How-to
How to write a job advert that gets applications
Write the advert as an argument for the job, not a summary of it. Lead with the title the market searches for, the salary, the location and the hours in the first three lines; explain what the person will actually do in their first six months; keep essential requirements to five or fewer; and end with an application step that takes under five minutes. The job description is a separate document and belongs at interview, not in the advert.
The difference that decides everything
A job description documents a role: duties, reporting lines, scope. It exists for contracts, appraisals and grading.
A job advert persuades a specific person to spend twenty minutes applying instead of staying where they are.
Most adverts that fail are job descriptions with a phone number at the bottom. They answer questions nobody asked and skip the three that everyone does: what is it, where is it, what does it pay.
The structure that works
1. The title — the one the market searches
Use the title candidates type, not the one on your org chart. If both matter, put the searched title first and the internal one in the body. A title that includes the level and the specialism ("Management Accountant — Manufacturing, Part-Qualified") does more work than a clever one.
2. The first three lines
These are what appears in the search result. They must carry:
- what the job is
- where it is, and whether it is on site, hybrid or remote
- the salary or range
- the hours or shift pattern if they are anything other than standard
Everything else can wait. A reader who cannot find those four things in three lines leaves.
3. What they will actually do
Not the duty list — the shape of the job. Two short paragraphs answering: what does this person spend Monday to Friday doing, who do they work with, and what does good look like after six months?
This is the section that separates a role from every other advert with the same title, and it is the one most employers skip.
4. What you genuinely need
Five essentials, maximum. Everything else is desirable, and say so.
Be specific about what the essential actually is. "Five years' experience" is not a requirement, it is a proxy — write the thing you actually need them to be able to do on day one, and you will get people who can do it rather than people who have been present for five years.
5. What is in it for them
Pay is the headline, but the reasons people move are usually not only pay: shorter commute, better equipment, a manager who is not chaotic, training that is real, work that is varied. Write the true ones. Two specific benefits beat ten generic ones, and "competitive salary, pension, 28 days holiday" is not a reason to move.
6. What happens next
Tell them the process: how many stages, roughly how long, who they will meet. A candidate who knows there are two stages and a decision inside three weeks is far more likely to start the application than one who is asked to send a CV into silence.
Phrases to delete
| Instead of | Write |
|---|---|
| Competitive salary | £38,000 – £42,000 |
| The successful candidate will be responsible for | You will |
| Fast-paced, dynamic environment | The actual thing that makes it fast |
| Rockstar / ninja / guru | The job title |
| Excellent communication skills | What they will communicate, to whom |
| Must be a team player | Delete |
| Immediate start | The actual start date |
The application step
Every extra field costs applications. If your process requires an account, a form that re-types the CV, and a covering letter, expect most people who click to abandon. Employed candidates are applying in a lunch break — that is your real time budget.
Ask for the minimum that lets you make a decision: CV, contact details, and one question that genuinely screens if you need one.
Before you publish, three checks
- Search your own title on a job board. Do the results look like your job? If not, change the title.
- Read the first three lines on a phone. Can you tell what the job is, where it is and what it pays?
- Count the essentials. More than five means you are describing a person who does not exist.
If the advert is right and nothing happens
Then the advert was not the problem. Work through the nine reasons a role gets no applications — in most cases it is the title or the salary, and in a minority of cases the people you want are employed and not looking at job adverts at all. That is when a role stops being an advertising job and becomes a search.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a job advert be?
Between 300 and 600 words for most roles. Long enough to answer what the job is, what it pays, where it is and what happens next; short enough that someone reads it on a phone in a lunch break.
Should the salary go in the job advert?
Yes, as a figure or a range. Candidates use salary filters, and an advert without one is invisible to them. "Competitive" is read as below market.
What should the first line of a job advert say?
What the job is, where it is and what it pays. Not who your company is — that matters, but it does not answer the question the reader actually has.
How many requirements should a job advert list?
Five essentials at most, with anything else marked as desirable. Every extra essential removes candidates, and the ones it removes first are the ones who read requirements literally.
Sources
More hiring guides
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