Optimizing Job Ads – 6 Tips for Designing an Appealing Job Ad

For many applicants, online job boards are still the initial place to go when they are looking for a new job. So, your company's job ad is often the first point of contact between an applicant and your company.

To make a lasting – and above all positive – impression, it pays to put some time and effort into designing your job posting.

We'll show you how to design and optimize creative job ads to attract especially many qualified applicants.

Well-structured content can help you attract the right candidates and streamline the recruitment process.

To create an effective job ad, it's essential to understand the perspective of the applicant and find out what is most important to your target group in the advertisement.

Finally, it is about appealing to jobseekers and increasing the response of your ad. Poorly written job postings often discourage potential applicants from applying.

But what do applicants really value?

The job title is usually the first thing applicants notice in a job posting. Generally worded descriptions such as 'Employees Wanted' quickly get lost in the shuffle, and jobseekers' attention turns to other companies. Try to make the job title and required skills as clear as possible.

One of the most common reasons why a candidate would rather look for another company is an unclear job description. Therefore, when drafting, be sure to present the tasks in a transparent and specific manner. Applicants also want to see the exact location, or a note such as remote or home office.

Although various variants of gender are actually the norm nowadays, it turned out that the majority of applicants actually prefer the use of a generic masculine.

After analyzing your target audience's requirements, the next step is to create job ads that avoid common mistakes. These include:

1. Salary Information

Employers are not required to disclose salary details in job postings..

However, stating a salary has some advantages, because an attractive salary appeals to many applicants, and you can thus optimize the hiring process.

It costs your company a lot of time to interview an applicant who in the end decides to work for another company because the salary expectations do not match.

The safest approach is to provide a salary range with the addition that the final salary will depend on the applicant's work experience and qualifications.

2. Formal or Informal

Whether to address the job ad formally or informally depends on the corporate culture.

If it is a case of flat hierarchies, being on a first-name basis is fine. In many large companies, you are still on last name terms.

3. Purely Masculine Formulations

As mentioned earlier, a generic masculine is preferred by many. However, the use of masculine adjectives can, in some circumstances, lead to fewer women applying for your job. So try to remain as gender-neutral as possible when phrasing.

Layout and Header Image of the Job Ad

An attractive layout and header image of the job ad will help you to arouse the interest of applicants. Again, it is best to adapt the design to your target audience and create it accordingly.

Job or Campaign Title

Moving on to job or campaign title. With the choice of title, you want to appeal to as many applicants as possible, yet it should also be specific in wording, as described above, so that applicants know what to expect. Modern or English job titles are not a good idea from an SEO point of view, as they are less likely to be found.

Job Description, Requirements, and Company Description

The title is followed by the job description, requirements specification and company description. For the task description and the requirements profile, it is best to limit yourself to about five key points each in order to keep the ad short and concise.

The company description should be written in such a way that it can be understood by all applicants. So avoid using company-specific words that an applicant may not yet know. Furthermore, make sure you have a strong employer brand to differentiate your company from the competition.

Location

Since the location question is also an important criterion for many applicants, this should be included in the advertisement. General statements such as “nationwide” will reduce the response.

A job ad serves as your company's advertisement and even as a kind of marketing tool, and should be presented attractively for this reason alone. In the content of the job ad, you should address the following questions:

• Who are you as a company? (Profile)
• Who are you looking for?
• What do you expect from your applicants?
• What benefits do you offer? (Salary range and employee benefits)
• How can a candidate apply to you?

At the end of the job posting, there should be a contact person and, if necessary, an application deadline.

We have summarized the best tips for designing a promising job ad:

1. Job Description and Requirements Are the Most Important Parts of a Job Ad

When designing the job ad, it is beneficial to consult employees from the department that has a vacant position. They know best what requirements are being looked for and what tasks are expected of the new employees.

2. Avoid Long Texts and Rely on Bulleted Lists

Pure flowing text deteriorates the readability of your ad and people like to skip over excessively long phrases. Be sure to use bullet points with complete sentences to make the ad more visually appealing.

3. Standard Formulations Do Not Work Well for Applicants

Creative or even unusual job ads get more attention than generally worded copy that contains a lot of standard phrases. Express the character of your company and make clear the advantages that other companies cannot offer.

4. An Employer Review is a Great Way to Score Points with Young Talents

Company reviews are a real way to strengthen your employer branding. You can include them in the job ad, because most interested people google them anyway before they apply. By including the employer rating, you present yourself as a transparent and trustworthy company.

5. Key Figures of the Application Process

Another way to provide more transparency is to mention key figures of the application process. For example, you can state in the ad how long applicants have to wait on average for an invitation to an interview.

6. Call-to-Action Button

Add a call-to-action button (for example, “Apply Here”) to your online job ad to immediately motivate candidates to submit their application.

If possible, you should make your job ads creative and precise to attract as many applicants as possible. Long text and generic wording will discourage candidates from submitting their application to your company. For job hunters, a clearly worded job title and a transparent job description are most important in the selection process.

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