrives on camaraderie should use more casual language in its job postings.
Make it search friendly
The last step in putting together a job description that will attract top-quality hires is maximizing the chance that they will be able to locate your posting among an ocean of others.
Job board search engines operate by scanning job titles and descriptions to provide the most relevant match to a query. Posting that catch the eye and include common search terms maximize the chances that a highly-qualified job seeker will find your posting, click on it and send in an application.
At SSi People , we assist our clients with their hiring processes, so they can put more focus on their core business activities. Please contact us today to find out how we can help your organization.
