Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why am I not attracting great talent through my job posts?”

Let me tell you… your job descriptions might not be as significant as you think. According to HR Dive “72% of hiring managers say they provide clear job descriptions, but only 36% of candidates say they are provided clear job descriptions”. Attractiveness and clarity of job descriptions are crucial to captivating the right audience and reaching bountiful applications on your job openings. Here are a few tips to consider to achieve this goal and start attracting talent when constructing your next job description.

Cut the Fluff

Keep your job descriptions short and to the point. This might seem obvious, almost to the point where it can be overlooked. A LinkedIn study reported that shorter job posts actually get more applicants, “Postings between one and 300 words received 8.4% more applications than medium (301 to 600 words) or long (601 or more words) job posts”.

Job seekers do not want to spend copious amounts of time scanning through your job posts to find the information they are looking for. Maintaining proper formatting and only necessary information will allow this clarity and making your job description easy to read and even easier to find is essential to having your opening stand out.

It’s also important to be transparent with your candidates and offer meaningful insight into the role itself. Be sure to include the information candidates care the most about, including::

• Job title: Make sure this is as clear and concise as possible, using well-known job titles in your posts will allow for it to appear in more candidate searches.

• Exact pay or pay range: Be completely honest and upfront about what this looks like for the candidate (do not overcompensate to attract more job seekers if it is not true!) LinkedIn reported that 61% of job seekers indicated details on compensation mattered most.

• Shift: This includes all shifts available, exact hours, type of shift (8hr? 12hr? Rotating days? Swing shift? Weekends? What does OT look like?), avoid posting “1st, 2nd, or 3rd”. What exactly does that mean?

• Why is this position open: Expansion/growth? New position? Need to refill this position?

• Bullet points: Describe the position using verbiage that candidates will understand and relate to, do not use an extensive fluffy paragraph to describe the job.

• Qualifications: Clearly spell out all the credentials the right-fit needs to have to fill this role. Education? Experience? Skills needed for the position?

Why would a job seeker want to work for YOU?

Besides the information listed above, tell your candidate why they would want to join your team. What is your employee value proposition and what does your company bring to the table that stands out against your competitors?

Forget the standard cliche of ‘Join our great culture and fun workplace’ and jump straight to the “why”. Create a list of real actions your company takes to truly exemplify why your culture is so exceptional, highlighting real opportunities for growth and inviting spirit. A good place to start is to consider the following:

• Benefits: Do you have a full benefits package? What is your 401k? What does the paid time off policy look like? How many paid holidays? Sick days? Paid travel? Phone reimbursement? Employee apparel? PPE allowance? Flexible work schedule? On-site training? Tuition reimbursement? Ability to be remote?

• Culture: Do you have company parties/appreciation events? Cookouts? Happy hour? Food trucks? Outings?

• Bonuses: What do raises look like? Do you offer sign-on bonuses? Opportunities for advancement? Profit-sharing? Holiday bonuses?

Creating job descriptions can be a pain in the neck for most hiring managers and recruiting teams alike, but it’s important to give it the attention it deserves to get the return you need, especially in today’s market. Highlight these areas to create an informative, clear, and attractive job description that will ultimately expand your pool of applicants and make attracting great talent easy!

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Written by Rust Belt Recruiting’s Recruiter, Hannah Baeten.

Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn to learn more about our current job openings, industry trends, and recruitment services.