Job adverts that attract the right applicants, not the most

Aug 29
3 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Introduction

An advert generates two hundred applications. This is reported as a success, and then somebody spends two days reading them to find four people worth calling. Most of the two hundred were never plausible and applied because the advert described almost nothing.

A different advert produces eighteen applications of which nine are credible. It performed considerably better and looks worse on the only metric anybody records. Volume is the wrong measure, and adverts written to maximise it create the screening burden that consumes the week afterwards. Two hundred applications is a cost disguised as a result.

1. Job adverts that attract the right applicants also repel the wrong ones

Both halves are the job.

An advert that specifies the requirement clearly discourages people who do not meet it, which is a feature. Vague adverts attract everybody and transfer the entire filtering task to whoever reads the applications.

2. Put the salary in

The single largest improvement available.

Adverts without a figure lose strong candidates who will not spend time on an unknown, and attract people whose expectations do not match. Publishing the range also removes the awkward late-stage discovery that the offer is below what somebody needs. That discovery usually happens after three interviews and several hours of everyone's time.

3. Describe the actual job

Not the job description.

What the person will do in a typical week, who they work with, what the first three months involve and what success looks like. Internal job descriptions written for grading purposes make poor adverts and tell a candidate very little.

4. Say what the essential requirements really are

Overstated requirements cost you candidates.

Long lists of essentials, most of which are preferences, deter capable applicants who meet the real need. Separating what is genuinely required from what would be useful widens the field in the right direction.

5. Name the location and the working arrangement

The first thing candidates filter on.

Office, remote, hybrid, how many days and where. Ambiguity here wastes everybody's time, because candidates apply on an assumption and withdraw when it turns out to be wrong.

6. Write it in the language candidates use

Search terms, not internal titles.

An internal designation nobody outside the company recognises will not be found. Using the title the market actually uses, with the internal one mentioned separately, is what gets the advert in front of the right people.

7. Give a reason to want this job

Adverts describe requirements and forget to sell.

What is interesting about the work, what the person will learn, why the role exists, what the team is like. Strong candidates are usually employed and need a reason to consider a move at all.

8. Make applying quick

Where good candidates are lost.

A long form, a mandatory account, or an upload process that fails on a phone will lose exactly the people who are in demand. Applying should take a few minutes, with detail collected later.

9. Measure quality, not volume

Change what you report.

Applications that reached interview, and appointments made, rather than total applications. That measure directs you towards adverts that work and away from the ones that merely generate reading.

Check what your advert excludes without intending to. Requirements that are not genuinely necessary, assumptions in the wording, and inaccessible application processes all narrow the field in ways nobody chose, and in many jurisdictions some of that carries legal risk as well.

Conclusion

Write to attract the right applicants and deter the wrong ones, because both are the advert's job.

Publish the salary range, describe what the person will actually do rather than reproducing a job description, distinguish genuine requirements from preferences, state the location and working arrangement plainly, use the job title candidates actually search for, give a reason to want the role, make the application take minutes rather than an hour, measure interviews and appointments instead of application volume, and check what your wording excludes unintentionally.