Writing A Job Advert: 4 Steps To Boost The Number Of Applicants You Get

Business Insights
01/09/2021

Don't worry if you're having trouble attracting candidates to apply for your advertised job; there are plenty of tips to help you boost the number of applicants you get.


The first step is to get into the mind of a job seeker. If you don't understand your target audience, you'll struggle to reach them with your job advert. Job seekers typically input their desired job title, location and keywords associated with what they'd like the role to entail. Once they have their search results, they briefly scan what shows up and click on the ones that most closely match what they're looking for. If your job advert has a complicated job title and doesn't include keywords that would usually be associated with the job, your advert is unlikely to show in the search results.


Don't Hide The Salary & Narrow Your Location

Unless the company is well known, most job adverts that use 'competitive salary' struggle with the number of applicants applying to their role. By leaving it out, you could be halving the number of candidates replying to your job advert.


It has become common practice to keep the location on a job advert as broad as possible. However, as most potential candidates will search by postcode, it could be more beneficial to use a more exact location on your job advert. If you currently use London as your location, consider changing it to Old Street, London; you will still appear on the broad searches, but your advert won't be omitted from the narrower parameters that applicants enter.


Avoid A Wall Of Text

Typically, candidates won't spend time reading large blocks of text when they apply for roles. It is a long and arduous process when you're searching for a job, and job seekers don't want to spend too long inputting the same information multiple times or reading too much text.


If you're struggling to streamline your job advert, finding a template to advertise your job from Hiring People could help you get more applicants at a faster rate.


Simple Job Title & Relevant Keywords

A mistake that many companies make is over exaggerating their job titles in an effort to make them sound more impressive; turning 'Travel Agent' into 'Destination Advisor' may sound important and exciting, but if your potential candidates are searching for 'travel', your job advert may not come up.


Similarly, it's essential to include relevant keywords in the body of your job advert. If you're not sure what keywords you should include, find similar jobs and look for trends in the wording.


Advertise Across Multiple Platforms

Knowing how to advertise a job once your advert is ready is vital to getting the most responses. Look into industry-specific job boards online to get started and branch out to one of the popular generic sites available to increase your numbers. Advertise on social media and in the local papers to get the highest coverage of candidates. Finally, don't forget to advertise on your company website.