Are your online job posts struggling to gain traction or attract the top talent that your company deserves? You are not alone.
The online recruitment market is valued at $33224.8 million, and projections only show this value increasing in the coming years.
The shift towards online job listings and applications has seen the market become saturated, making it hard for job seekers to get noticed. It has also become equally testing for legitimate companies like yours to make their job ads stand out from the crowd. Without visibility, it is impossible to attract the right candidates.
However, by following the best practices, you will be able to create and add effective job posts that can level up your hiring process with immediate and lasting results. In this article, we will discuss:
- The best platforms for your job posts.
- Techniques to make job posting more engaging.
- How to get started today.
The road to attracting the best candidates through effective online job postings starts now.
Step one: Writing stand-out job posts
Most people appreciate that candidates need to impress employers to achieve the top positions, but far fewer acknowledge that job listings need to engage and excite the best candidates too.
Before worrying about how to advertise a job listing, you must first learn how to write a job description that will make applicants desperate to work for your company.
Bankrate’s job seeker surveys suggest that over 50% of people are on the hunt for a better job at any given time. However, they will only apply for open positions that signify an upgrade on their current situation. Some general points to consider are:
- It’s better to use active language as this addresses job seekers directly and helps them imagine themselves in the role. For example, you should write “manage a team” rather than “managing a team”.
- Content should be concise and easy to digest. At this stage, applicants often view dozens of jobs. Your job listing should aim to engage them and spark interest in the role. There will be chances to expand on job specifications later on.
- Provide transparency. Most job seekers have completed at least one recruitment process only to find out the job isn’t for them later on because the firm wasn’t honest. If they feel you are hiding something, they will abandon the process.
Crafting each element of an engaging job post
Effective job listings should create a great first impression of your business and should feed into the company culture. Whether it’s a single job listing or making posts for several openings, each post will typically include several key elements, each of which has an important role to play. These include:
- Job title: An effective job title should be clear and visible while simultaneously providing some insight into the role according to industry standards.
- Job description: A concise yet compelling job description should accurately represent the nature and level of the job while also giving some insight into the company culture. It should also contain industry-specific keywords for better visibility.
- Location: The location info should inform applications where the job is based while also detailing whether there is flexibility for them to work remotely. When a role involves an employee working at several sites, the overall region should be stated.
- Employment type: It is essential to let potential candidates know whether the job is full-time or part-time; as well as if it is permanent, temporary, seasonal, or contracted.
- Qualifications required: Including the hard and soft qualifications (experience, education, ability to work in a team, etc.) saves you from attracting unqualified applicants. However, this should be presented in a way that encourages the right candidates to feel confident to apply even if they’re not sure they meet all the criteria. A great tip is to split the skills into two lists: required qualifications and preferred qualifications.
- Application deadline: An application deadline creates urgency for interested prospects, getting them in the mindset to deliver a solid application before the cut-off date.
- Job benefits/perks: Listing the perks like annual leave days, health insurance, and other initiatives that form a part of your company culture will help attract the right candidates. If your company has benefits above and beyond the usual, make sure to include them, as this will help you really stand out to candidates.
- Company mission: Employer branding is an essential part of attracting suitable candidates, as you want them to feel excited about the prospect of working for you, especially if it’s a niche job. Well-crafted job posts reflect the company’s culture, values, and work ethic, while also detailing the desirable traits of a successful candidate.
Step two: Selecting job board platforms to post to
Knowing what to include in a job listing is one thing, but choosing the optimal platforms for your job post is equally crucial. For the best results, you need to list your job opening somewhere where there is enough traffic to gain awareness while still giving you a chance to stand out.
Identifying the right platform(s) for your job post will allow you to attract increased attention from the right type of candidate. Moreover, it will influence the rest of your strategy surrounding the job ad.
Creating your own job board site
As a hiring manager or business owner, only the best solution will do. After all, it is accepted that employees are the greatest asset at your disposal. Frankly, creating your own job board is essential in the modern era. Creating your own job board offers many benefits, including:
- Full branding control.
- Unlimited future job listings.
- No cost per post.
- Direct access to analytics.
- Allowing you to define your own niche and target specific job seekers.
- Avoiding the competition of LinkedIn (to an extent).
Firstly, you need to create a great website. WordPress is the world’s most popular Content Management System (CMS) and is used to power over 800 million websites. Its flexibility, quality, reliability, and familiar, user-friendly interfaces make it the perfect choice for companies of all sizes.
Moreover, WordPress is supported by thousands of plugins that allow you to easily add functionality to your site. WP Job Manager is the ultimate plugin for recruiters, designed specifically to help you create and publish engaging job posts that attract the right candidates.
The open-source plugin is free to download and install, enabling hiring managers to design attractive job ads with ease. However, it also comes with several paid extensions to support the creation of a job board site.
Its Core Add-on bundle includes all core extensions for a robust, professional, and appealing job site. In addition to engaging job listing content, the branded design will give the business a professional appearance.
WP Job Manager allows you to easily create an effective job board site that can be hosted on your domain or on sites owned by other companies as a monetization option. Moreover, the plugin is supported by several guides that can help you get started and tap into the full potential of having your own job board platform.
Selecting ideal third-party job board websites
While a proprietary job board will give you the perfect platform to build upon, supplementing this with job ads on third-party job boards is highly advised. It allows you to tap into an established audience of job seekers who already visit the site to learn about open positions. Despite the added competition to stand out, it’s a good way to expand your reach to the right audience.
Adding job posts to the biggest platforms like LinkedIn or Indeed is a common choice, although niche job boards that specifically target an industry or geographic region are useful too. When considering your options, it’s important to analyze several key features, such as:
- Industry relevance
- User demographic
- Cost per post
- Site usability
- Platform reputation
It is now possible to post to thousands of job boards, and most business owners and hiring managers will post on several platforms to ensure that they reach the right people.
When using WP Job Manager’s integrated WP JobTarget tool, you can leverage years of data on job posts to help you identify the best platforms to post to. When combined with your own job board site, the chances of attracting top candidates will soar.
Step three: Maximizing the reach of your posts
When more people see your job ads, the likelihood of attracting qualified candidates will significantly increase. Therefore, maximizing a job post’s reach should be a priority for all hiring managers.
SEO for job posts
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most powerful tools at any digital marketer’s disposal. Crucially, it plays a central role in making job posts discoverable and directing qualified candidates to your site.
Efficient SEO practices will ensure that your job postings rank high on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), which encourages more people to look at the open positions you’ve listed. Traffic will come from applicants who are actively searching for roles that you’ve posted.
Targeted keywords can be added to job titles, job descriptions, and URLs. Image tags and alt-tags can also be used, while links to the post also help. Meanwhile, WP Job Manager’s Google Jobs Schema integration provides actionable advice on how to enrich visibility and searchability.
When dealing with posts on third-party platforms, adding keywords to posts can help them stand out on that platform and help job seekers discover your vacancies. However, paid listings are the most effective way to stand out on popular third-party platforms.
In addition to SEO, hiring managers can use paid ads via Jetpack to generate ad revenue and support the growth of the company’s site. Meanwhile, MailPoet can be utilized to email prospective candidates directly.
Leveraging social media platforms for a broader audience
Social media, including career and networking-focused platforms, can be one of the most effective ways to expand your reach. When people follow the brand online and love your company culture, seeing opportunities to work for you will pique their interest even if they’re not actively seeking a new role. Some of the best platforms to use are:
- LinkedIn, which attracts professionals, particularly in senior roles across a range of sectors.
- Instagram, which is great for attracting younger audiences, particularly in creative roles like marketing and social media management.
- X (Twitter), which is ideal for attracting journalists, computer programmers, and creatives. Relevant hashtags and concise job listings work well.
Enhance your job posts with WP Job Manager
Writing job posts that stand out from a saturated online market is difficult and requires a high level of expertise and strategy. When you get it right, though, the reward is that you will attract top candidates and be better positioned to build a stronger workforce.
The first step on the road to success is to select the optimal platforms, which should include creating your own job board site or page with WP Job Manager and its incredible add-ons, as well as expanding your reach on third-party websites.
After selecting the right place to post your job listings, follow the steps outlined above to write enticing job posts that create a great first impression and encourage the right candidates to apply.
Once you do, your entire recruitment process will look stronger than ever. Check out WP Job Manager to supercharge your efforts and start attracting the best talent today!