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Focus on great content to create successful job ads

Written by: LoveLocalJobs.com
Published on: 8 Feb 2016

Creating tailored content is a cost effective way to engage with others and communicate a message effectively, so why should you overlook the persuasive power of content when you’re trying to attract the best talent for your business? How many times have you clicked on any post online simply because it had a great title? Next, consider how many times you’ve been let down by a badly worded article that had the potential to be great. Imagine that you are jobseeker looking for your next big career opportunity and that your job post is their first point of contact, does it tick all the right boxes?

The number of UK job vacancies hit a record 744,000 between January and March in 2015. This means that UK candidates are now looking at more job vacancies than ever before, so finding ways to connect with jobseekers online is now more important than ever. Here is our quick guide on how to structure your content this year to find the right employees for you.  

Successful Job Ad Image

Job Title

Grab people’s attention with a short, simple job title without confusing abbreviations. Make the job title appealing and understandable, so if the role is actually ‘Communications and community managing support executive’, condense this down to a 5-80 character title like ‘Communications Executive’. Finally, remember to use keywords that relate most to the role and clearly define the level of the position by using words like ‘assistant’, ‘senior’ and ‘manager’. Carry out some industry research to define which keywords are best if you are unsure.

Job Description

A job description gives an insight into day-to-day duties within the role and how the position will slot into the overall business strategy or structure. Keep this section clear and precise, but also discuss the bigger picture before you drill down into skills and other requirements later on. This is also a great time to outline your company culture and the atmosphere that you promote at work. Again, optimise the content with keywords that relate to your industry and the role, and use industry research to assist you with these choices.

Requirements

Requirements or skills should be set out as a simple straightforward list that is easy to digest. Begin with the skills that you can’t do without, followed by slightly less important skills and finally preferences. You may also wish to add another section for ‘Person Specification’ to list a set of qualifications or attributes that you would look for in an ideal applicant – this can be a good way to assess if a candidate will be the right fit for your company culture.

Benefits and salary

Point out some key benefits that a candidate can look forward to if they are chosen for the role. Financial perks are a great attraction but the right salary should be appealing enough, so consider what progression opportunities you provide and the team investments you have made, like pensions and childcare vouchers, which benefit them both financially and personally. Disclosing a salary bracket for a position is not mandatory, so a ‘Competitive salary’ or ‘TBD’ will suffice.

Optimise your job ad

Keyword optimisation is a great way to optimise your content to find the right people, however, there are other ways to help your job post get noticed. Like any other online platform, the use of links – both internal and external – can help you to reach out to a larger community of jobseekers. Although a more explicit approach to the job title, URL, subtitles and requirements may reduce the number of candidates who apply, those that do tend to be better suited to the role because of this specificity.

How else can you leverage your job advert?

External job boards

On average, jobseekers use 18 different sources when searching for a job, from social media sites and industry news sources to external and internal job boards.

External job boards are manned by a dedicated team of professionals who understand your needs when it comes to finding the right candidates. The majority also have the resources to invest in responsive design and call to action buttons that are designed to make the application process quicker and easier.

Summary

Your job post should:

  • Attract the right candidates
  • Reflect the company in a credible and honest way
  • Be designed in an appealing way
  • Address the right target group
  • Be easy to find for the relevant candidates
  • Generate curiosity but does not leave basic questions unanswered.

LoveLocalJobs.com build innovative and engaging localised platforms that promote a wide range of opportunities to a large audience. We work with employers from across the public, private and third sectors to bring employers and candidates together. Find out about our award-winning services by contacting us on 01273 651100 or info@lovelocaljobs.com.