Why a Great Job Ad Matters

“I don’t know the rules of grammar. If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language.” -Ogilvy

If you approach someone and want to persuade them to, say, buy a car, or apply for a job, it makes sense to speak a language they can understand.

That’s even more important when your voice isn't the only one seeking their attention. Right now, in the midst of the most intense recruitment market in generations, there are many voices. A recruitment Tower of Babel. Thousands of speakers all vying for the attention of candidates who seem hard of hearing.

Now is not the time to simply post a requisition listing on your career site - if it ever was (it never really was, but that’s a side point).* 

Here’s the thing: for most candidates, unless you’re a well-known commercial brand with lots of corporate marketing, their first real interaction with your brand will be your job ad. And: it’s always an ad. Even if it’s a terrible one (ie, a req you simply copied into your ATS and hit “post”), is still advertising. A bad one can cost you: according to Indeed research, 52% of job seekers say the quality of a job description is very or extremely influential on their decision to apply for a job.

Tips and Tricks and Such

You’re not alone if the idea of creating an ad makes you anxious. Not every recruiter or HR pro is a writer. Many are excellent at verbal communications, spreadsheets, and business writing, but stumble when it comes to compelling copy. So, we’re outlining some basic tips below to help you focus. If your company has a marketing team (ideally a recruitment marketing team, but that’s not always the case), ask for help. They’re likely hiring themselves right now, and will see the benefits to themselves in giving you some of their bandwidth. Or, see if you have a friend who writes, and ask if they’d be willing to look over your work.

Meantime…

Some basics:

• Job title: It matters for Google, so it matters for you. Most candidates start their search there. While having a cool, hip title is fun and catchy, your potential candidate won’t be searching for it. Make sure you come up on the list.
• Get them to the apply button fast - Amazon makes sure that when you pull up a product listing, it’s obvious how to buy it. Don’t take them to your career page first. If they’re interested, they’ll look around on their own to learn more.

About that copy:

• This is where you need to sell the sizzle, not the steak. 
• The opening sentence is key - if it’s not engaging, you’ll lose people fast.
• Keep in mind that this is about them, not you. Just like you’d hate it if a date spent the entire time talking about themselves, and what they require in a partner, candidates get turned off if that’s your focus. Speak in terms of: “you’ll have the opportunity to build on your skills at Python as part of our critical core development team, and will be key to the success of the company”.
• Avoid job ad cliches - read through a few job ads on Indeed, you’ll start seeing patterns of “amazing culture”, “team-oriented”, “our people are our biggest asset”. Candidates are numb to this by now, and you’ll look generic.
• Show, don’t tell: instead of using cliches, use examples from your company. Personalize it. Try language like:

• “Our founder, Magda, understands the importance of her people - she’s made sure that our health plan is 100% company funded, that we have ample time off (with a strict rule that vacation means vacation - no work allowed), and leads from the front not the back.” 
• “Our philosophy is that if you aren’t making mistakes, it means you’re worried about failing - and we want you to feel safe trying new things. We invest in education and training, and we’re there to pick each other up when things don’t go as planned - because that’s just being human”

• Watch the length - research from Traitify shows that the optimal length to get and keep a job seeker’s attention is between 300-600 words (or, a little shorter than this article). Any less and you don’t give them enough to respond to, anymore and it’s TLDR.
• Avoid too many requirements. Harvard research has shown that the more requirements in a job ad, the less likely it is that women will apply.*
• Stop using titles like “ninja” or “rockstar” - candidates, particularly engineers, will immediately downgrade you for it.
• Close with an "ask" - remind them that it never hurts to apply**, and you'd love to hear from them.
  

Today’s job seeker has it good - they’re in demand, and know it. While they’re hearing a lot of voices being shouted at them, a great job description is still rare enough that its language will help you stand out. Invest some time up front getting it right, and reap the benefits.

*Why do we do this? This needs to be addressed. It's horrifying. Want to write about it?
**There’s a whole depressing reason for this, and it’s worth another article. Or ten.
***Unless you have a horrific apply process, and you really should fix that by the way. This is also worth a bunch of articles. Do you want to write one? You should, you know. We'd love to publish it. Feel free to reach out. It never hurts to apply.****
****See what we did there?

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