New to Recruitment? Tips on How to Write a Great Job Post

With project deadlines and new products rolling out, many businesses tend to put recruitment on the back burner. The thought is that a quick job posting with a few sketched out details will be enough to find a suitable candidate.

While some businesses may get lucky with this approach, the truth is a bit more complicated. If you want a great company, you want great people. If you want great employees, you’ll need a great job post to attract them.

“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies.” 

~ Lawrence Bossidy, GE

There it is: people trump nearly everything else you do.

Why is that?

Without exceptional, motivated people, success will be more elusive. A solid job post will help you attract promising leads, leaving a great first impression on your candidates and opening up an avenue for them to leave a fantastic impression on you.

If you are looking to recruit stellar employees for your new product or project, you most likely already know what you are looking for. You have the experience, personality and strengths of your ideal hire in mind already.

Writing the perfect job post is simply putting all of this onto paper, clearly communicating your expectations. Keeping that in mind, let’s dive into what makes a great job post. We answer your questions about effective recruitment, including:

• Why is writing a great job post important for recruitment and your business?
• What does a good example of a job post look like? What about a bad example?
• What elements should any good qulity job post feature?
• What tools can I use for recruitment?
• How can I connect with the people I want on my team?

Recruitment 101: How the People You Attract Affect Your Business

The very first question on your mind most likely has something to do with the ‘why’. Why spend so much time and effort building out a quality job post? What benefit can it bring to your business?

Turns out – quite a bit.  

Job posts are typically your candidates’ first impression of your brand.

You may not think of recruitment as needing a sales approach. But if you want the best candidates for your job, you’ll have to translate at least some of this outreach thinking to writing your job post.

A thoughtless job post with only a few vague bullet points does not create the most positive image of your company, whether your candidates understand it consciously or not. But, a job post with clear criteria and a robust description of your company will show the value of your brand.

Job posts can act as an effective filter from the beginning of the process.

A detailed job post is your first defense against candidates who are not up to the challenge. While you may not want to make the job sound too demanding, you want to be honest about what the work entails.

Even if you treat your job post as a first impression, your goal is not to create a funnel. Instead, your goal should be to speak to candidates who are most likely to be a good fit for both the position and your company.

Job posts set the right expectations – both theirs and yours.

A well-thought-out job post can give candidates a solid idea of what to expect of your leadership and your company. The most effective job posts communicate the basics of company culture, provide a detailed list of job functions and sketch out compensation. At the same time, a good job post can help tailor your expectations of the job.

As you go through the recruitment process, writing out a truly great job post will help you think through what you want the position to entail and what you expect from the ideal candidate.

The Good and Bad: Examples of Job Post Success and Failure

Sometimes it helps to have an idea of the bad in order to have a better understanding of the good. Take a look at these brief job posts:

Job Posts: The Bad:

Wanted: Digital Marketer for eCommerce site.

Qualifications:

• 5 years of digital marketing experience.
• Experience with eCommerce.
• Dedication to brand.

We need someone for digital marketing on our ecommerce site. SEO, social media, conversion optimization are all needs.

To Apply: Send your CV and writing samples to info@ecommercestore.org

Job Posts: The Good

We are an established eCommerce brand looking to increase our digital presence. We’ll need you to:

• Drive traffic to our site using organic and paid outreach.
• Explore options for conversion optimization and SEO.
• Create and implement a content strategy for our website and social media channels.

You may be a great fit for this job if:

• You love writing about technology trends and eCommerce best practices.
• You have a track record of boosting brands on social and search platforms.
• You are flexible and willing to take feedback to adapt to our voice.

We may be a great fit for you if:

• You enjoy working under your own steam – you are accustomed to self-directing projects and delivering results.
• You like small teams – there are just a few of us, and you will be a valued part of what we’re doing.
• You believe in our message – we are all about natural health and work well with people who are, too.

We provide a competitive hourly rate (commensurate with experience), a flexible work schedule and funds for exploring continuing education. To apply, send us your best writing samples, examples of digital marketing successes and a few reasons why you want to be the digital marketer on our team.

The Breakdown: Focus on What Matters

In the first job post, there is little information about the job, and even less about the company. In the second job post, the highlight is the role the candidate will play in a team.

Of course, with an actual job post you’ll most likely dive into even more detail: your company history, compensation details, and qualifications. But you get the idea here: an effective job post is one that focuses on the mutual benefits of the job.

As much as you don’t want to skimp on the details of the job, you don’t want to confuse job posts with job descriptions either. A job post is all about selling your company, the position and the benefits it offers to your candidates. These are crucial elements of a job post that you most likely wouldn’t include in an internal job description.

Keeping the selling point in mind, let’s consider some of the things that are critical to a great job post.

11 Things to Include in Your Job Post

#1: A clear and relevant job title. Do some research to assess which keywords are used for similar positions, and use that as your starting point.

#2: SEO friendly content. Consider asking for some help from your marketing team to make sure your job appears near the top for candidates.

#3: Logos and images. Visuals will establish the strength of your brand from the first click on the page.

#4: A summary. Make sure you give a concise version of the job posting at the very top – it should tell candidates what the job is about and why they should be interested.

#5: Personal pronouns. ‘We’ and ‘you’ will speak more to candidates than ‘the business’ and ‘the ideal candidate’.

#6: A distinction between ‘requirements’ and ‘nice to haves’. Only list what are truly requirements. A separate list of ‘preferences’ will help candidates understand the profile you are looking for.

#7: Location. Believe it or not, companies often leave this out. If the position can be remote, say that. If it is limited to your local area, make that clear.

#8: Salary. Some companies are hesitant to include financial information, but a salary range will speak volumes to your candidates.

#9: A clear outline. You want to make sure candidates can find the information they are looking for quickly. Some subheadings can include requirements, qualifications, benefits, company info, etc.

#10: Application instructions. For your own sanity, make every effort to ensure candidates are applying the same way. If you simply want a CV and writing samples, specify that. If you have an application link, make it apparent.

#11: Compelling language. Avoid cliches, but don’t make the job post a straightforward job description either. The more descriptive your words, the better image your candidates will have of your company.

The Bottom Line: A Great Job Post is a Chance to Connect

As GE leader Lawrence Bossidy pointed out above, successful businesses are all about hiring and developing people. A great job post gives you the chance to connect with the awesome candidates you want to find. It also gives your candidates an opportunity to discover who you are and what your brand is all about.

If you are new to recruitment, don’t think about detailed plans or advanced software as the key to success. Instead, think about treating the recruitment process as an authentic conversation. A great job post is just the start.

There are a host of software tools designed to help you start putting these tips into practice. Check out TrustRadius reviews for recruitment tools and freelance management to get an idea of what you have to work with.