Presenting a title, job duties and pay is pretty simple. Anyone can do that. Creating a job ad that is actually targeted toward qualified candidates is tougher. There are an estimated 5 million jobs posted online. The idea is to let your job ad grab the right attention and then do a lot of the screening work for you.

The Start

Begin by completing a job analysis and description. Once you have the complete profile of the position, take out the obvious, or common sense tasks that are implied by the title. For instance, in an accountant job ad you could leave out, “Documents financial transactions by entering account information.” This is common sense.

Your theme throughout the job ad creation process should be: "You don’t need to tell accountants what accountants do, you need to let them know why this is (or isn’t) the job for them."

The Title

Decide upon a clear, universal title. You can lose a lot of attention with ambiguous, company-specific titles. Why would anyone read on if they have no idea what the job is? A headline statement is where you can get creative and catch some eyes. For instance:

Accounting Specialist

Small business in need of an accounting specialist with a great work ethic but an even better work-life balance!

Is a lot better than leading with:

Accounting Specialist

*****Each candidate must enter their own unique email address and password. If the candidate shares an email address with another candidate, they will need to create their own Hotmail email address on the next page*****

The title should be inviting. It should not immediately look like a pain to apply for this position. And on that note, nor should it actually be a pain to apply for the position. Looking at the other ads out there, they all dive right into the nitty gritty of the position. There’s no need for this. Catch the right eyes and lead them into what makes this position unique.

Display the Company Culture

This is first achieved briefly in the headline statement and can be expanded upon in the body of the ad. Find out what your key players love about their job and put that center stage. By identifying and showcasing the traits that your top talent sticks around for, you can then attract more like them. All accountants file paperwork and crunch numbers, you don’t have to expand upon that. Expand upon what you’re looking for in your ideal candidate:

-Must enjoy feeling challenged and driven to continue learning about the accounting field and changing policies.

-Would prefer someone who enjoys comradery with fellow accountants at various interest group meetings.

-Is willing to expand their knowledge and continue to grow in the accounting field.

Job ads that display the company’s culture will always stand out from the crowd. Jeff Hayden, a job ad pro, says, “The goal is to cast a net that is incredibly broad in terms of broadcasting the opportunity and incredibly fine in terms of connecting on a professional and personal levelwith the perfect candidate.”

The Don’t Forgets

·      A clear and easy call to action

·      Style of management

·      Size of staff

·      Current and future incentive

·      How the company defines success

·      What the right candidate would love about this job

Creating job ads that attract the right people means being more thoughtful about the creation of these ads. It might take longer to get through this process than simply slapping a title and tasks online. But by creating a job ad that does much of the screening for you, you are saving time and resources at the end of the day. Some industries are reporting annual turnover rates of up to 75%, tacking on huge costs to the organization. It is in these refined processes that recruitment gets better.

Read other great articles on our main blog.