Investing the time in writing the perfect job advert will help you reach more potential candidates and increase the chances of talented candidates submitting their CV and covering letter.
Your job advert is an opportunity to set expectations about your business, culture, the job role and the kind of employees you’d like to add to your team.
Create a great first impression with some of the key benefits of joining your team. Flexible working, private healthcare, gym membership, a generous holiday allowance and loyalty reward schemes are just a few examples that will encourage more applications.
Having created a great first impression, the job description needs to be clear, detailed and precise. An unclear or confusing job description will make it difficult for candidates to determine if they’re a good fit for the role. Not only will this put off potential candidates from applying, it will also increase the likelihood of receiving irrelevant applications.
Job Advert Template
A job advert template is a must-have for recruitment. It makes it easier to source and put together the information you need for the job advert and brings some consistency to your internal recruitment processes.
Rather than starting your own job advert template, search Google for job advert templates until you find a format that’s a good fit for your business type and industry sector. When searching Google, you might want to use more specific terminology, for example, as a restaurant owner you could search for; “job advert template for kitchen staff.”
It’s much better to use a common job advert format than it is to make up your own. Candidates looking to take the next step in their career will become used to the basic advert format used by other employers.
A basic job advert template should include the following sections:
- Job Title
- Job Summary
- Salary & Hours
- Location
- Holidays and Benefits
- Company Overview
- Job Role and Responsibilities
- Qualifications and Skills
You may choose a different order for the job advert sections but try to include information for each section to make your job listings really stand out.
Job Title
The job title should be up to sixty characters and include the title and level of the role being recruited, the company location and the name of the company. For example, Senior Chef De Partie Job in York at The Old Bell Restaurant.
Recommended length: 30 to 60 characters.
Job Summary
The job summary should be a short, attractive overview of the role and the company with headline information about the role. Make the role stand out to potential applicants so they’re keen to find out more. Repeat the job title and job location in this section.
Recommended length: 250 to 350 characters.
Salary & Hours
List details of the hours, pay and overtime if applicable.
Location
List details of the job location, if travel is required and whether staff parking is available.
Holidays and Benefits
List details of the holidays, company benefits, training and career prospects.
Company Overview
Write a short overview of the company with headline information about why they’re a good employer to work for.
Recommended length: 250 to 500 characters.
Job Role & Responsibilities
List the day-to-day activities that will be performed as part of the job role. Ensure that any specific skills and requirements are included so potential applicants are able to determine whether they’re a good fit for the position.
In addition to the list of day-to-day activities, outline how the role fits into the organisation and set expectations about the working environment.
Recommended length: at least 500 characters, the more detail the better.
Qualifications and Skills
List hard and soft skills including any qualifications, experience level and skills required to be considered for the role. List personality traits and “nice to haves” as a separate list.
Recommended length: at least 250 characters.