the definitive guide to creating great postings
TRANSCRIPT
By Dice and Jessica Miller-Merrell, Xceptional HR
CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS
THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 2
Contents
THE MODERN JOB POSTING
JOB POSTING CHECKLIST
SIX JOB POSTING BEST PRACTICES
INTRODUCTION
APPENDIX
FINE TUNING
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 3
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR (@blogging4jobs) is an Internet television host, author, speaker, and human resources professional with a passion for recruiting, training, and all things social media.
Although recruiters have taken to social
media, Web forums, and other cutting-edge
channels to find top tech talent, the job
posting remains a powerful way of pulling in
candidates — provided, of course, that the
job posting stands out from the millions
of others on the Web.
Whatever the future brings — and
economists at the U.S. Financial Reserve
Board expect tech unemployment to drop
through 2017 — it is critical that you
engage, relate to and build relationships
with the right tech audiences as quickly
as possible. Otherwise, you are missing a
huge opportunity to employ the brightest
minds to drive company revenue, build
great software, and take advantage of a
growing marketplace.
In this context, a modern job posting doesn’t
just explain the position’s requirements; it
offers crucial insight into why a particular
company is an exciting place to work. It is
a narrative unto itself, an extension of
the company’s brand, and a compelling
enticement to whomever reads it.
Given the white-hot state of the tech job market (the unemployment rate for tech professionals is hovering at 3 percent), it’s become an increasingly challenging task for companies and recruiters to source and hire the best possible talent.
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 4
What is a modern job posting? So yes, a job posting is a marketing asset. It is also the hub around which a company
can build a hiring and selection process for a particular candidate. From the candidate’s
perspective, the posting offers a crucial first glimpse into the hiring process and the
company itself. It is of vital importance that the initial impression be a good one.
A job posting is different from a job advertisement. Unlike a job ad, which in its brevity and
colorfulness is the information equivalent of a highway billboard (and in the case of some
companies, may actually be a highway billboard), the job posting provides in-depth
information that tells the candidate quite a bit about the company. Think of it as analogous
to a movie trailer or a 5-minute YouTube video, one that imparts a significant (and hopefully
intriguing) amount of substance.
THE MODERN JOB POSTING
INTRODUCTION
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A job posting should be 300-500 words in
length and include bullets and headlines that
make it easy to read. The language should
be engaging, with words and phrases that
aim at a very specific type of candidate.
Why that need for exactness? Because
there are a lot of job postings, but not a lot
of candidates to fill them, especially in tech.
When you look at the numbers you can see
why it’s more important than ever to make
sure your job postings stand out.
“You have precious little real estate in your job posting. When you’re highlighting all of the factors that can motivate a job change [Advancement, Money, People, Technology] the people and culture rank higher for social people. Make sure that you have a tangible, relevant, short story of how people are selected and supported in
your company. This is NOT your boilerplate corporate message. A custom message for each team or hiring department via templates will make it more relevant, more powerful, and more real to the people you need to reach.” – Bryan Chaney, Founder, TalentBrand.org
945,00010.7 Million
23
Active Job Postings Active Job Postings
Overall U.S. Labor Market
More job postingsthan in 2013
candidates perjob posting 6 tech candidates
per job posting
20.5%
More job postingsthan in 2013
19.1. %
U.S. Tech Market
only
Source: Wanted Analytics, August 2015
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 6
No two job postings from two companies should be alike. Take the following examples:
A Conventional Approach Northrop Grumman’s job postings do a
great job of including a catchy visual and
using SEO optimization to reach a targeted
audience of qualified candidates. (SEO
optimization is fairly obvious when text
repeats a word multiple times on a webpage,
but other, more subtle indicators include
bolded texts, tagged words or combinations,
and use of larger fonts for headlines.)
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An Unconventional Approach
Compare Northrop Grumman’s posting
to the very non-traditional one created by
a tech company in San Diego, CA; that
posting does not take the same “optimized”
approach to its text or presentation.
Northrop Grumman’s job posting is simple
yet effective because it creates a clear
differentiation between the company and its
rivals competing in the same talent pool, while
using graphics to emphasize the company
culture and employee benefits. The posting
clearly explains the hiring process, people,
and the working environment.
The posting from the San Diego company
takes a completely different approach, which
probably limits its potential to attract suitable
applicants. Sure, the prose is efficient and
takes some eye-catching risks, emphasizing
salary and benefits while extolling the need
for “great f$*%ing” developers. However,
the posting is a bit too vague; there’s no
mention of the company’s name or culture,
or the position’s responsibilities, training,
or advancement opportunities.
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 8
SIX JOB POSTING BEST PRACTICESWith so much competition to get candidate eyes on job postings, it is important to embrace some best practices in order to reach the most qualified people.
1 Showcase Your Brand
Building and establishing an employment
brand is an increasingly important part
of attracting best-in-class candidates.
By showcasing your brand, you provide
candidates with information about why your
company is a great place to work, insights
into the culture and why your organization
matters to your employees.
“Employees, especially Millennials, care
about the culture they are working in. Give
them a reason to opt in. Start simple with a
brief summary or history about what makes
your company stand out in the first 2-3
sentences of your job posting,” said Linda
Blackmon, CEO of ExtendMyStaff.
Excellent compensation, an emphasis
on work-life balance and exciting work
challenges are the three qualities that
attract tech talent to apply to a job. It is
important to clearly identify how your
FINE TUNING
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 9
technology is a game-changer in your
industry, and how it offers value that is
different from peer companies.
When developing a posting, talk with
current employees to understand what
drew them to your organization. That can
give you some of the insight necessary to
establish an attractive employment brand.
2 Accurately Represent the Job Opening
The best job postings provide information
on the qualifications and skill sets needed
in order to be successful in the role. This
is especially important in STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
roles, where even very minute differences
can keep you from reaching a qualified
candidate base.
The single most important part of your
job posting is the title. Like an email subject
line, it is the first piece of information your
candidate will read. It should accurately
describe the job, provide information
about the skill sets required, and
encourage the candidate to either explore
or move along to another opportunity.
Paul Debettignies, Principal at Minnesota
Headhunter, LLC, recruits and consults
with tech startups in the Minneapolis and
St. Paul areas. He suggests avoiding using
company acronyms and company-specific
job titles in your headlines, as well as within
the body of the job posting: “Candidates
are searching for specific skill sets,
qualifications and areas of specialization,
and not Senior Engineering Level II Guru.
A poor job posting headline can keep you
from reaching the best talent and draw out
the hiring process possibly indefinitely.”
“Your current employees undoubtedly feel an affinity with your company’s values; if they didn’t, they probably wouldn’t be working for you! Values
provide a foundation for action and behavior, shape the company culture, and support the organization’s vision. Socializing and reinforcing the values will help you understand how they resonate with employees and that, in turn, will guide you in the creation of a compelling message to candidates.” – Robin Schooling, Managing Director/Owner, Silver Zebras
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EXAMPLES OF GOOD JOB TITLES
Lead Java Developer
Java Software Developer: Web UI
iCloud Java Server Engineer
Java Software Engineer (Identity Platform)
PPC Manager – Fashion/Apparel – Google AdWords/Bing Ads (Even though this doesn’t include ‘Java,’ it is a specific position for an internal division or product)
EXAMPLES OF POOR JOB TITLES
UI & J2EE Architect / Java Developer / Java Lead / Java Solution Architect (Too many variations, so it’s hard to know the actual nature of the position.)
IMMEDIATE HIRE – Core Java Developer (Terms like ‘immediate hire’ and ‘multiple positions’ are misleading and make the position feel spammy.)
8863 iOS Developer – Engineer/Sr. Engineer Innovation (Includes a random job number that is only understandable by the Employer.)
When writing job postings, think about
how your audience searches for a new
role. I suggest talking with recent hires to
learn more about how they sort through
job postings, including what keywords and
skill sets they use in their search. Use this
information to optimize your job posting
through SEO strategies.
SEO optimization enhances your job
postings (or other Web pages) in the eyes
of search engines, improving the likelihood of
discovery via Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The
practice involves creating a list of keywords;
I recommend selecting no more than 3 to 5.
Recruiters should focus on the “organic” or
unpaid keywords the candidates may enter
into a search engine when looking for a
job. Those keywords (which you should list
before composing the posting) include job
title, main skills and geographic location. Web
crawlers rank content at the beginning of
the page as the most important; if you want
a solid example of SEO at work, look at the
next page to see how Lululemon structured
their senior UX strategist job posting.
THE RIGHT TITLE FOR THE RIGHT JOBThe posting title grabs the attention of your targeted candidate and draws them in, making them want to learn more about the job role and responsibilities.
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 11
Many products exist to help you determine
which keywords to use, but I recommend
using common sense by putting yourself
in your candidates’ shoes. Start by using
Google’s Adword Keyword Search tool as
you begin optimizing and experimenting.
SEO also allows recruiters to reach a very
targeted and specific audience.
By focusing your efforts on a small number
of keywords, you increase the likelihood that
your job posting will appear earlier in search
results. Your posting will also rank higher
if you bold your keywords, use bullets and
include keywords in headlines.
While brevity isn’t a crucial element in SEO,
it can only help your posting. For his part,
Debettignies has seen a gradual shrinkage
in the length of job postings: “We are
making the requirements on the job posting
much shorter. There is no need for 17 bullet
points on an iOS Developer job posting.
They know if they are one or not. Some
context is needed for skills but we generally
eliminate a long check list.”
Feature job title, key tech skills and location at beginning of the job posting
Include 3 to 5 focus keywords in the posting
Select low-competition search terms
Bold your keywords and use them as headings
Include photos and other media to increase optimization
Sprinkle your keywords 3 to 5 times in your posting
1
2
3
5
6
4
SEO BEST PRACTICES
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 12
[Sony Playstation] Staff/Senior Software Engineer, SHAREfactory TeamSony Computer Entertainment, San Diego, CA Posted 1 Week Ago
Software Engineer 2NORTHROP GRUMMAN San Diego, CA
C++, Game industry experience, video/audio development a plus
Position Id: 158895
Have a Job?
Similar Positions
Full Time, Full-Time
145000
Telecommuting not available Travel not required
Post it
Apply Now Save Email Share
3 Create a Great Call to Action
You’ve worked hard to create an effective
posting for the candidates, giving them
insights into what you can offer their
careers, beyond just another place to work.
Now it’s time to conclude with a call to
action that drives those candidates to apply.
Keep your call to action short and to the
point. In theory it could be as simple as,
“Apply here,” but you want your call to action
to stand out from those of your competitors.
Take a look at your competitors’ job postings
and consider conducting A/B tests with
different colors and calls to action to see
what drives better results.
Examples of Calls to Action:
Apply Now
Apply Here
Work Here
Join Our Team
Join Our Talent Network
A great call to action is the last opportunity
to convert a tech pro from prospect into
candidate. Be direct. Be brief. Be different.
And always ask them directly to apply.
On the career site of Sony’s PlayStation
division, there’s a call to action button
included on both the top and bottom of
their job postings, ensuring candidates
can easily understand the next step in the
hiring process and what actions they need
to “Apply Online.” Their position titles are
extremely specific, allowing engineers to
better determine if they have the skills,
qualifications and experience to work there.
The company takes its call to action another
step further, encouraging job seekers to
share the opening on social media and even
email the job posting to a friend.
What’s great about Dice is that it bakes
these features into their standard job
posting, increasing candidate conversions
and shares via social media and email.
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 13
4 Consider Technology
The actual website and location of your job
posting is just as important as the content,
copy and call to action. You must consider
technology and how applicants will interact
with and experience your employment brand.
Try to regularly test your own job posting and
application process from the perspective of
a candidate to understand how technology
plays a role in the experience. Each job-
posting platform (job board, career website
or blog) produces a different candidate
experience. Consider the importance of
mobile, special features, talent networks and
apps. This is especially important since job
boards remain the number one source of
hires, according to a CareerXroads study.
Mobile is a key technology to consider as
part of a job-posting strategy. Candidates
increasingly use their mobile devices to
search and apply for jobs. According to a
study from Jobvite, recruiters who use mobile
in their recruiting efforts see a 14 percent
improved time to hire and a 13 percent
increase in quality of candidates.
Mobile job search activities come in
many forms:
Accessing social media via smartphone
Video (whether live or via sites like Facebook and YouTube)
Your mobile optimized career site
Mobile app use
Mobile apply
Mobile research via the web
Sourcing via mobile by your recruits for candidates
Mobile touches nearly every aspect of
a candidate’s job search, as well as the
recruiter’s workflow. It is important to
understand what technology candidates
use to not just apply but also view, research
and engage with your company. With this
in mind, make a point of talking to recent
hires and past job candidates about the job
search preferences and habits that led to
them applying at your company.
14%%44Improved time
to hire
Use of Mobile in Recruiting
13%%Increase in quality
of candidates
Source: Jobvite
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 14
5 Engage and Share via Social Media
Social media is a great way to share your
job posting as well as engage with your
candidate community. Seventy-three percent
of adults use social media in their everyday
lives. It’s a channel that puts candidates
in direct contact with recruiters and places
your employment brand front and center.
On the next page is a list of social recruiting
tips to get you started on the right foot with
sharing and engagement. While each tip is
extremely important, perhaps the most vital
aspect is remembering not to ”overshare”
or spam your candidates. Personalize
your messages. Answer questions. Build
relationships, and most importantly, do not
automate all of your job postings. Depending
on the size of your organization, you might
have dozens or even hundreds of new job
openings. Oversharing can alienate your
social media community of tech pros. Even
enterprises as large as Hewlett-Packard
have chosen to feature one daily job posting
on their social networks, use custom hash
tags, and focus on building relationships
with their social media community.
Twitter job cards such as #Dice141 are
another great way to highlight a specific
opening to a targeted community. Twitter is
a favorite among tech pros and is the third
most popular search engine behind Google
and YouTube. Job cards allow you to go
beyond the 140-character limit and focus
a specific job posting using keywords,
location and benefits. Twitter job cards
extend the life of a tweet beyond its 15
minutes of fame.
Hashtags are the best way for recruiters
to reach a very targeted network that
might or might not be following you. I
consider hashtags the Dewey decimal
system of social media, allowing others to
find you and build new connections and
communities. Recruiters can use hashtags
by job type (like #javadeveloper), city name
(like #sf or #sanfrancisco), or the #job or
#jobs hashtags to tell other Twitter users
that the tweet contains information about a
job or job opening. Tech professionals tend
to search for jobs by skill, so highlighting
core skills with hashtags in your tweets is
key to getting them found.
“ I have found social media job sharing most effective when it comes from individual recruiters as well as hiring managers. Social media allows you to connect on a personal level, helps establish relationships and tap into a network of new candidates directly from your employees,” – Kim Hollenshead, Senior Recruiter, Zenoss
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 15
Another popular trend among employer
brands is to create a company-specific
hashtag that encourages the sharing by
members of your recruiting team as well
as employees. Hashtags like #AskATT,
#TeamAmtrack and #AdobeLife all promote
employee engagement and sharing. Equally
important is the organization of company job
postings on Twitter and other social media
sites, which is why I recommend creating
a company-specific job posting hashtag to
organize social media job postings. HP has
done an excellent job of making searching
for their featured jobs easy on social media
with their hashtag, #HPcareers.
TWITTER RECRUITING TIPS
Personalize your messaging and don’t spam
Post between 1-5 job openings per day, just don’t overdo it
Use visual networks such as Instagram and Vine to reach different candidate communities
Utilize Twitter Job Cards such as #Dice141
Keep it short (under 110 characters) for reposting and retweeting
Use hashtags to increase your candidate and community reach
Use the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of content should interest your audience and engage in conversations, 20 percent should promote your brand and jobsTake advantage of
Twitter’s powerful search engine
5
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 16
Social Recruiting Beyond Twitter
While Twitter is certainly an engaging
network, recruiters have a variety of options
when it comes to social media to connect,
showcase their brand and engage with
a very targeted candidate community.
Social networks such as Vine, SnapChat,
Instagram, LinkedIn as well as Facebook
offer a great way to reach candidates.
Blizzard Entertainment understands the
importance of creating a clear differentiation
with their job postings. A recent social post
looking for a “Java the Hutt” is shown below.
As Lorren Guerra, Talent Acquisition Leader
at Blizzard explains: “The Java the Hutt job
posting was an introduction to a more formal
job description. It generated a large amount of
positive feedback from candidates especially
via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.”
Because social media is still a relatively new
platform with which to engage and reach
candidates, they offer an opportunity for
recruiters to innovate. Regardless of
the social network, hashtags remain an
important part of any social recruiting or
social engagement strategy. They provide
recruiters an opportunity to engage
established communities and expand reach.
CH2M Hill has more than 25,000
employee across the globe. The company
successfully leveraged social media
platforms such as Facebook to reach highly
critical engineering roles. Rather than use
status updates or targeted advertisements
on social networks, CH2M Hill found the
most success in posting to social-media
groups such as online engineering
communities and alumni networks.
Social recruiting strategies are as different
as job candidates themselves. The key to
effective social recruiting and using social
media begins with understanding your
audience and metrics in order to gauge
which social platform drives the most
results and what success looks like to your
recruiting team.
The most feared lead software engineer in the galaxy, Java is wanted for gangster
programming skills, veteran leadership, and battle-tested experience. From Blizzard’s
throne room in Irvine, CA, Java will lead an elite Battle.net web team to provide
an entire universe of fans with high performance online
experiences. Whereabouts currently unknown, although
given the history of passion for server-side and scalable
server architecture, Death Star ties possible. Java should
be considered armed and extremely talented. All teams
recruit with deadly intent. No disintegration!
WANTED: JAVA THE HUTTFrom Blizzard Entertainment
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 17
6 Create Clear Differentiation
The best recruiters research their competition
tirelessly and are prepared to answer
questions, overcome objections and sell the
role in this competitive, candidate-driven
marketplace. The best job postings create
a clear message that sets them apart from
other employers.
Testimonials are a powerful way to share
what makes your organization unique
and a great place to work. The best
testimonials come directly from your
employees. Companies such as Twilio
are combining video with testimonials (in
Twilio’s case, a YouTube channel called
Twilio Life) that coordinate with their
employment branding and social media
efforts. The testimonials focus not just on
employees but also on specific teams,
including sales and engineering.
Beyond research and employee testimonials,
visual media helps to set employers apart
from one another. This includes photography,
videos and other digital assets that
complement your job posting.
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 18
Hootsuite recently executed a live-streaming
video campaign on Periscope, called
#followthesun, where they Scoped across
the organization and in different locations
throughout the course of a day, building
awareness of a number of open positions
at their company. The campaign, which was
the first of its kind in recruiting, resulted in
230 new social media followers and 5,078
views of their Scopes.
“Understanding the candidate’s needs, thoughts, feelings and behaviors will guarantee an open door to a better communication. It is also essential for brands to be authentic and genuine in the way we communicate with our audiences. Consistently incorporating these components in your
job postings will increase your ability to attract more of the right candidates, and filter out people that are not a culture fit.” – Andres Traslavina, Global Recruiting Sr. Manager, HR Whole Foods Market
Crafting the perfect job posting that attracts the best talent for your organization
takes a great deal of research, preparation and work. Know your audience, keep
an eye on your competition and understand what organizational values attract great
talent and keep them productively working for your company.
Job postings are the ultimate marketing tool to reach the most qualified candidates,
but that’s only the beginning. In this competitive tech job market, companies must
go beyond job postings to consider social networking platforms that grow your brand,
tell your story and expand your reach. With effort and creativity, you can achieve your
ultimate goal of hiring the best talent.
FINAL THOUGHTS
DICE THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT JOB POSTINGS 19
Job Title
• Create an eye-catching yet descriptive
job title; for example, Lead Java Engineer
rather than Software Engineer III
• Keep your job posting headline short
under 100 characters
Skills, Keywords and SEO
• Include necessary tech skills and
descriptive keywords that are specific
to the role
• Use low competition, long tail keywords
to reach a targeted candidate —
adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
is a good starting point
Tell a Story
• Talk about what makes your company
unique and a great place to work
• What’s a typical day look like?
• How will the person help the company
meet its goals?
• Get to the point — keep your job posting
under 500 words
Formatting and Graphics
• Use bullets to separate and list skills and
qualifications making your job posting
more visually appealing and easier to read
• Use media including video and graphics
to set yourself apart from the competition
The Nitty Gritty
• Salary range
• Contract vs. Permament
• Telecommuting Options
• Location
• Unique perks, training and benefits
Applying Should Be Easy
• Make it easy to share, save or apply
to your job
• Have a clear call to action
• Test posting and application process
on mobile
Promote Your Jobs on Social Media
• Include Hashtags
• Use Facebook/LinkedIn Groups
• Twitter Job Cards
• Experiment with other platforms like Vine,
Periscope or Instagram
Measure and Track success
• Cost per hire
• Time to Fill
• Source per hire
JOB POSTING CHECKLIST