The Seven Secrets to Writing a Great Job Posting for the Web
Publié le 28 April 2018
An attractively crafted posting is the most important ingredient for your online recruiting. Given this, it’s no wonder that the ability to write web-specific contents has become increasingly sought-after by employers! A well-written posting will help with the online optimization of your activities, of course, but is also the ticket to hiring the right people for those job openings. Just like the blog articles or the wording used on your web site, job postings are a means to reaching out to a greater number of qualified people via search engines.
With the launching of Google’s new job search feature in Canada, the ability to write web-specific postings has become even more important!
Need to know more? Here are seven secrets to writing a great job posting for the web:
1. Your job title needs to be precise
Generic job titles are usually far less effective than precise ones. For example, you might be looking for an editor. Fine. But you could zero it down further by specifying that you need a “marketing editor” or a “technical editor”. This means that, right from the moment you put up your posting, you’ve begun to filter applications for that very precise type of candidate.
On the other hand, if you’re getting too many applications that don’t match your needs, you can also modify the job title during your recruiting. This will give your posting renewed visibility as well as better odds at getting exactly the applications you need.
2. Details matter
Did you know that postings that are between 700 and 2,000 characters in length get an average of 30% better results than others? This is what we’ve observed at Jobillico. You’ll attract the right candidates by offering an accurate and sufficiently-detailed description of the job.
Here are some of the specifics you might to include in your description:
- What’s the atmosphere at the workplace?
- What is the neighbourhood like around your facilities?
- What are the specific tasks that you expect your new hire to perform?
- What would be a typical day for this person?
- What are the benefits of working for your company?
- What professional and personal qualities are you looking for?
Bear in mind that the more detailed your description, the greater your chances are of attracting quality applications
3. Keep it simple
Simple, understandable wording is key. For some time now, we’ve seen attempts at creative job title such as “Ninja Designer”, “Word Master” or “Programmer on Fire”. This kind of thing might be attention-grabbing, but what are the odds of anyone doing a Google search, or on any other search engine for that matter, with these very words? Job seekers use words or terms that are directly related to the job and tasks they want – which makes sense after all.
Of course, if you’d like to add a little pizzaz to the text of your description, this is where you can certainly indulge your creative urges!
4. One posting at a time
If you have, say, 5 identical openings, take the time to create one single posting for all of them. One posting for each single opening does not get you more candidates, quite the opposite. Not only is this likely to lead to some confusion, but you might also water down your impact on the web.
Of course, if the openings are not strictly identical and differ in terms of salary, schedule or required experience, then by all means write an individual posting for each. Just keep aiming for simple, clear and precise descriptions. To tell these postings apart, you might want to insert such words as “part-time”, “junior” or “senior” after the title.
5. Put the salary up front
It may sound a bit scary, but you’re better off disclosing the salary or salary range right from the start. The form we use at Jobillico even has a box for you fill in when you create your posting. This one little bit of information can have a huge impact on the number of applications you’ll get.
You should know that some platforms that share postings from Jobillico favour those which show this information. It’s really worth thinking about!
6. Be precise throughout
Precision isn’t just important for job titles. Our posting creation form at Jobillico lets you add a lot of specifics such as the salary offered, details on the workplace, the number of years of experience sought, the benefits, the skill set required and more. Your posting not only gains in precision, but these fields, when filled in, will let you sort the applications much more quickly later down the line! This means that the more you use them, the less time you need to put in to weed out the least interesting applications and to zero in on the right candidate!
7. Think other language
You can increase the reach of a posting by getting it translated. Not only are you casting a wider net and reaching out to a greater number of people, but, here again, some of the web sites on which Jobillico postings are shared favour those available in both English and French.
Here we are! You now know everything you need to write job postings that will stand out and get noticed on the web. If you’d like more help and advice, feel free to reach us at Jobillico at this number: 1 877-562-1399. Our Client Performance team and qualified Web Editors are available to help you write the very best job postings on the web!
