How To Write A Job Ad That Attracts Good People

Most job ads are written to cover the business rather than to attract anybody. A paragraph about the company, a list of responsibilities, a list of requirements, and a line about a fast paced environment.

Which produces volume and not much else, because the people you want are employed, not desperate, and they are reading for signal.

Lead with the work, not the company

Nobody good is moved by "we are a growing agency". They are moved by what they will be doing on a Tuesday.

So the first paragraph is the actual job, in concrete terms. What they will make, who they will work with, what they will own. If you cannot describe the Tuesday, you are not ready to hire, which is the real content of hiring your first marketer.

Be specific about the outcome

"Manage social media accounts" tells a good candidate nothing and tells a mediocre one everything they need to apply.

"Own the content output for four construction clients, roughly 20 pieces a week, working from shoot footage we provide" tells the good one whether they can do it and whether they want to.

Specificity filters. Vagueness attracts everybody, which is the same problem as a wide offer, and the reason is the same as in how to name your services.

Say the salary

A job ad without a number gets fewer good applicants and more time wasted on both sides.

Good people are comparing offers. If you make them apply to find out whether you are in range, a share of them simply will not. A range is fine; nothing is not.

Cut the requirements list in half

Most requirement lists are a wish list, and the effect of a long one is that strong candidates who miss two items do not apply while weak ones who miss five do.

So split it honestly. Three things that are genuinely required, and a short list of things that would help. Degree requirements on a craft role filter for the wrong thing almost every time.

Write it in your own voice

The ad is the first piece of your writing a candidate reads, and it sets the expectation for what working there is like.

An ad written in corporate HR language attracts people comfortable in corporate HR environments. An ad that sounds like a person attracts people who want to work with that person. This is a positioning document as much as a vacancy, which is the same logic as why every CEO needs a personal brand.

Tell them what the process is

Three lines: what the steps are, how long it takes, and when they will hear back.

It costs you nothing and it is the thing candidates complain about most. It also signals that you run things properly, which is a real differentiator in a market where most processes go silent.

Make the task part of the ad

For any craft role, the strongest filter is a small piece of real work rather than a CV.

Say so in the ad, say what it is, and say it is paid if it takes more than an hour. Good candidates prefer this, because it lets them show rather than claim. The briefing discipline is the same as what a good brief looks like.

Where to put it

The best candidates for a specialist role are usually not on a job board.

They are in the audience of people doing that work publicly. Which means your own channels, a post from your own account, and the people your current team knows. An ad posted by a founder with a following outperforms a listing, and that is one of the quieter returns on building an audience at all.

Job boards still work for volume roles. For craft roles, the network and your own content work better.

What to leave out

Fast paced environment, which everybody says and which reads as disorganised.

Rockstar, ninja, guru. None of these have ever attracted a good hire.

Wear many hats, which reads as the role is undefined.

A long company history. One line is enough.

Anything you are not going to honour, particularly on flexibility, because the first month will expose it.

What this unlocks: an applicant pool small enough to read properly and good enough to be worth reading.