Crafting an effective job posting is as much an art as it is a science. A well-optimized job posting will present well on job boards, be easily searchable and be enticing to the candidates you are targeting to fill the role. Furthermore, optimized posts tend to generate more qualified applications and can reduce the time to hire. Our data has shown that successful jobs tend to have at least around 50 candidates over their posting duration.
While there are a number of variables that influence how well a job performs, found below are some of our recommendations to consider when posting your job post.
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Job title
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When considering what to title the posting, remove extra or descriptive terms which can instead be placed within the job description itself.
If you are hiring for a Sales Representative, that should be the job title. Avoid using all capital letters, jargon, or special characters (like &, $, !) as this can impact the visibility of the job in search results. Using terms like ‘Ninja’ or ‘Guru’ can be eye-catching when found, but the job itself will struggle to appear in search results as candidates are unlikely to use terms like these when searching for their next job.
If you’re targeting candidates with a certain level of experience, you may want to specify the career level in your title (e.g. Entry-Level Accountant).
Start typing in the job title field to see Workable's suggestions.
In summary:
- Use common job titles that candidates will easily understand
- Be concise and specific
- Specify the career level in your title
- Avoid jargon, special formatting, exclamation points
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Job location
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Many job boards require a post/zip code to advertise your job. If you’re recruiting for the same job in different locations, clone the job and adjust the location.
When hiring for remote positions - where the candidate will be permanently remote - choose the Remote workplace and add at least a country (or state) under the 'Employee location' field.
For jobs that offer work-from-home flexibility or where work will be done between the office and an alternate location, choose the Hybrid workplace and add at least a city under the 'Office location' field.
In summary:
- Always use detailed location info with a post/zip code (when you can)
- Follow these guidelines depending on the workplace type of the job you're hiring for
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Job description
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Did you know?You can create an AI-generated job description in seconds.
A job description should be detailed enough to allow candidates to determine if they’re qualified for the position. It should also communicate important details about your company — its culture and the benefits it provides employees. In general, we’ve found that the optimal job length is around 1,400 characters. The reason for this is that more candidates view job postings through a mobile device and this provides enough room to adequately describe the role while maintaining readability across multiple device types.
We’ve broken this down into 3 main components, with the primary focus being to set and manage candidate expectations as early as possible during the hiring process:
Description
Start with a clear role description and how it relates to the company. Include a brief overview of company culture/industry and explain why the role is essential. Share important requirements and benefits early on to discourage unsuitable candidates. Provide examples of daily activities and define success in the role.
Requirements
Provide enough detail for viewers to self-qualify and apply if suitable. Highlight required skills, education, certification, and experience for success. Use gender-neutral language to be inclusive, such as replacing "competitive" with "goal-oriented."
Benefits
Specify compensation, perks, and benefits offered to save time in the hiring process. An exact salary range is more appealing than delaying the discussion of this information.
In summary:
- Aim to write around 1,400 characters
- Use relevant keywords and terms to describe duties and responsibilities
- Provide relevant information early on
- Give job seekers a sense of your organization’s style and culture
- Be specific with perks, salary, and other benefits
- Keep the language gender-neutral
Did you know?-
Setting other job details
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You can specify certain aspects of a job to directly influence how it’s displayed in candidates’ searches, email notifications, and filtering.
Below the job editor, fill in all the fields that appear for the best results. Each option will help you reach more of the right candidates.
Choose the most relevant option for the job. Some fields are not editable since the selections map to the specific ways that boards categorize posts. Find an option that’s a good fit. You can always provide more background in the description.
The “Keywords” section has hidden functionality that will parse resume details and help you source candidates. Add important terms or skills that candidates should ideally have. However, keep in mind that for the best search engine optimization you should also include key search terms naturally in the description.
In summary:
- Fill in all job details, choosing the most relevant option
- To get specific, include details in the description
- Keywords are helpful to include, but be sure they appear in the description too
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Application form
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When creating an application form, consider the information that would already be present in a candidate’s resume or CV. Avoid redundant, overly personal questions or those that do not assist your Hiring Team in determining whether a candidate should get that first interview. The application form should be treated as the first point of screening for candidates and questions should relate back to the job’s requirements.
Consider the time investment required to complete the form against the role, and adjust accordingly. Questions designed to determine a candidate’s personality, cultural fit or aptitude for a given skill can take a back-seat or be omitted entirely since these
Consider the time investment required for the form and adjust accordingly. Omit or prioritize questions related to personality, cultural fit, or skill aptitude since they are often repeated in interviews or assessments further down the line.
In summary:
- Work collaboratively with the hiring team to determine critical questions to assist with the initial screening
- Avoid asking for details that would already be present in the CV / Resume
- Keep the form quick and easy to fill out, extensive forms can mean more candidate drop off
Did you know?Our application form feature provides a variety of different question types and custom fields; you can even automatically disqualify candidates based on their question responses.
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Publishing the job
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With your job post optimized, you’re ready to publish! Clicking the Publish button will send your post out to all available free job boards. Review the Find Candidates tab to see exactly where the job will be posted.
Workable sends your job out immediately, but it can take up to 36 hours for the post to go live everywhere as job boards collect the post.
Be sure to spread the word through your company and on social media too.
Did you know?You can make edits to your application form and description later on if needed. Updates sync to everywhere that you’ve published.