2. Brief Bio 

If you take 6 seconds on a resume, candidates may not be investing much more time looking at your ad. Consider a short bio rather than a lengthy one. Let job seekers know about your company, while including selling points. Rather than including a company history, instead highlight what would be of interest to candidates. For instance, if your company values personal time and allows its employees to have a flexible work schedule, that may be something worth mentioning in a brief description about the business. Think about what matters to your ideal candidate and cater the message to them. Millennials are considered socially conscientious. If you donate to charities, help causes, or make the world a better place, include that in your bio.

3. "Must Have" Requirements

Do your ads scare candidates away? Don't intimidate candidates with a laundry list of requirements. Each "must have" requirement may make jobs harder-to-fill. For example, Accountants score a 43 on WANTED Analytics' Hiring Scale. The Hiring Scale ranges form 1 to 99, with 99 indicating hardest-to-fill. By adding Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) skills and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification to your requirements, the Hiring Scale score increases to 47. This is not a drastic change, but it demonstrates how "must have" qualifications could increase hiring difficulty. Consider which skills in your job ad must be known, which are "nice to have," and which are teachable. Include just the essential skills in your ad and look for other abilities in the interview, such as adaptability and whether they're teachable. Teaching candidates skills or technologies on the job will expand your candidate supply and address a skills gap.

Hiring Scale Score for Accountants with SOX Skills and a CPA

Source: WANTED Analytics

4. Salary

Is the salary for the position a selling point? Include a salary if it's worthwhile. Perhaps someone located in a different region that pays less will be interested in a longer commute or relocating if you can offer more than they currently earn. For example, the national median salary for Mechanical Engineers is $79,750. The median advertised salary represents the pre-negotiated amount that employers advertise to attract candidates. This may not necessarily reflect the compensation that is agree upon between employer and employee. In Detroit, the advertised median salary is lower than the national average, $70,400. In New York, the advertised median salary is $88,100, or $17,000 more than the median in Detroit. Recruiters in the NY metro area can advertise in Detroit and list the offered salary in an effort to attract candidates to a position that will pay more. If you aren't getting responses or applicants, perhaps you're not advertising the going rate. If you're recruiting in NY and paying less than the median salary in that area, you should consider increasing the salary to be competitive in the market.

Median Advertised Salary for Mechanical Engineers in the US and in the NY Metro Area

Source: WANTED Analytics

5. Benefits

Are your benefits an attractor? If so, include the ones that really matter. If not, your company may consider offering more attractive incentives. Compare your benefits to your competition. Are you losing candidates to them? What are they offering that you're not? Think about what matters to your ideal candidate and make sure your job ad refers to those benefits.

What other things do you include in job ads to help attract the right candidates? Let me know in the comments below.