The job title and job description are paramount to successful recruiting. Internet job boards continuously monitor job postings for questionable activity. A vague or over-specialized job title may limit visibility and curtail applicant flow. A poorly written job description may do the same, or worse yet, flag all of your postings as spam, which could result in the removal of all postings from your feed.
Job Title Best Practices
- Use proper title capitalization (Human Resources Manager) rather than all capital letters.
- Avoid abbreviations in the job title such as "CNA" and instead, use "Certified Nursing Assistant."
- Remove all click-bait words from your titles, such as "Sign-on Bonus" or "12 Hour Shifts." These items should be properly listed in Benefits and/or the Job Description.
- Job titles should be specific to only one job, not Receptionist/Cashier. If hiring for more than one position, multiple job postings are suggested.
- Avoid organizational jargon. If you call a Human Resource Manager the "People Specialist," do so internally, but don't use that as the job title in an internet posting.
Job Description Best Practices
- Make the job description short but to the point.
- Avoid listing a string of keywords in the job description as this can potentially trigger jobs to be marked as Spam.
- The job description is the best location for attractive position details such as "Sign-on Bonus" or "12 Hour Shifts" (these descriptors could also be included in the benefits section as well).
- Describe all duties and responsibilities of the job.
- Describe the "ideal" candidate in terms of knowledge, skills, and experience.
- Sell the job through compelling reasoning (e.g., personal growth, challenge, etc.).
- Sell the company through compelling reasoning (e.g., culture, life quality, etc.).
- Avoid lengthy, wordy descriptions or content that could be considered discriminatory.
Compensation Best Practices
- A compensation range, such as $40,000 - $45,000 per year, serves to attract serious applicants, whereas "Depends upon skills and experience" may serve to increase the number of curious, less qualified applicants.
- Do not use pay grade codes or other compensation indices that job seekers would not understand. The use of this kind of information may result in an incorrect compensation amount to appear in job board listings.
Indeed for Employers Best Practices
For additional information and best practices suggested by Indeed visit:
- Writing an effective job title
- Writing an effective job description
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Guidelines for inputting salary information
- Formatting specific pay details
- Salary guidelines
- Salary keywords
- Number formats
- Number ranges
- Pays From
- Expressing additional tips and bonuses
- Pays Up To
- Pay per time period
- Formatting specific pay details