How to write powerful online job copy
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Effective CopywritingHow to write powerful online job copy that
attracts the best talent worldwide
Jeremy Pointer Global Business Development Director
About jobs.ac.uk Launched 15 years ago by University of Warwick
7,100 customers worldwide including 875+ universities
554,222 PhD qualified jobseekers
10 times more effective than other recruitment
media combined for academic and research appointments
1,385,555 unique users per month (ABC audited)
Who are we?
What is the biggest recruitment challenge for universities?
Source: jobs.ac.uk Recruiter Survey May 2013
Can online job copy help?
A well-constructed job ad acts like a funnel:
• Attracting a wide audience
• Discourages weaker candidates (setting the standard)
• Reducing recruitment costs (direct and indirect)
• Increasing process efficiency
Who are you targeting?
What you say depends on who you’re talking to
So make sure your advert connects with your audience through:
The best place to start defining your audience!
Use it to determine
• 3 most important desirable requirements that might differentiate a candidate
Use the person specification
They need to be meaningful attributes that will differentiate and that you can measure
“excellent international
publication record”
“hold a PhD (or be near to completion), or the
equivalent in academic/professional
qualifications and experience”
A good advert will include:
• Descriptive job title
• The job role - the opportunity!
• The job requirements - profile of the ideal candidate
• Salary and benefits
Advert checklist
• Too much technical detail about the role
• Too much technical jargon
• Too many ‘unnecessary’ words
• Too much emphasis on the job
• Not enough emphasis on the ideal candidate
Advert checklist
Manager - Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies
Nurse
7 avg. jobs viewed per visit
26 avg. time spent per advert (seconds)
4,000+ jobs advertised daily on jobs.ac.uk
Attention span is short on the web
Relevant
Exciting
Different
Memorable
Concise
Clear
Informative
Be clear, be concise
• Emphasise what is key
• De-emphasise what is secondary
• Eliminate what is unimportant!
• Break text up and avoid words that add ‘padding’
• Use short paragraphs and bulleted lists for easy reading
• Sub headings to separate university introduction, job duties and candidate specifications etc
• Highlight important points in bold
• Don’t just copy and paste job descriptions!
• Never assume the jobseeker knows
Tips to make your job advert sharper!
But don’t be too concise!
Would this make you want to apply?
• job boards work on a keyword relevancy basis when matching job vacancies with jobseeker searches
• Gender discrimination
• Racial discrimination
• Age discrimination
• Disability discrimination
Be careful of superlatives that might be seen as discriminatory e.g.
• Early career
Be legally compliant
• Emphasis your brand
• Why should jobseekers choose your University?
So what's your story?
Clarify your message 3
Optimise with keywords 4
Jeremy Pointer Global Business Development Director
About jobs.ac.uk Launched 15 years ago by University of Warwick
7,100 customers worldwide including 875+ universities
554,222 PhD qualified jobseekers
10 times more effective than other recruitment
media combined for academic and research appointments
1,385,555 unique users per month (ABC audited)
Who are we?
What is the biggest recruitment challenge for universities?
Source: jobs.ac.uk Recruiter Survey May 2013
Can online job copy help?
A well-constructed job ad acts like a funnel:
• Attracting a wide audience
• Discourages weaker candidates (setting the standard)
• Reducing recruitment costs (direct and indirect)
• Increasing process efficiency
Who are you targeting?
What you say depends on who you’re talking to
So make sure your advert connects with your audience through:
The best place to start defining your audience!
Use it to determine
• 3 most important desirable requirements that might differentiate a candidate
Use the person specification
They need to be meaningful attributes that will differentiate and that you can measure
“excellent international
publication record”
“hold a PhD (or be near to completion), or the
equivalent in academic/professional
qualifications and experience”
A good advert will include:
• Descriptive job title
• The job role - the opportunity!
• The job requirements - profile of the ideal candidate
• Salary and benefits
Advert checklist
• Too much technical detail about the role
• Too much technical jargon
• Too many ‘unnecessary’ words
• Too much emphasis on the job
• Not enough emphasis on the ideal candidate
Advert checklist
Manager - Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies
Nurse
7 avg. jobs viewed per visit
26 avg. time spent per advert (seconds)
4,000+ jobs advertised daily on jobs.ac.uk
Attention span is short on the web
Relevant
Exciting
Different
Memorable
Concise
Clear
Informative
Be clear, be concise
• Emphasise what is key
• De-emphasise what is secondary
• Eliminate what is unimportant!
• Break text up and avoid words that add ‘padding’
• Use short paragraphs and bulleted lists for easy reading
• Sub headings to separate university introduction, job duties and candidate specifications etc
• Highlight important points in bold
• Don’t just copy and paste job descriptions!
• Never assume the jobseeker knows
Tips to make your job advert sharper!
But don’t be too concise!
Would this make you want to apply?
• job boards work on a keyword relevancy basis when matching job vacancies with jobseeker searches
• Gender discrimination
• Racial discrimination
• Age discrimination
• Disability discrimination
Be careful of superlatives that might be seen as discriminatory e.g.
• Early career
Be legally compliant
• Emphasis your brand
• Why should jobseekers choose your University?
So what's your story?
Clarify your message 3
Optimise with keywords 4
