HR professionals face numerous challenges when creating job advertisements.
Many advertisements saturate the tech talent market, all of which pursue the same goal - to attract software engineers. Inevitably making IT recruiters scratch their heads to figure out how to attract potential candidates to work for their company.
And this is usually the birthplace of all mistakes.
The job description gets checked and summarized in terms of content - and then forwarded to the marketing team which usually aims to make job advertisement more attractive in terms of text.
So, what happens next?
Marketing teams will quickly add buzzwords to job advertisements with just one intention: use ‘eye-catchers’ to make the potential applicants instantly curious.
The plan usually backfires instantly, so much that the company doesn’t stand out from the competition and simply disappears in the sea of numerous ‘cool’ words and terms.
Job advertisement nightmare: the “Software Ninja”
If an employer really wants to attract promising talent, it’s important to understand who are software engineers.
First and foremost, software engineers are intelligent. They move fast online and especially on social media platforms. And they see with ease through the empty phrases or any glimpse of cool language placed just as a distraction.
As word creations such as ‘Software Ninja,’ ‘Frontend Hero,’ or ‘Product Management Queen’ don’t provide a precise understanding of any IT position or give a clue about the organization itself - companies are increasingly abandoning their use.
Clarity instead of trendy job titles
When avoiding using trendy words to describe job titles, actually you are pushing yourself to work hard and figure out the way to authentically present the job openings and your company.
A clear job title helps to maintain a more efficient filtering of potential candidates. Because not all job titles are always equally understandable to people outside your company. This enables good candidates to go through your ‘sticky fingers’ first, increasing your chances of hiring a perfect fit.
IT recruiters should never forget who makes their target group. Again. Intelligent, fast-moving, and see-through-the-lines professionals looking for an interesting and fulfilling job with good work-life balance conditions.
Job advertisement composition
Job advertisement composition doesn’t only requires caution. Our latest developer survey digs even deeper into the use of trendy phrases, as we asked participants to grade the most occurring terms according to what bothers them the most:
- New opportunity
- Short deadlines
- Motivated
- Dominant
- Dynamic
- Excellent
- Work-life balance
- Agile
- Competitive
- Driven
When using these words be extremely careful, as above mentioned terms nowadays pop-up everywhere and thus lose more and more importance and meaningfulness.
Avoid using words like ‘new opportunity,’ ‘short deadlines,’ ‘motivated,’ or ‘dynamic’ as these are concerned as job dismissal triggers. According to our survey, ‘work-life balance’ still isn’t overused in job advertisements.
How to make job advertisements more readable?
To get visibility for your job advertisements, you should aim to publish them on high-priority and frequently visited websites and job boards.
Below are some points you should avoid when creating job advertisements:
- Avoid vague phrases such as ‘experience required.’
- Don’t use technical terms and acronyms without defining them precisely.
- Don’t exaggerate your requirements for education and professional experience.
- Provide specifications of expectations from an applicant.
- Consider how long your job advertisement should be and how in detail you want to design it.
Avoiding internal jargon in job advertisements
The best copywriters never use too specific words and phrases, as the target audience isn't interested in the company first. Instead, they want to learn how certain products or services can help them.
Good content must be understandable and tailored to its readers - showing that added value awaits them. This also applies when writing tech job advertisements.
Keep in mind this question when writing ads: What is the added value for the potential candidates when they become active and decide to apply?
Avoiding misleading jargon in job advertisements
By avoiding the use of buzzwords and phrases that can be found in every second job advertisement, you stand out in the ad jungle: Browse your job advertisements and search for widely used keywords or empty phrases.
Search for the most common buzzwords that other companies use on job boards such as WeAreDevelopers - and delete them from your ads.
A good advertisement is created by the fact that everyone involved is well informed and thus performs their tasks at their best.
This means that the job description is defined as precisely as possible to avoid misinterpretations more easily, while readers are addressed in a target group-oriented manner.
Involving someone who already holds an advertised position is always practical, as they can provide descriptions and explain work processes to avoid unnecessary or misleading technical jargon when writing.
Conclusion
When designing job advertisements, think in a simple fashion and individually.
It is difficult for IT recruiters to design job advertisements to stand out from the competition. Don't just rely on supposedly cool, modern language because the best talents are also least impressed by buzzwords.
Think in a simplified way and keep the job descriptions in mind.
Design understandable and honest ads. Of course, developing individual language that stands out is desirable, but it must be company fit and look authentic from the first to the last word you say.
