How to Write a Killer Job Listing

By Alicia Geigel on September 18, 2017

When recruiting the right person to fill a position at your company, there is quite a lot to take into consideration when composing an ad. The primary goal is to gain traffic to your ad and to get people to apply, but one might question, how exactly do I do that?

On one hand, you do not want to come off as the boss or employer from hell who micromanages their employees, but you also do not want to give the impression that your company and its management is lackadaisical and disorderly. Many think that good impressions are merely for those who are applying for the job; however, as an employer, you want to make a great impression as well — after all, your next employee has to be sold on something!

As you are putting together your listing, your main focus should undoubtedly be to give a good impression, whether that involves changing the aesthetic of your listing to be more appealing to the eyes, or dare I say it, including humor into your listing! This may seem unheard of and a bit odd, and maybe it is, but one of the most attractive traits someone can have is humor; it is appealing and makes you feel good!

Adding humor to a job listing attracts potential employees and also makes people more comfortable about applying for your position! Are you an employer, trying desperately to fill a position that has been posted for months now? Do you want to liven up your ads with creativity and humor? If these questions apply to you, say no more — I will be your guide!

Check out my advice below on how to compose a killer job listing with enough puns and one-liners to fill your spot right away!

Image via Pexels

1. Consider your audience: This may be obvious, especially for employers; however, when composing a job listing (especially one that will be a tad funny), you are going to want to analyze and consider who your audience is. If you have a listing for a summer job as an ice cream scooper intended for a college student, you know that your humor will have to appeal to a younger audience. What kind of humor do younger people like? The answer to this varies, but in general, any meme works.

In contrast, if your listing is for a managerial position at a local small business, you know that your audience will most likely be older, thus your humor should cater to that respective audience. Older people typically like cut and dry, one-liner jokes and probably do not want anything to do with memes.

2. Convey the atmosphere of your company: Humor and wit can have a significant effect on a person. In your job listing, contribute to giving an excellent first impression by making sure the atmosphere of your company comes through.

Steve Roberson of the Huffington Post notes the following:

“You want to give candidates a sense of your company culture. That attracts the candidates that are most likely to fit in and is a subtle signal to those that aren’t. But don’t go overboard. We see the occasional job post that takes this to an extreme. If all you’re talking about is ping pong tables, happy hour, and beer in the fridge, then you stand a good chance of coming off more like a frat house than a serious company.”

The most important part in this step is honesty. If you include all of this fun and humor into your listing while on the other hand your job is nothing like you describe, that’s misleading and unfair. If you hire an employee, they most likely will drop the job the first week due to false impressions.

3. Have a creative, funny title: The first part of a listing that people are drawn to is (obviously) the title, as that is how their search is filtered and generated. When putting together your listing, think of a fun and innovative title that will help gain traffic to your ad!

For instance, instead of merely titling the position “Senior Engineer,” Apple went outside of the box and posted the listing under “Senior Armageddon Avoidance Engineer” (blog.proven.com). How’s that for a wacky title?

By Apple doing this, they not only showed their personality and creativity, but they also helped to make their ad stand out from all the rest! Notice how they included “senior” and “engineer” in their ad title, similar to other ad titles out there. This helps in keyword searches, as that way those who limit their search to specific words can see ads with those words in them. However, Apple’s ad will definitely stick out more than any others!

Image via Pexels

Finding the right employee is a process, but if you put your personality out there and let your funny bone show, you will be guaranteed to get a perfect fit for your company. As always, good luck!

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