What are your top tips for writing catchy and engaging job listings?
Some of our customers mention they test engagement by trying out different copy variations, which I think is a great idea!
I think this is an under appreciated point in the hiring process.
A thoughtful, honest and detailed job description significantly increases the quality of the applicants who apply. It’s that simple.
I would focus on a few key areas:
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Be thorough. Explain in detail what an average day will look like, what KPIs will be, who this person will be reporting too and success looks like.
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Be honest about where your company is at, and why people should want to work there. Salary, bonus structure, size of company etc. They’ll find this out anyway, best to be up front about them early so you’re not wasting anyone’s time.
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Avoid jargon terms. Everyone wants to hire a quality employee. Saying you need a “rockstar” or “ninja” doesn’t make you sound fun, it makes you sound unprofessional. Unless you’re actually hiring ninja’s in which case please do explain that. Also hire me.
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We’ve come a long way when it comes to writing great job ads at Doist.
There are a number of things we try to do with every job ad:
- Start with why. Our job ads always begin by setting the context of Doist, what we stand for, and what we’re trying to accomplish. We’re never only looking for a skilled candidate, but someone who identifies with our mission and is excited about pursuing it with us.
- Keep it authentic and personal. We typically use 2nd person pronouns so when candidates read our job ads they feel like we’re “talking” to them.
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Provide context. Similar to what @MattHollingsworth mentioned about honesty, we try to provide context for the “problem” the person will be hired to solve. Sometimes, there’s a very tangible problem we need help with and other times, it’s just that we want to move more rapidly as a team and need some more hands to do so
- What do candidates bring? With the exception of certain core criteria, we try to focus less on listing hard “requirements” and more on listing skills, experiences, and competencies that we believe will enable someone to thrive at Doist. Even if they don’t meet every criteria, they can still take a chance and show us what they’ve got.
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Great share! I like the point on using “2nd person pronouns” – writing directly to the candidate definitely gets more applications.
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