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How to Make More Candidates Engage with your Job Adverts – Guest Blog by Logic Melon

But there’s some common mistakes recruiters make which damage the chances of people wanting to apply to a job, with some not even making it to the bottom of the page, or worse still, simply never seeing your advert in the first place. If you’re not getting the response you need, but you’re not sure where you’re going wrong, this guide will help you craft an appealing job advert that candidates just can’t resist applying to!

Choosing a relevant job title

This is one of the most important elements as it’s what makes your job show up in people’s search results. The job title needs to be clear and relevant, using keywords which reflect the role and what people looking for this type of job are most likely to search for. Use a tool like Google’s Keyword Planner to research which keywords are most popular.

Some recruiters try and play around with the title, hoping to intrigue candidates and make them click through – you may have come across the likes of ‘Sales Superhero’ and ‘Marketing Guru’ – but if you choose something too obscure your job simply won’t be visible in candidate searches.

Another common tactic to try and engage with candidates is including extra information, such as job location, benefits, and salary, within the title. This will also damage your search visibility by being too specific, and looks a little spammy – keep these details for the body of your advert.

Show off your best bits first

All too often, job adverts start out with an overview of the company and leave the benefits and salary until much further down the page. Whilst it’s important for a candidate to get a feel for a company and the culture, your opening needs to include the most important details and any key selling points about the role to draw the candidate in.

Key things to include are your company name, job title, location, salary, training and benefits. Your opening needs to be around 150 words max – anything longer and you’re likely to lose the candidate’s attention.

An important point to consider is how your job will be displayed on job boards. The job list page only shows a small amount of text from your advert. On average, it will be around 50 words taken from the opening of your advert, so you want to include the main details – like job role, company name, location – so candidates can easily decide whether it’s relevant to them.

Structure for web readers

People read differently on the web than they do offline – there’s vast amounts of information available and most people have limited attention, especially online. A 2008 study by Jakob Nielsen revealed that visitors only read around 20 percent of the content on a web page. Web readers skim and scan, so you should consider this in how you structure your advert.

Searching for and applying to jobs takes up a lot of time; make it really easy for candidates to pick out the key bits of information about a role, so they can quickly decide whether they’re suitable for it and apply.

Include clear, useful subheadings for each section, and break up larger chunks of text with a few bullet points – particularly when listing the core duties of the role, or key skills that are required.

Putting your marketing hat on

It’s all too easy to overlook the fact that a job advert is just that – an advertisement. Some recruiters make the mistake of using the full job description as their advert, then wonder why no-one’s bothering to apply. Think of your advert as the top trumps of the role; include the key bits of information, but also try and persuade the candidate to apply. Why is it a great opportunity/company/team? How will the role benefit them in their career progression or personal development? Will they be making a difference to people’s lives?

Search Engine Optimisation

We’ve already touched on the importance of keywords in the job title, but there’s a couple more elements to ensuring your advert is search engine friendly, and ranks better in search results. Once you’ve done your keyword research, select several of the top performing words or phrases, and try to include them throughout the body of the advert.

Other things to consider are:

  • Page titles – this shows up on search result page listings, so it’s a smart idea to include a keyword in this.
  • URL – keep it simple and relevant, including the job title.
  • Meta description – you have up to 300 characters to play with, so make every word count! Give an overview of what’s on the page and include those all important keywords.

Make it mobile friendly

According to Google, nearly 60 percent of search queries come from mobile devices. With 78 percent of millennials using mobile devices to find jobs, it’s clear to see why you need to adapt your job adverts for mobiles.

What looks like an acceptable amount of text to read from a desktop may be overkill on a phone screen. Try and keep paragraphs short and sweet, with only a few lines in each and sticking to one key point.

With the job market being so competitive, and the war for talent still raging on, recruiters need all the help they can get to encourage the most talented candidates to apply to their roles. Remember these key points to write more engaging, persuasive job adverts and you’ll improve your conversion rates in no time at all!

Guest Blog written by Logic Melon – https://www.voyagersoftware.com/general/logicmelon.html

A 2008 study by Jakob Nielsen revealed that visitors only read around 20 percent of the content on a web page. Web readers skim and scan, so you should consider this in how you structure your advert.


Voyager Infinity and Voyager Mid-Office are software solutions that make Recruiters’ lives easier. Voyager Infinity is a CRM used by thousands of recruiters globally to source, nurture and maintain the relationships with their clients and candidates, and Mid-Office manages the entire Pay and Bill process (IR35 ready).