This Ultimate Guide for Posting Jobs That Stand Out will show you how to master your job postings and attract top talent. Follow this step by step guide and learn how to write a great job posting, where to publish it and how to promote it to reach more high-quality candidates.
Job Posting: Ultimate Guide for Posting Jobs That Stand Out
What is a job posting?
Jobs posting synonyms
A job posting is also known as:
- Job ad
- Job advert
- Job advertisement
- Job announcement
- Employment ad
- Hiring ad
- Recruitment ad
Job posting definition
A job posting is an advertisement for an open job position within a organization.
The purpose of a job posting is to inform potential candidates about a new opening and attract them to apply.
Difference between job posting and job description
Many people are confusing job postings with job descriptions, thinking they are the same thing, but this is wrong!
A job description is an internal document that explains a company’s job position. It is written in a formal tone and it contains all the details about the role you are looking to fill.
A job posting is an external advertisement of your open job position whose purpose is to attract candidates. It is written in an engaging tone and it contains information not only about the job position but also about your company and the benefits you offer.
In short: The job description explains the job, while the job posting sells it.
How to write a job posting that stands out?
Step #1: Job description
As we already explained, a job posting is based on a job description. That’s why the first step in creating a job posting that stands out is writing a clear job description.
To help you save time, we have created more than 500 most common job description templates. Feel free to use them. 🙂
Step #2: Candidate persona
Take your job description and imagine a person that would be a perfect fit for this job. This representation of your ideal candidate is called candidate persona. 👩
This persona is formed by defining the characteristics, skills, and traits that make up your perfect hire.
Get our guide for defining candidate persona!
Step #3: Job posting content
A great job posting provides answers to 5 basic questions:
- What is the job?
- Where is your job located?
- Who is your ideal candidate?
- Why would someone want to work for your company?
- How can interested candidates apply?
Anatomy of a great job posting:
1. Job title
Keep it clear, accurate, and to the point. Avoid unconventional and vague job titles - no rockstars, wizards, and ninjas, please! 🙏 😆
2. Job location
This is one of the main criteria job seekers use in their job search, so be sure to mention it!
3. Job responsibilities
Cut the job responsibilities list form your job description in half. Keep it simple and stick to the basics.
4. Needed qualifications
List only must-have qualifications related to education, previous working experience, technical and soft skills.
5. About your company and benefits
Briefly introduce your company and focus on the benefits you offer. Include information about the salary range, exciting projects, and perks.
6. Instructions on how to apply
Explain who, how, and when should an interested candidate contact.
Congratulations! 👏
You now have the first sketch of your (soon-to-be outstanding) job posting. 😊
Step #4: Customize your job posting
Now it’s time to use your imagination and put yourself in your candidate persona’s shoes. Your goal is to write a job posting that would attract that specific type of person by utilizing your employer branding strategy and showcasing your employee value proposition.
Now read your job posting content once again and customize the content and tone of your job posting to specifically target your candidate persona. 🎯
How to make your job posting stand out?
Watch the video and find out!
Where should you publish your job posting?
Traditionally published in newspapers and other print media, job postings are now more likely to be posted (and searched by job seekers!) online.
The two most important and effective websites for posting jobs are your company's career site, online job boards, and your company’s social media career pages.
Posting jobs on your company's career site
Did you know that 60% of job seekers start their search on career sites?
Even if they find out about your open job position somewhere else, candidates won’t apply immediately. Instead, 59% will first look up your company’s website.
If you want to get more job applicants from your career site, we’ve got you covered! 💪
There are many things you can do to improve and optimize your career site. We prepared a detailed step-by-step guide to help you improve your career site conversion.
Posting jobs on online job boards
An online job board is a website that lists job vacancies supplied by employers.
There are numerous different types of these job boards. You can choose from various general, industry-specialized and country-specific job boards.
Employers are typically requested to pay a certain fee in order to publish their job postings on these websites.
If you don’t have a designated budget for posting jobs on job boards, don’t worry - there is a number of free job boards out there.
To help you save time, we created a handpicked list of the most popular job boards where you can publish your job postings for free.
This list includes free job boards like Indeed, Monster, Simply Hired, Glassdoor, Stackoverflow and many others.
Best part?
You can publish your job postings on multiple free job boards with just one click! 😲
Simply fill in one form and we'll publish your job posting on all of them – saving you hours!
You’re welcome, we’re glad to help. 😊
Posting jobs on your company's social media career pages
Make sure to utilize the power of social media. You can easily publish your job posting on LinkedIn and Facebook.
LinkedIn and Facebook have specialized Job tabs to add to your company’s career page.
How can you promote your job posting?
If you want to attract high-quality candidates, it is not enough just to publish your job openings on your career site and job boards. Your best job candidates are passive job seekers, who are not actively looking for a new job. That means they won’t be visiting your career site and searching job boards. So how can you reach them?
Read on and find out! 🙂
Job posting promotion on social media
Your best candidates are on social media every single day. That being said, it is no wonder that social recruiting has become one of the most popular methods for finding and attracting the best talent.
You can easily use different social media networks (such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.) to actively share and promote your job postings.
Check out our Complete Guide to Social Recruiting and learn how!
Job posting promotion through referrals
Ask your existing employees to help you promote your new job openings through structured employee referral programs. Offer them different types of employee referral rewards and make it a win-win deal!
Promoting your job postings through referral programs is one of the most effective and most productive modern recruiting tactics. Employee referral programs can improve time, cost and quality of hire.
Job posting promotion in newsletters
Make sure to include your job posting in your company's newsletter to spread the information about your new job opening. More people know about, the higher the chances you will get more qualified applicants.
Also, don’t forget to utilize your talent pool. Create personalized email campaigns to inform your potential candidates you’re hiring.
Job posting promotion on specific sites
Another great place for promoting your job postings are job-specific websites that your candidate persona would visit in order to keep abreast of new trends and best practices related to his/her job role.
Think industry specialized websites like niche-specific forums, blogs, portals and online journals.
Job posting tools
There are many different tools that can help you promote your job posting on Facebook, set up referral programs, etc. Check out the Ultimate list of best HR software by type and chose the one you need.
There are also all-in-one type of software that can help you with all phases of posting jobs, form writing to publishing and promoting.
Our TalentLyft recruiting software is one of them. 🙂 With TalentLyft you can access free job description templates, build beautiful career sites (no coding needed!) and publish your job postings on multiple job boards with just one click. You can also set up employee referral programs, create engaging email campaigns and easily share your job postings on social media - all from one easy to use platform!