Top 5 Mistakes To Avoid When Writing A Job Advert
Job Advert Writing Mistakes
The top five mistakes to avoid when writing a job advert include:
1. CONFUSING PEOPLE
You do not want to discourage applications and miss out on the top talent because your job description is confusing. To create clear and concise job advertising, you should keep the job title simple and avoid jargon and acronyms unless these are important for determining the candidate’s abilities and understanding. This determination might be appropriate for B2B roles, where anyone who doesn’t know the abbreviations is not suitable for the role. It is also essential to be consistent, so avoid writing a job role that does not match the job title.
Be careful when choosing traditional job titles to avoid gender bias. For example, your job adverts and job description could mention camera operator instead of cameraman.
2. HIDING THE SALARY
Whether you are offering the average salary for a basic role or hiring for one of the UK’s highest-paid jobs, hiding the salary makes candidates think you are a dishonest employer that could end up wasting their time. Make the salary expectations reasonable considering your ideal candidate’s experience, skills, location, and responsibilities. Providing a salary range is proven to attract the best talent and generate more applications.
3. NOT PROOFREADING THE JOB AD
Misspellings and sentences that don’t make sense are a common result of not proofreading your job advert and job descriptions. By not spotting and resolving these writing errors, you make your job advert hard to read and understand, making your company look bad and like it has low standards.
4. UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS
Don’t ask too much of one person or fall into the trap of including the expectations of not just the individual but your whole team. For example, you may not need a marketing manager with experience doing every marketing task, as managers manage a team of specialists that themselves carry out these tasks. It helps to check your facts and not, for example, ask for ten years of experience in a tool that has only been around for seven years. And yes, we have seen job adverts like this.
5. MAKING JOB ADS HARD TO READ
A common job advert writing mistake is writing too much text in an attempt to tick all the boxes. By creating a long job advert and job posting, you run the risk of not engaging with prospective candidates. Remember that your goal is to inform candidates of your criteria and to motivate applications from your ideal candidate.
Read How To Write A Job Advert.
How Common Mistakes Harm Your Recruitment Drive
Whether you are guilty of one or all of the common job advert writing mistakes, it is likely that people won’t apply. Not only will you make the company look bad, but you will also waste time, budget, and resources while also incurring costs in lost production or performance.
Your existing team might be put under undue stress covering the staff shortage, while your job ad fails in attracting candidates. You customers might also receive poor service caused by the ongoing deficiency in skills, expertise, and knowledge, ruining your industry standing and jeopardising your company history.
Help Writing And Advertising Job Roles
Visit our library of job description template examples and our job advert templates. We have a great number of articles designed to help you write an attractive and compelling job description, to ensure you receive only the best candidates from your job posting. Next, please look at our flat fee recruitment and fixed cost job advertising packages to help keep your recruitment costs down & ensure your job advert is displayed across a range of relevant top UK job boards, social media sites and other platforms.
When you use our flat fee recruitment solutions to find a successful candidate, you also have access to our applicant tracking system to manage candidate administration. You can discover more about our ATS by reading Centralising Recruitment With ATS.
