Interested in learning how to create a great job posting?
You’re not alone.
A well-crafted job posting could be the difference between attracting average talent or attracting the best.
When creating a job description for your job posting you want to avoid the cookie-cutter approach. This can be difficult as a busy hiring manager.
However, you should remember a job posting is often the first introduction to your company for a potential employee.
This is an essential part of the hiring process.
It’s important to sell your opportunity in a unique and engaging way. This will help your job stand out from the thousands of boring job descriptions posted on job boards daily.
With that in mind, we will go over the steps on how to write a great job posting.
- What Is A Job Posting?
- When Writing A Job Posting Think About These Questions
- Tips For Writing A Great Job Posting
- Perform a thorough job analysis
- Keep the job posting in the 300-700 word range
- A job title must be clear, direct, and specific
- Describe the job opportunity
- Sell the job opportunity
- Sell the company vision and culture
- Structure your job posting
- Describe the application process.
- Have colleagues review the job posting
- Job Posting Sample Template
- How to Include Salary In job Postings
- Where Should You Post Your Job Ad?
What Is A Job Posting?
Job postings are a way for employers to recruit job seekers by advertising their open positions. A job posting should be tailored to help the job and your organization attract the great candidates you are seeking for your company.
Originally posted in newspapers, companies now list job postings on job boards, company career sites, and staffing agency websites.
When Writing A Job Posting Think About These Questions
- What created the need for this position? Why is it open?
- What type of person is the ideal candidate for this position and will fit in with our company culture?
- How will this position interact and support other positions within the company?
- Have any requirements for the position changed over the years?
- What type of personality usually succeeds in this role?
- What does it take to be successful in this role?
- What are skills are must-haves and what skills are nice to have but not required?
- Is there an opportunity for growth in this role?
- Does your company offer any perks or benefits that stand out?
- Is your company involved in any charitable activities outside the office?
- What is the biggest selling point of your job opportunity?
- How does your compensation package compare to other competitors in the area?
- What is the best way to attract candidates to your position?
Tips For Writing A Great Job Posting
When writing a job description, each section of the job post should be tailored with a specific goal in mind. This will help to create an effective job posting that will attract the best talent.
With that understanding, we list some of our best tips broken down by section for writing effective job postings.
Perform a thorough job analysis
Review your current internal compensation structure and compare it to the current market.
Research competitor job descriptions, compensation, and job titles to get a thorough understanding of what you’re up against.
Depending on what industry you’re in you will find competitor job postings on job search websites such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, CareerBuilder or Monster.
Does your current compensation match the market? Or will you need to adjust it to match your competitors to attract ideal candidates?
When reviewing competitor job descriptions take some of their best ideas and incorporate them into your own job postings.
Keep the job posting in the 300-700 word range
According to Textio their data shows, the optimal length of an effective job posting is around 300-700 words. In our experience as technical recruiters, longer job postings ten to attract fewer candidates.
A job title must be clear, direct, and specific
Be clear, concise, and to the point don’t over-inflate the job title, making it seem more than it is. Avoid cliche phrases such as “superstar engineer” or “top-notch programmer” also stay away from general titles such as “engineer” or “designer”.
As software developer recruiters, we have posted thousands of job openings. In our experience candidates often apply based on the job title alone and don’t even read the job description.
The wrong title could cost you time and money!
Be specific with your titles such as “.NET software developer”, or “SolidWorks Mechanical designer”, and hopefully decrease the number of unqualified applicants that miss the mark.
Describe the job opportunity
Write the job description in a way that helps the right candidates visualize a typical day at the office.
For example, if your job opening is for a SolidWorks Mechanical designer. It would be a bad idea to say something generic-sounding such as “looking for a designer to create mechanical parts for equipment”
Example
“You will design conveyor equipment using SolidWorks CAD software from materials such as sheet metal and steel.
You will also create drawings from scratch for bearings, feed chutes, pulleys, belt drive systems, slider beds, and idlers.
Additional responsibilities include creating a bill of materials, developing shop drawings for fabrication, and interacting with clients on job sites 10% of the time.”
Sell the job opportunity
Job seekers exploring new career opportunities need compelling reasons to choose your job posting over competing ones. Describe any perks, benefits, office comforts of the facility, or specialized equipment that candidates may get to use.
For example, if a company pays 100% of the medical benefits, offers catered lunches, are active volunteers in a community, or have purchased new high-end computer workstations list it in the job posting.
Have an amazing office with a perfect view? Make sure to mention it.
Certain types of benefits are more important to some rather than others, and vice versa.
Sell the company vision and culture
Your job posting is your first opportunity to showcase your company to potential employees.
Consider links to reviews about your company, testimonials, or pictures on your Facebook and Glassdoor pages if you have them.
If you want to be creative, you could even design a landing page on your company website. This page could describe the company’s vision and goals. While showcasing your office environment, team pictures, fun events, and outings.
Adding a link to this page in your job description would give candidates a better understanding of your company. A picture is worth a thousand words.
If you’re a marketing firm, you want to make your potential hires feel that they’re going to be part of the family. Even boring jobs like HVAC or plumbing need to make the applicants feel that they’re going to be in a professional and safe environment.