A Job Posting That Attracts The Best Candidates

Hiring the right people for an in-demand job has never been an easy prospect, especially for smaller companies.

A candidate’s first impression of a business used to come from an initial interview or an encounter with a recruiter, that initial impression almost always comes from an online job posting now. The post leads to research of the company and off down the rabbit hole your potential candidate goes!

To face the talent shortage head-on, companies need to stop thinking of online hiring sites as a minor part of the hiring process and start focusing on them as a major recruitment tool. When handled well, these job postings can be a cost-effective way to attract the ideal talent in a short time. Sites like LinkedIn and Indeed are now the default first stop for many candidates on the hunt, no matter what their skill levels are. A well-crafted posting on one of these sites can attract many high-quality candidates to your company, much like bees to honey. The difference between the winners and losers of job postings – well there’s a significant difference between a generic job description and one that gets the right talent to apply. We’ve found a few things can make the difference between an effective post and one that leads nowhere…

Provide a concise starting summary – While it’s important to provide meaningful details in the full job posting, descriptions are most effective when the first paragraph of a post acts as a concise statement. It can captures the attention of the right type of candidates and encourages them to dig deeper. Sometimes a single sentence followed by a few bullet points of the key responsibilities is all that is needed to capture the attention.

A deeper list of responsibilities farther down in the posting is fine, but by outlining a position’s top priorities at the start can give candidates a clear understanding of what the day-to-day role of the position will actually entail.

Highlight what the candidate would bring to the job – Everybody, especially highly skilled candidates wants to understand how their role makes a difference in the growth of a company. They want to understand what makes a position not just a job but a meaningful career. By floating these aspects of the job to the top of the list, you can further a candidate’s interest and increase the likelihood that he or she will apply.

Tailor the description to your audience’s motivations – A job posting is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Why? Because candidates tend to have different perspectives when they’re looking at job postings. One key to attracting the right job candidates for us essentially lies in an understanding of who those candidates are and how they want to contribute in their roles. Thinking deeply about the role you are filling, carefully identifying the critical factors that will make a successful candidate, and communicating those factors clearly is what its all about. Everything about the role should tie back to the original statement that caused the candidate to dig deeper to begin with.

Represent yourself honestly – There are a lot of postings that act less like job descriptions and offer vague definitions, lofty promises of wages that aren’t realistic or just straight misrepresentations. Don’t promise the world, it hasn’t and will never work.

Good talent is hard to come by, but a strong job post can do more to attract the right kind of people than you may think. By providing a clear, honest summary of what the job is and how a candidate will align with your company’s strategy, you can help make sure the right fit finds you. With talent seemingly more in-demand than ever, it’s vital to make a good first impression. A well-crafted job posting can do just that.