Are your job adverts attracting enough applicants? Actually, are they attracting the right type of applicants?

You’ve probably heard this before – a company is as good as its employees. All companies want to hire the best candidates for their vacancies but the war for talent is not easy to win. Therefore, to ensure your job ads attract the very best talent to your positions, you need to start writing them as you would if you were selling a product or service.

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

• Understand your audience and target it by using the keywords candidates search for. Think about what skills the position requires and what education and experience you would like candidates to have. The idea of this is to filter out the unsuitable candidates as you’ll be ultimately saving yourself a lot of time and money.

• Write a simple and specific job title. Keep it simple and short but try to include specific keywords and add extra details to make sure it’s relevant for your audience.

• Make every word count. Try to think like the candidate, be precise and specific in order to discourage those not qualified from applying. Correlate the job description with the job title and don’t forget that most of the times saying less can be better. You want to quickly capture the reader’s attention and hold their interest so don’t over explain the role or use complex language. Don’t overly complicate the details and avoid jargon as not all candidates will be familiar with it. Outline the day to day responsibilities, who they’ll be working with and reporting to. Candidates are looking for jobs that sound interesting, challenging and rewarding. Highlight if there are any job perks or opportunities for promotion and travel within the company. Also, don’t forget the salary details and job location as applicants may decide whether or not they are interested in the role based on this too.

• Be open and give candidates a sense of the company’s culture and style to see whether it suits them or not.

• Be honest. Don’t be afraid to sell the benefits of the role but avoid exaggerating the job responsibilities as this will only attract unrealistic applicants and non-performers.

• Learn from others. Stay up to date with what your competitors are doing and try to learn and understand their strategies.

• Try everything. Don’t be afraid to experiment – this will help you see what works for you and what doesn’t.

• Layout and formatting. Simple formatting will attract potential applicants as large blocks of texts can be difficult to read. Use headers, bullet points and important keywords to help candidates quickly find all the information they need.

So, as you can see, it is generally recommended to try and keep your job adverts as simple and concise as possible. But, sometimes, companies choose to create unusual job ads (like the one below) which can work too.