CATS Applicant Tracking System

Creating an effective job posting can be a daunting task. Candidates spend less than a minute looking through a job posting on average. This means an effective job needs to capture the attention of your ideal candidate. Check out these eight simple tips to help you create better job posts and recruit/hire better talent.

1. Make it visually pleasing

Remember to write an ad, not a job description. Include your company logos, videos, and images so the candidate will spend more time on your job post. Be sure these videos and images accurately capture your company culture and what your company stands for. Also, remember candidates tend to skim through job descriptions, so keep them short and succinct by using bullet points instead of large blocks of copy.

2. Relevant job titles and keywords

Candidates need to be able to find the job posting, so don’t get too creative with the job title. Sure, it’s cool to have an interesting job title like “Senior Armageddon Avoidance Engineer”, but getting too fancy with the title can lead to a poor SEO rank. Save the creative stuff for the job description below it.

3. Analyze the competition

Pay attention to job posts from other companies in your industry so you can get a feel for which keywords are being used most. Competitors may have already done the bulk of the research to help optimize their job postings, so if certain keywords have shown up multiple times throughout the posting, it’s probably not a coincidence.

4. Sell your job posting

Think like a salesperson. Your job posting should get to the point, yet be able to answer questions such as “What makes the job fulfilling as a career?”. Candidates want to know what they can expect if they were to work for your company. Capture your audience from the start by having the most engaging and interesting content at the top of the job description by highlighting a few important aspects or perks.

5. Describe your company culture

Include a description about your company culture to help weed out candidates that might not be a good match. If your company has a “west coast startup” vibe to it a candidate who enjoys a more traditional work environment might not be the right match. The job posting should convey the office culture. Also, be sure to mention advancement opportunities, company projects, and travel plans to help put the icing on the cake.

6. Express in detail about company benefits

Salary does play a big role, but compensation doesn’t belong on the back-burner. Awesome benefits, bonuses, and vacation time are things that candidates factor in when searching for the perfect job. Emphasize benefits in bullet points so they stand out in your posting.

7. Discuss requirements

Does your job opening require traveling frequently? Make sure your job posting accurately lists out requirements that may alter the candidate’s willingness to work for your company. It will help narrow down the candidate pool so you spend less time recruiting candidates who wouldn’t be a good fit.

8. Have someone read it!

It’s always a good idea to get someone else’s perspective on your job posting. Grammatical errors, misspelled words, and double wording can make your job posting look amateurish. When your job posting is error-free, it shows that your company means business.

Remember, a great job posting attracts a better talent pool. If they see a golden opportunity, they will go for it – those are the types of candidates you want.