How to Write a Job Posting That Works
Business owners, we need to talk.
I know you want to hire the best possible candidate for your job opening.
I know you want to avoid wasting your time and money on a bad employee.
I know you want to hire quickly and watch your new team member excel immediately.
But stop writing novels and posting them on Indeed.com.
1. Think About Attention Span.
The average human attention span is eight seconds. This means you have eight seconds to grab your reader's attention with your new job posting. There are no exceptions to this.
Do you really think anyone (even the best possible candidate) is going to want to read the five, single-spaced paragraphs you put under the “Requirements” section?
Think about it this way: When you’re driving somewhere, do you take the congested, backed-up highway or the hidden shortcut?
In fact, I want you to think about writing a job posting in just that way: a road trip. If you’re driving across the country and you have the opportunity to shave an hour or two off your total travel time by avoiding the busy highways, would you?
Wouldn’t you want to shorten the amount of time it takes for you to reach your destination?
Wouldn’t you want to make it as easy as possible for people to read your job posting?
Then why are you stuffing it with ten single-spaced paragraphs full of tiny text?
2. Think About the Outline.
Listen, I know you have a lot you want to say and get across to all potential candidates you may consider for your job opening. But the truth is that no one cares.
While the unemployed (or unhappily employed) are certainly going to look for a job doing what they love, only two things matter to them in the search:
Pay;
Benefits & amenities.
That is it. They’re not going to read about everything you’re demanding that they be or have. They’re going to click on your job posting’s title, scroll right down to the bottom (or wherever it’s located), and look at the pay and benefits before even thinking about reading the rest.
This is why, if you really want to get across the endless stream of things you think your ideal employee should have, your job posting need not take the form of a novel; instead, it needs to take the form of an outline.
Break up your job posting into three (and only three) sections:
Who You Are;
What You Need;
What You’ll Get.
And title each one like so. You do that, and you’re already on your way to writing better job postings.
“But Luke, we can’t possibly fit everything we want to say into three sections.”
Yes, you can, you’re just being lazy. Great copywriting that works translates thoughts into the language of your target audience in as few words as possible.
3. Think About Your Offer.
You need to think about your differentiation, what makes your job and workplace different from the rest.
You need to solidify an offer and spice up your deal. Maybe make the position entirely remote, offer 401(k) contributions after a shorter probationary period, entice with a sizable signing bonus, anything at all that makes your job posting glow.
Remember how we talked about attention span earlier? A solid, well-communicated offer will stop the scroll in its tracks. When that happens, you’ve captured the reader.
And when that happens, you’ve won another application.
4. Think About Length.
Three hundred words. That’s it. That’s the most you’ll need for writing a job posting that works.
I’m serious, and Textio agrees with me.
If you write any more than 300 words into your job posting, its capacity for stopping the scroll drops immensely.
Think about your verbs;
Write in the active voice;
Be concise, not fluffy;
Write without using the word “is”; (Yea that’s right. Remember that writing exercise your college English professor gave you?)
Avoid the passive voice at all costs.
These five tips for writing better job postings will help enormously in cutting down on length.
Long job listings just don’t work, so don’t waste your time.
Hire the Right Candidate with Job Post Writing by The Text Tank.
If you need a job posting written that actually works, just let me do it.
