How to write better job postings to attract the right candidates

The pandemic prompted the Great Reshuffle. In record numbers, professionals have turned in their resignations seeking high pay and more flexibility from employers. While attracting talent is tough, retaining talent in this climate is even more difficult.

It’s likely that some of your staff have resigned and you’re in hiring mode. If this sounds like you, writing a solid job posting is essential. Not only will a high quality and candidate focused description save you time in your recruiting efforts, the candidates will have a better experience with your small business.

The thing is, many job postings are written with obscure language. Or worse, they are too long with a laundry list of demands that no one considers applying for the opening. You need to be realistic. So what can you do? Follow these tips.

Get to the core of the position’s responsibility

Talk to someone who works in the position that you want to hire for. Find out the top three to five skills and respective responsibilities they handle on a day-to-day basis. Try to really get to the core of what the person would do in the role. The idea is that you want to know keep the description as relevant as possible.

Write a short description using relevant words

Now that you’ve brainstormed of what the job entails from a candidate perspective, it’s time to write the job description. Keep this under 500 words. Why? If you go off topic, and list a bunch of demands for skills that screams: we are looking for a person who can do everything under the sun! you’ll scare off talent. Don’t do this epic mistake. Instead, write the description using only three to five must haves that the candidate must have in order to do the job. For fun, you can add a few “nice to haves” details, but heed caution. The idea is relevancy and brevity will attract more job applicants.

Include the company’s vision, values in the posting

After the job description, include a bit about the company and its vision and values. By including this information, candidates can get a feel for the company’s culture. They can then decide if their skills and personality would be the write fit. Keep this area short and sweet.

Explain next steps

Share directions about next steps and the overall hiring process. That way candidates know what they are getting into. Is there a round of interviews via videoconferencing and a written 30-minute test? Are you planning to do three rounds of meeting with a committee? Be upfront about the process.

Follow the aforementioned tips to write effective job postings that will attract more candidates.