To attract the new talent your business needs, your job ads must perform. If your job ad isn’t getting a good response, there is likely a reason behind it. Here we take a look at six reasons why your job might not be attracting candidates.

1. The Job Advert Is Poorly Written

When a job advert is poorly written, or there isn’t enough information about the job, it will probably fail. When a job description is poorly written, a job seeker will very likely ignore it. So, ensure the job description is well organised, with a strong and enticing overview, by providing an accurate description of the job and the requirements.

A job description is a representation of the company, the management, and the job itself. If a job description has been written well, there is a strong chance that lots of thought have gone into it, that the company is taking the position seriously, and have pride in what they do. This is your chance to demonstrate that your company operates with a high level of professionalism.

Read How To Write A Job Advert.

2. The Skills Required Are Too Specific

It is good to have specific skills noted for job positions, but they should not be strictly specific. Does this make sense? Probably not; let’s explain.

The talent pool of candidates is too small to risk ruling potential candidates out because you have been too specific about what you want. Take time to understand what the ‘must-have’ and ‘the nice to have’ skills are.

Read Creating A Talent Pool.

Consider what skills are transferable, what alternative skills the person can have, and what training and support the company can provide to give you a wider range of people to choose from.

3. The Job Advert Has The Wrong Job Title

The wrong job title is a simple mistake, but one of the main reasons why job adverts fail. It may be that the wrong job title is chosen, but it could also be that it’s not clear what the job is. For most recruiters, when a job combines various responsibilities, they tend to post unrecognisable job titles. 

Read Choosing The Right Job Title.

To avoid a job advert failing, consider that a standard job title in your company might not be ‘the norm’ across the industry. It is essential that you choose something that people target when looking for work and will recognise. 

4. The Company Has A Bad Reputation

A company may have a bad reputation, and as job descriptions are in the public domain, this is an excellent chance to send out the right message. Consider that the job description is, in many ways, the first touch point a person will have with your company, and it’s a great opportunity to start with a great candidate experience.

When writing the job description, consider including information that creates a positive impression about the company. When doing so, you should think about:

• The history. Tell the company’s story since its conception. 
• Information about the owners & their journey.
• The company’s values and the successes of the workforce.
• The company’s clients. Portray the passion and pride in the work carried out.
• The market, the company’s successes, and the impact that they have had.

5. The Salary Is too Low

Every penny counts, and every job seeker is looking for a job that has a good salary. Many companies believe in being secretive about salaries – sometimes for good reason and other times, possibly because they don’t want to put off candidates by posting something they think might be too low.

The truth is, by including pay details in your job descriptions, you will receive applicants who are immediately interested in the job; often people who have taken the time to read the job description in full, who have read and understood the requirements and probably made a fair assessment of their suitability for the position, which leads to you receiving a better quality of candidate. By including the salary, you reduce the number of applicants who share their CV with very little consideration about the job and instead receive applicants who are genuinely interested.

There is also a misconception that by omitting salary information, more people will be intrigued or interested, and you will receive more applicants. This is not true, and you will, in fact, probably receive fewer candidates. 

Click here for more information about the average UK salary for the role you are looking to fill.

6. It’s Not In The Right Places

There are many different job board advertising or job websites that you can use to promote a role. It may be that you have chosen to avoid these channels in favour of a more traditional route or social media, or that your job advert is not on the right job boards. Have you gone too niche perhaps? Check out our list of job boards to make sure your advert can be found in a place where potential applicants are looking.

Read How To Advertise A Job On Social Media.

Help With Your Job Descriptions And Job Adverts

If your job advert is not performing or you don’t know where to start writing a job description, download one of our job descriptions or job advert templates. Once your job description and advert are ready, you can save costs and maximise exposure by using one of our multi-post flat fee recruitment job advertising packages.