Your job ad isn’t a dating profile… but it kind of is.
You’re trying to get someone’s attention, show them why they should be interested and give them enough information to decide whether there could be a good fit.
And just like a bad dating profile, a vague, generic or overly complicated job ad can make the right person scroll straight past.
A strong job ad should do more than list responsibilities. It should give candidates a clear picture of the role, the business and why the opportunity is worth considering.
So, how do you write one that actually works?
The first few lines matter.
Candidates are often looking at multiple roles at once, so if your opening sounds exactly like every other job ad, there’s a good chance they won’t keep reading.
Avoid starting with a long company history or generic statements about being an “industry leader”.
Instead, get to the point.
Tell candidates:
What the role is
Why it’s worth considering
What makes the opportunity different
What kind of person would enjoy it
You don’t need to be clever for the sake of it. You just need to give someone a reason to keep reading.
A lot of job ads focus heavily on what the employer wants.
Ten years of experience. Strong communication skills. Great attention to detail. Must thrive in a fast-paced environment.
But candidates are also asking: What’s in this for me?
A good job ad should make the basics easy to find.
That includes things like:
Salary or salary range
Location
Flexible or hybrid working arrangements
Hours
Benefits and perks
Career progression
Team structure
Who the role reports to
What success looks like
The easier you make it for someone to understand the opportunity, the easier it is for them to decide whether it’s right for them.
One of the biggest mistakes employers make is trying to make a role sound more impressive by making it harder to understand.
Keep it simple.
Candidates should be able to read the job ad and quickly understand what they would actually be doing day to day.
Instead of vague phrases like:
“Drive stakeholder engagement and strategic outcomes.”
Explain what that means.
Will they manage clients? Lead a team? Coordinate projects? Develop new business? Run reports?
Clear responsibilities generally attract better-aligned applicants.
There’s a difference between what someone genuinely needs to do the job and what would simply be nice to have.
If your requirements section becomes a list of 20 different skills, qualifications and personality traits, you risk turning away strong candidates who could actually do the role well.
Focus on the things that genuinely matter.
A simple approach is to separate requirements into:
Must-haves – the things someone genuinely needs to succeed.
Nice-to-haves – the things that would be useful but aren’t essential.
It creates a much clearer picture of who should apply.
Candidates aren’t only applying for a job.
They’re choosing a manager, a team, a workplace and potentially the next few years of their career.
That means your job ad should explain what makes your business worth joining.
Maybe it’s:
Genuine career progression
A strong team culture
Flexible working
Interesting projects
Strong leadership
Training and development
Great benefits
A well-known brand
Whatever it is, be specific.
“Great culture” doesn’t tell someone much.
Explaining why the culture is good does.
You don’t need to fit everything about the business and the role into one job ad.
Give candidates enough information to understand the opportunity, without burying the good stuff under paragraphs of corporate copy.
Use headings.
Use bullet points.
Keep paragraphs short.
And ask yourself one simple question:
If I were looking for a job, would I actually read this?
If the answer is no, it probably needs another edit.
Some of the most common issues we see are surprisingly easy to fix.
These include:
Hiding the salary
Using too much jargon
Being vague about responsibilities
Listing unrealistic requirements
Talking only about what the company wants
Writing huge blocks of text
Overusing phrases like “rockstar”, “guru” or “ninja”
Making every benefit sound like a privilege
Forgetting to explain why someone would actually want the job
A job ad should make an opportunity easier to understand, not harder.
The best job ads are clear, honest and written with the candidate in mind.
They tell people what the role is, what’s expected of them, what they’ll get in return and why the opportunity might be worth exploring.
Because ultimately, you’re trying to attract the right person.
And if your job ad doesn’t make them want to know more, it probably isn’t doing its job.
If you’re a hiring manager, business owner or recruiter looking to attract better candidates, the team at Woods & Co can help you understand what candidates are looking for and how to position your opportunity in the market.