Job postings are a job seeker’s first interaction with your company. They set the tone for the rest of the recruitment process. Great job postings attract top talent, and bad ones are often ignored.
Here are 5 job posting best practices to help you give candidates what they want. And increase your talent pool.
1. Include salary info
You’ll get more applicants when you list the salary in your job postings, even if it’s just a range. And it drives pay equity.
“Jobs with salary information have 30% more apply starts per impression than jobs without salary information.”
(source: JobElephant)
Adding a pay range also cuts down on wasted interview time if candidates end up not liking the salary you offer.
For most states, it’s not a legal requirement to disclose salary in job postings…yet. But compensation is one of the top things job seekers look for.
Indeed even made a goal to list a salary range (or an estimate) for every job posted on their site by the end of 2022. Currently, only 34% of employers give salary ranges to Indeed.
2. List all of your benefits
If you want to attract more applicants, be sure to list benefits.
“Each benefit you include in a job ad increases the apply rate by 1% to 5%.”
(source: Appcast)
Benefits are usually tied to your employee value proposition (EVP). With EVP, you’re answering the question: What’s in it for me?
Here are some examples of benefits that add value for job seekers:
- Adoption benefits
- Free parking
- Health insurance
- Onsite childcare
- Onsite gym
- Paid sick leave
- Paid training & development
- Paid vacation
- Parental leave
- Pet insurance
- Possibility for remote or flex-work
- Signing bonus
- Stock options
- Student loan repayments
- Tuition assistance
- & more
Get creative to make your benefits stand out even more. Add images to your job postings or a video about your company’s benefits.
If you need inspiration, here’s a great video from Dropbox highlighting how employees feel about working there. And it mentions some of the benefits they enjoy (e.g., the tea and scones cart, the gym, and the music room).
3. Remove bias from your job postings
Another one of the job posting best practices you can try is removing biased words. You can do this manually or use software like Ongig that automatically flags potential bias and gives you inclusive replacements.
By removing biased language, your chances of attracting diverse candidates increase. Swapping out words that might deter (or exclude candidates) from underrepresented groups shows your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Here are 25 of the most common “exclusionary words” found in job postings (with more inclusive replacements):
| Exclusionary Words | Bias Category | Inclusive Replacements |
|---|---|---|
| a cakewalk | race | an easy task |
| bend | physical disability | lower oneself |
| blacklist/blacklists | race | blocklist, denylist |
| brown bag session | race | lunch and learn, learning session |
| climb/climbing | physical disability | scale, move up, scaling, moving up |
| criminal background check | former felons | background check |
| culture fit | race | culture add |
| digital native | age | passionate about technology |
| English native speaker | race | fluent in English |
| degree from a top school | elitism | a degree |
| he/she | LGBTQ+ | they/you |
| his/her | LGBTQ+ | their, your |
| lift/lifting | physical disability | move, hold, moving, holding |
| maternity and paternity leave | LGBTQ+ | parental leave, parental time off |
| new graduate | age | a graduate |
| recent graduate | age | a graduate |
| sanity check | mental health | review, audit, double-check |
| servant leadership | race | growth leadership, supportive leadership |
| sit/sitting | physical disability | be stationary, being stationary |
| stand/standing | physical disability | be upright/stationary, being upright/stationary |
| the men and women | LGBTQ+ | the team, the people |
| tribe | race | team, network |
| typing | physical disability | inputting, entering |
| walk/walking | physical disability | move, traverse, moving, traversing |
| walkthroughs | physical disability | final checks |
Note: You can find more examples of biased words to remove from your job postings in The Inclusive Language List for Job Ads.
4. Create templates for consistency
Job posting inconsistencies happen. Especially if you have multiple recruiters (or hiring managers) writing them.
People have different writing styles, different ideas on what to include for a role, or might be copy/pasting outdated content. Being inconsistent makes your job postings confusing and unprofessional.
The best way to avoid inconsistencies is to use templates. When you use templates, your team writes job postings with the same:
- Tone of voice (casual, formal, etc.)
- Point of View (I, We, You)
- Format (with bullet points or no bullet points, same fonts, etc.)
- Headings or sections (About You, About Us, What You’ll Do, etc.)
You can create job posting templates from scratch or build templates online. Check out these 5 Tools for Creating a Job Description Template to get you started.
5. End with a diversity statement
86% of global candidates find diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) an important factor they consider when applying for a job.
So, how do you show them your company has an inclusive environment or is dedicated to DEI?
The easiest way is to include a diversity statement in your job postings. Even using a generic statement is better than no statement at all.
Here’s an example of a diversity statement Ongig recommends using at the end of your job postings (feel free to riff on it or just copy it!):
“We embrace diversity and equality in a serious way. We are committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, skills and views. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. Creating a culture of equality isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also the smart thing.”
Note: If you need some tips on writing a diversity statement, you’ll find them in our post on 25 Examples of Awesome Diversity Statements.
Why I wrote this:
Ongig’s mission is to help you attract top talent. Job posting best practices are woven into that mission and into our cloud-based job description software.
Shout-outs:
- 14 Viral Recruitment Videos and Why They’re The Best We’ve Ever Seen (by Laura Ross)
- How to show candidates you’re committed to diversity and inclusion in hiring (Monster Recruitment Team)
- Six Job Posting Best Practices to Attract Qualified Talent (by Adriene Smith)
- Job Ad Content: How Benefits Impact Candidate Attraction (by Appcast)
