A job advert is a filter. Its job is not to attract the most applicants — it is to attract the ones who would succeed and repel the ones who would not.
Lead with the work, not the company
Three paragraphs about your culture before anyone learns what the role does is the fastest way to lose strong candidates who are skimming ten adverts.
Publish the salary
Adverts with a stated salary range consistently draw more and better-matched applications. “Competitive” tells candidates nothing except that they may waste two interviews finding out you disagree on the number.
Separate essential from nice-to-have
- Essential: without this, the person cannot do the job
- Desirable: this would shorten the ramp-up
- Everything else: cut it
Long essential lists disproportionately deter candidates who would have done well but do not tick every box.
Say what the first six months look like
Concrete detail about early projects helps a candidate self-assess far better than a list of adjectives about your team.
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