Top tips for creating a killer job advert

A job advert is the starting point for yours and your candidate’s relationship, which is why it’s crucial that it creates the best first impression and helps you stand out. We’ve put together 6 useful tips to help you create a killer job advert.

In some cases less is more, and a concise advert can often lead to better results. Including details such as the job title, salary and location are of course essential, but refining these can make a difference. Where possible, rather than stating the ‘salary is negotiable’, including a more specific pay bracket, i.e. £25k - £30k can help. This doesn’t give too much away but will help attract the right candidates. Another tip is to try and narrow down the location. For example, saying the job is based in Manchester City Centre, will have a better response than putting “Manchester” or “North West” as candidates may take travelling time into serious consideration.

Make it flow, easy to read and interesting

Having a clear layout to a job advert is vital in order to keep the reader interested. Start with essential details, and specify if the job is contact or permanent. Include key responsibilities in bullet points so that the interesting parts of the job are easy to spot, necessary qualifications and experience. If there is a benefits package, make sure you include this at the end too. Include the perks, the great staff socials you have, the fantastic progression opportunities and the quirky working environment that are all on offer. These things may seem obvious, but in the fast paced world of recruitment, it’s surprising the parts that get missed out. Quality over quantity.

Have a clear call to action

This may seem like an obvious point, but by making it as easy as possible for the candidate to apply for the role, it increases your chances of receiving more applications. Include your phone number and email address, or a link to somewhere they can send their CV to. When you’re in the process of looking for a new team member it is important to make sure you are easily accessible and communicate in a timely manner with employee hopefuls. Keep your candidates engaged throughout.

Many internal recruiters and external agencies now use automated technology to post jobs online to save time, but it’s surprising the amount of mistakes that are published. Our advice is to proof read before you post to check for spelling and information that’s missing, then proof read it again once published. Formatting issues can stop an advert from being easy to read, or an essential link disappearing can make the difference between a candidate applying and not.

We hope these tips help you in your search for you next employee. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to keep up to date with all our latest news!