How to write effective job ads

Categorised in: Recruitment

Right now, in the UK, there are over 800k – eight hundred thousand! – job ads out there. And with unemployment levels reaching a record low (21% for those aged between 16 and 64 years old, the lowest since 1971 according to the Office for National Statistics), those ads are competing for a picky audience, one that is either not necessarily interested, or would only pay attention to something really eye catching.

It is time for recruiters to up their ad game. So we’re here to share some quick tips.

Where to post job ads

Wave’s latest WaveTrackR report shows 94% of jobs are posted on job boards, while 5% are posted on recruitment companies’ websites and only 1% on social media. And the number of applications per job on each platform also massively favours job boards, on which each ad receives an average of 10 applications, compared to 5 for recruitment websites and 1 for social media.

But does that mean you should stop posting your jobs to social media? We don’t think so. With less jobs being posted on those channels, maybe there is a better chance to stand out. It also depends highly on what you are recruiting for and what channels that particular type of professional tends to use.

What time to post job ads

The time of the day when most applications are made is 5pm, closely followed by 11am, and over 70% of applications are made between 10am and 6pm.

Applications are made evenly from Monday to Friday, with a dramatic fall over the weekend, however, the day when more job ads are posted is Friday. A good strategy to get more applications might be to post jobs more evenly throughout the days for a higher chance of appearing on lists of latest jobs posted.

How long should job ads be

Job ads with between 1000 to 2000 characters get 50% of applications. That is a little bit less than the length of this blog post, if you include spaces. About just enough to include key information and make the ad appealing to get candidates interested.

Keep an eye here as we’ll soon have a blog post about the key information to include on a job ad to make more appealing and Google friendly.

If you want to know more details about the stats we presented here, access Wave’s WaveTrackR report, available here.