5 Reasons Finding Your Perfect Hire Starts with A Great Job Posting
An acquaintance recently asked me for my number one piece of hiring advice.
In all honesty, I knew what to say in about 1.2 seconds…
Write a phenomenal job posting.
You could be the best manager in the world, but if you don’t have great talent applying for your open position, it’s not going to matter. Attracting the RIGHT people to your job begins with drafting a job posting that’s compelling, detailed and shows applicants exactly what type of job it is.
If your job posting doesn’t do this? Great candidates are way less likely to apply. And, it makes sense: top freelancers are totally selective when it comes to the jobs they apply for.
Meaning? They only apply for the opportunities that seem to fit them best. If a posting doesn’t align with their interests, skills and goals, they’re going to pass.
The keys to crafting a great job posting
Beyond attracting excellent freelancers, a great job posting can mean so much more for your business. Here are 5 more reasons you need to draft an exceptional job posting if you want to hire the best fit for your business.
1. A great job posting forces you to get specific about your ideal candidate.
When drafting a great job posting, one of the most important aspects is visualizing the person you’d like to fill the role and then writing directly to that person.
What does their experience look like? What are their career goals? What’s their work style?
Focusing on what makes a person successful in the role allows you to draft the position in a way that targets the exact type of candidate you want to hire. I suggest writing down a list of characteristics and past experience you desire in a perfect candidate, and then weaving a few of those into the posting.
2. You’ll get clarity on exactly why you need to hire help in your business.
Beyond knowing who you need on a deeper level, a solid job posting will also help you determine WHAT you need. When most people hire, they know they need support, plain and simple, and that’s about the extent of it.
You may have an idea about which tasks you want help with or what you’d like to outsource first. But strong job postings are super clear about these details.
As you draft a job posting, consider:
What projects would you ideally hand off to a freelancer first?
What kind of position could you create around those tasks?
Remember: Freelancers are often specialists. They focus on their skill set, and they tap into what they’re really good at and deliver that to multiple clients.
So you won’t want to include every single task you need help with -- from social media planning and photo editing to project managing and scheduling -- in your job posting. Those need to be broken down into multiple positions if you truly need help in every area.
Pick an avenue (ideally one that you need the most support with), and include project details about what you need help with in that specific area in your job posting.
3. Your job opportunity will stand out among the noise in online job postings.
With detailed descriptions about the position and your ideal freelancer, you’ll be miles and miles ahead of other job posters.
Most people simply don’t want to put the effort and time into a thoughtful job posting, or they don’t have the wherewithal to put something strategic together. Sometimes, too, they just want to quickly cast a net and see what turns up.
Desperation for support drives a lot of people, and it makes sense. Many entrepreneurs don’t hire until it’s too late — until they’re too bogged down, too burned out or too overwhelmed to hire with intention.
But taking those extra steps to really understand who and what you need will allow the best freelancers to know you are serious about hiring someone long-term and creating a mutually beneficial partnership.
Those are the types of roles freelancers are eager to apply for.
4. Top freelancers will know exactly what you’re about in the first few seconds of reading your posting.
A good job posting doesn’t necessarily mean a lengthy one. It’s more about infusing the right content.
I always recommend starting a posting with a little information about who you’re looking for, plus who you are and what the role entails at a high level.
You don’t need anything more than a couple of short paragraphs — and this will give potential applicants a peek into why they should want to join your team. It’s like the bait to keep them reading and wanting to hit “apply” as they continue through the job posting.
If a freelancer sees some vague job description or feels like a job poster isn’t being forthright, they’ll easily get spooked and click away. There are a LOT of sketchy opportunities online, and good freelancers know which ones to avoid. Don’t let it be yours.
5. You get to ask for specific details and questions from applicants.
One of my favorite parts about writing amazing job postings that yield dozens of applicants is asking for specific details from applicants in the application instructions.
In fact, it’s one of my best kept secrets… because I actually DON’T even ask for cover letters.
Instead, I ask applicants to answer specific questions about their work, experience and even personal things like hobbies, personality types or favorite things.
This lets me compare applicants against one another based on their answers, rather than paging through a bunch of random cover letters that talk about different things.
Have an obsession with efficiency? Ask applicants what their productivity style is like! Is the Enneagram a window to your soul? Prompt candidates to share what their number is and what that means to them!
You’ll be able to see so much more fully whether someone will fit with your company culture and your personality for the long run.
Drafting an exceptional job posting changes everything about the hiring process.
It also makes finding your ideal hire all the easier and less stressful.
Are you looking for the right tool to help you craft a killer job posting?
Snag my free job posting template with everything you need to advertise your position and attract the best.
