How to Write a Job Posting that will attract Great Candidates

When you have a position to fill or a job to be done, you’ll need to hire great talent to get it done. A good job posting will help you attract great candidates with the required skills to get the job done.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how to write a good job posting and attract top talent. We’ll also look at how to save money when paying employees and freelancers with Wise.

Writing a Job Posting

When you’re looking to hire top talent, you have to start by writing a good job posting. You want to ensure that the right candidate clicks your posting and becomes an applicant. If your job posting does not provide the right information or represent you and your business well, then great candidates would hit the end button, instead of applying for the job.

Here are a few tips and steps on writing a great job posting that will get great candidates to apply.¹

1. Use a catchy Job Title

When writing a job posting, the job title is the most important part. If the job title is well written, you’ll get more attention from the right kind of candidates. If it isn’t, however, you’ll get attention from the wrong kind of candidates or even no attention at all. A good practice is to ensure that the title describes the position and gives an idea of what it entails.

2. Use an Emotional Introduction

After creating the perfect job title, you need to add an introduction that touches your prospective candidate’s emotions. The introduction is a single paragraph to give the details that applicants will find most interesting about the job. It is likened to that which newspapers use to get you to read the entire article.

3. Tell Your Story

Stories sell, and if you want to attract your prospective candidates, tell the story about why your company exists. Include information about your company that applicants will find interesting. How long have you been in business? How long do employees typically work with you? What interesting clients or projects have you worked on recently? The idea is to get the applicant interested in your company and what you do.

4. Sell the Position

The next step is to sell the position to the applicant. Show them why working with you is a good thing for their career and the positive effect of the work that they will be doing if they work for you. Instead of just creating a long list of bullet points to describe the job requirements or responsibilities (nobody reads them anyway), try to keep it short and only include requirements that are essential to the job. Once you have listed the requirement, add information about work hours, coworkers and other benefits or perks that applicants will find interesting.

5. Push the location

If you are looking for candidates in a specific location, or your workplace is located in an area, ensure to put it in the job posting. You might want to give additional information about that location so that the applicant can consider things like transportation or accommodation before applying. You don't want a situation where you spend time interviewing applicants only to realise that they cannot take the job because of the location.

If it is for a remote position, be sure to explain what times they will need to be available. This will help the applicants judge if they are a right fit for the position or not.

6. Re-emphasise why they should apply

Once again, in a few lines, emphasise why working with you is a good idea.

7. Explain the Application Process

Finally, explain exactly how you want applicants to apply for the job. How should they title or send their emails? Is there any particular format of what you want to see? Stating it early would help you weed out the unqualified.

Posting on Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr

Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr provide you access to a large pool of skilled and experienced freelancers as that can carry out a job for you. However, you need to create a good job posting for it to get qualified applicants to apply.

The first thing to keep in mind, posting on Upwork and Fiverr is that you have to be clear about who exactly you want, and what you need to be done. Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr are skill-based, so you want to give a good description of what you want to achieve. This will allow freelancers to decide if they’re the right fit for the project.

Also, you must get yourself verified on these platforms. Having a verified client account will attract responses from more qualified freelancers than if you weren't verified.

If you decide to post the job ad on Upwork and Fiverr, consider using Wise multi-currency debit card to avoid mark-ups on exchange rates when paying your freelancers in a different currency, you can save up to 60% on fees using Wise conversion rate.

Examples of a good job posting

Here are a few examples of good job postings for various roles.²

Graphic Designer

We are seeking a new Graphic Designer to join our team. You will be designing a wide variety of things across digital and offline media. To be successful in this position, you’ll be a self-starter, capable of delivering brilliant creative ideas, and show amazing attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Planning concepts by studying relevant information and materials.
• Illustrating concepts by designing examples of art arrangement, size, type size and style and submitting them for approval.
• Preparing finished art by operating the necessary equipment and software.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in graphic design or related field.
• Experience as a graphic designer or in a related field.
• Demonstrable graphic design skills with a strong portfolio.
• Proficiency with required desktop publishing tools, including Photoshop, InDesign Quark, and Illustrator.

Social Media Director:

We are looking for a strategically-minded Social Media Director to be responsible for creating social media plans and timelines. The Social Media Director's responsibilities include meeting with clients to assess their needs, developing content for social media, and creating a posting schedule.

To be successful as a Social Media Director, you should remain informed about SEO best practices, image editing software, and social media trends. A top-notch Social Media Director should know how to promote a company based on the latest social media tools as well as what would suit the atmosphere of the brand.

Project Manager

We are looking for a Project Manager to be responsible for handling our company's ongoing projects. You will be working closely with your team members to ensure that all project requirements, deadlines, and schedules are on track. Responsibilities include submitting project deliverables, preparing status reports, and establishing effective project communication plans as well as the proper execution of said plans.

To be a successful candidate, you will need to have proven experience in project management and the ability to lead project teams of various sizes. A Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is a huge advantage.

Save Money When You Pay Freelancers

If you decide to work with a freelancer that works remotely or in another country, you’ll need to use a payment platform to pay them wages. There are many payment gateways that you could use. However, if you want to save money on conversion rates, consider using Transferwise.

If you have more than 1 freelancer to pay, Wise Batch payment tool could come in handy for making multiple payments in one go.

There are many other ways that Transferwise helps you save money.

• The Wise Multi-currency account means that you can open virtual accounts and hold money in over 28 different currencies.
• Transferwise also gives you a debit card that you can use anywhere while enjoying the real exchange rates and transfer fees without a mark-up.
• If you have suppliers overseas or payments in a different currency, you can take advantage of Wise real exchange rates at a low cost.
• Link your transactions with Quickbooks or Xero for easier tax reconciliation.

Start saving today with Wise

Sources:

1. Better team blog post
2. Better Team website