The Ultimate Guide to Optimising Job Ads

If your job ads aren’t reaching as many people as they should be or attracting the right candidates, then we have some news for you – your job ads are underperforming. Talent attraction is not as easy as it used to be and if you want to attract great candidates in numbers, then you have to ensure your job ads are optimised to be as effective as possible. In this blog, we will provide 7 tested and proven tips to writing the perfect job adverts that will resonate with job seekers, and that are optimised for both job boards and Google.

1. Include keywords

When writing job ads, always incorporate keywords relevant to the role and your industry. Those keywords allow you to reach the right audience who may or may not be following your business but follow trends of keywords or hashtags. For instance, if you are recruiting for a role in an IT firm, jobs ads seeking a Digital Ninja or an IT Whizz are less likely to be found via searches by jobseekers as those terms aren’t commonly used in the industry. So, research the right keywords to use for your target market and get to work.

2. Speak their language

As a recruiter, no one knows the right candidate for a role better than you. As such, when creating job ads, you should present it in a way that will appeal to the kind of candidate you are looking to hire. Writing an advert aimed at lawyers is going to be a bit different to one recruiting for a web developer or administrative assistant. In essence, you’ll need to personalize your ads with the right candidate in mind, and try and speak their language in the ad. It will resonate more and inspire more trust in you and the role itself.

3. Keep it short

Job hunting can be a time-consuming process. Job seekers do not want to read through job descriptions with thousands of words before applying, no matter how interesting you may think the job description is. So, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favour by keeping your job posts concise and straight to the point. The optimal length for a job ad is about 500 words, with a job title length of no more than 29 characters. Keep this in mind the next time you are creating job posts to make it really easy for candidates to see the most pertinent information.

4. Tell them everything you possibly can

Job adverts must, for obvious reasons, hold back some info. We’re not suggesting you show all your cards but including a numerical salary range can boost applications by up to 90% compared to vacancies with undisclosed salaries. Also, as most job seekers tend to search for jobs by locations, including your location can help you get noticed and thus also increase applications. Divulge as much as you can in your job ads if you want it to be more competitive.

5. Make it interesting

Regardless of how brief your job descriptions are, if they are not interesting enough to grab your candidate’s attention, even the keenest of job seekers might lose interest. By the very first paragraph of your job ad, the jobseeker should already be excited about the role. Give just enough information to make them interested but hold some back to encourage them to reach out for more information. Use the opportunity to introduce yourself, and get them excited about the company and job you’re recruiting for in terms of team, culture, progression, etc.

6. Format, spelling and grammar

We mentioned above about keeping it short, but it’s also important to keep it really clear. Use concise copy, bullet points where possible, and ensure that you break up the text into paragraphs that make sense. Have an obvious CTA and make it really easy for them to figure out the next steps. Should they call? Email over a CV? Fill out an online application form? Make your instructions and details as clear as possible. Also remember to proofread the advert before posting, grammatical or spelling errors in job ads look unprofessional and could cause you to miss out on some really great applicants.

7. Share it

Finally, do well to share your job ads on as many job boards and social media sites as possible. The more you share it, the more likely you are to reach a larger audience and hence, receive more applications. LinkedIn provides an excellent platform for job ads with several features that enable recruiters to create a narrative and longform posts to generate interest and engagement around the vacancy being advertised. You can also use the idibu platform to create and share your job adverts across multiple sites at once to give your vacancies a great deal of exposure. Take advantage of these platforms available to you and watch the number of applications you receive soar.

Great job ads can make your vacancy stand out and simplify the recruitment process for you. So, follow the above tips to create job ads that will immediately sell the role and company to candidates.

And, with idibu, you can post your jobs across the net in minutes! Attract candidates from thousands of job boards, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and all major aggregators such as Indeed, JobRapido and more. Click here to arrange a free demo or get in touch now on 0800 311 2750.

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