The job advertisement is the first thing candidates encounter. When written correctly, it will attract quality candidates and increase the chances of a successful hire. However, if it is unclear, vague or uninteresting, it can turn off even the most suitable candidates. In this article, we look at how to write a job advert that will appeal to the right people and increase the effectiveness of your recruitment process. And we'll introduce tools that can help you do just that, saving you time and effort.
Why is a good job advert important?
A well-written job advert has a major impact on the whole recruitment process. Not only does it attract more applicants, but it also increases the chances that the most suitable candidates will apply. A clear and transparent job advert structure helps candidates quickly understand whether they are a good fit for the role, which in turn shortens the selection process.
In addition, a quality advertisement contributes to employer branding. Professionally written text creates an impression of credibility and seriousness of the company, which can be decisive for candidates who are choosing between multiple offers.
What influences the success of a job advert?
The success of a job advertisement depends on several key factors:
Job title
It should be clear, understandable and relevant to what the candidate is looking for. Overly creative or ambiguous titles can confuse candidates. At the same time, it's a good idea to use terms that candidates actually search for - job portals or SEO analysis can be inspiration.
Structure and clarity
Long blocks of text can discourage reading, even for an otherwise interesting offer. The ideal is to use short paragraphs, clear headings and bullet points to allow candidates to quickly find key information. A well-structured job advert saves time not only for candidates but also for recruiters as it helps to avoid unnecessary questions.
Language and tone of communication
It is appropriate to use clear and direct language. The style of the job advert can also reflect the tonality of the employer's brand. An advert for an attorney at a prestigious law firm will sound different from an offer for a marketer at a dynamic start-up.
Distribution of the advertisement
It's not enough just to write a good job advert, the key is to get it in front of relevant candidates. Choosing the right channels (job portals, social networks, company career sites) has a major impact on the number of relevant responses. Each type of position may have a different ideal distribution mix, for example, technical positions are often filled through dedicated platforms and communities.
Key elements of a successful job advert
A well-written job advert should not only be clear and attractive, but also reflect the reality of the job. Candidates appreciate clarity, specificity and brevity. If the job advert is too general or cluttered with unnecessary details, it may put off suitable candidates.
What does a job advert need to contain?
The key is to focus on the structure of the advert and the job specification to help candidates find their way around.
- Position title: Clear, understandable and consistent with commonly used names in the field.
- Brief introduction: a short sentence or paragraph explaining why the position is interesting and why candidates should read on.
- Job description: an overview of the main tasks and responsibilities, ideally in bullet form.
- Type of job: Please indicate whether this is full-time, part-time, a work arrangement or another type of employment relationship.
- Requirements for applicants: Essential skills, experience and qualifications. It is a good idea to separate the "must-have" requirements from the "nice-to-have" ones.
- Desired personality traits: in addition to technical skills, mention soft skills or personality traits that are important for the position.
- Salary and benefits: candidates appreciate transparency. If a specific amount cannot be given, at least a range or information on other benefits is helpful.
- Career development opportunities: inform about career development, training or other educational opportunities offered by the company.
- Work location and telecommuting options: Nowadays, important information that influences the decision-making of candidates.
- Company information: a brief presentation of the employer, its values and culture.
- Date of entry: Indicate the ideal or desired date on which the candidate should start.
- Contact details and how to log in: Clear instructions on how to apply and any contact information for questions.
TIP: Want to know the 5 steps to create a job post that will attract your ideal candidate? Read our article!
The most common mistakes in job advertisements
Even if a job advert has a clear structure, it may contain errors that reduce its effectiveness. By avoiding these errors, you can significantly increase the success rate of your job advert. Some of the most common include:
- Unintelligible or misleading job titles: overly creative or internal titles that are unfamiliar to applicants may cause them to miss the job posting altogether.
- Unclear job description: if a candidate doesn't know exactly what they will be doing, they are unlikely to apply. It is important to balance brevity and specificity.
- Too many or too few requirements: too long a list of requirements can discourage quality candidates who don't meet everything. Conversely, vaguely worded requirements can lead to a large number of irrelevant answers.
- Missing wage information: Providing at least an indicative range increases the number of relevant applicants and reduces the number of enquiries.
- Excessively long text: Applicants just scan the advert with their eyes at first. If it's not clear and too long, many people won't even read it.
- Unattractive presentation of the employer: if the job ad does not contain anything about the company's culture, values or benefits, it can appear impersonal and uninteresting.
- Lack of clear call-to-action: the candidate should know exactly how to apply and what to expect once the application has been sent.
Professional job description in seconds
Don't want to spend so much time writing job ads? Modern tools can make creating and publishing them much easier. Datacruit ATS offers features that help recruiters create effective and attractive job ads faster and with better results.
Datacruit's AI assistant for creating job descriptions will help you:
- Generate a draft text based on the specified parameters.
- Allows interactive editing - just enter the desired changes
- Instant preview of the ad - everything clearly and without unnecessary rewriting.
Advertise directly from the HR system
Datacruit ATS allows one-click publishing of job postings to more than 15 job portals, company career pages or external sharing for marketing campaigns - all directly from the system. With this feature, recruiters don't have to manually copy and paste job postings to different platforms. Plus, responses are then automatically written into the system, so they can conduct their entire recruitment process directly in the ATS (Applicant tracking system).
TIP: With Datacruit you can advertise for free on jobs.datacruit.com.
How to have a complete overview of recruitment?
Good analytics and reports will give you all the answers. Datacruit offers sophisticated analytics tools that allow recruiters to monitor and evaluate the recruitment process in real time. The system includes more than 12 predefined reports that offer detailed insight into key metrics.
With this data, you can easily identify which recruitment channels deliver the best results, the most common reasons for candidate rejection or candidate feedback through NPS assessments.
