Complete guide
How to write a job ad that actually gets applications
Most job ads written by small businesses are not badly written. They are internally written — a position description, lightly edited, posted in public. That is the single biggest reason a role sits open for eleven weeks while the owner wonders where everyone has gone.
A job ad is not a description of a job. It is a piece of persuasion aimed at someone who already has a job, is scrolling on their phone at 9pm, and will give you roughly nine seconds before deciding. Everything below follows from that.
The short version
- Candidates decide from the title, the salary, the location and the first two lines. Everything else is confirmation.
- Lead with what the person will do and get, not with who your company is.
- Include a pay range. Ads with pay get materially more applications than ads without.
- Cut the requirements list to what you would genuinely reject someone for. Long lists filter out the people you want.
- Make applying take under three minutes. Every extra step costs you candidates — disproportionately the good ones.
What makes a job ad work?
A job ad works when a qualified person can tell, within about nine seconds, what the job is, roughly what it pays, where it is, and why it might be better than the job they already have.
That is the whole test. Not whether the ad is comprehensive, or accurate, or approved by three people. Whether a stranger can answer those four questions fast.
Candidates do not read job ads in order. They scan the title, jump to pay, check the suburb, then read the first line or two of the body. If nothing disqualifies you, they then read properly. So the job of the ad's top third is simply to survive the scan.
What should a job ad title say?
Use the plain job title a candidate would type into a search box, optionally with one qualifier — location, seniority or specialism. Nothing else.
The title is the most important text you will write, because it does two jobs at once: it is the hook a human sees, and it is the string a search engine matches. Internal titles fail at both.
Titles that work
- Qualified Plumber — Northern Beaches
- Bookkeeper (Part-Time, 3 Days)
- Senior Dental Assistant — Geelong
- Warehouse Storeperson / Forklift (LF Licence)
Titles that quietly cost you applicants
Don't
Customer Experience Ninja
Instead
Customer Service Representative — nobody searches for 'ninja', and the people who do are not who you want.
Don't
Level 2 Operations Associate (Grade B)
Instead
Warehouse Supervisor — internal grades mean nothing outside your payroll system.
Don't
Join Our Amazing Growing Team!!
Instead
Put the role in the title. Enthusiasm is not a job title.
Don't
Administrator / Receptionist / Accounts / Marketing
Instead
Pick the dominant function. A four-slash title reads as a business that has not decided what it needs.
What should the first 40 words of a job ad say?
Open with the role in one sentence, the pay, the hours and the location — then one concrete reason this job beats the candidate's current one.
Almost every small business ad opens with the business. "Established in 1998, we are a family-owned company committed to excellence..." Nobody has ever applied for a job because of a founding date. The candidate does not care who you are yet — they care whether this is relevant to them.
Flip it. Earn the right to talk about yourself by first proving relevance.
Note the last part. Why the role exists is the most underused sentence in recruitment. Growth, a retirement, a resignation, a new contract — candidates read it as honesty, and it pre-empts the question they would otherwise ask warily at interview.
Should a job ad include a salary range?
Yes. Include a range, and keep it narrow enough to be meaningful. Ads with pay attract more applications and far fewer unsuitable ones, and pay is the first thing most candidates look for.
The usual objections are that competitors will see it, that existing staff will see it, and that you lose negotiating room. They are real concerns, but they are internal concerns, and you are paying for them in applications.
The practical counter-arguments:
- Your competitors already know what the role pays. They employ people who do it.
- If your existing staff would be upset by the range, the range is not the problem.
- A range is negotiating room. $75k–$85k tells a candidate where the conversation sits without committing you to the top.
- "Salary commensurate with experience" is universally read as less than I want. It filters out confident candidates and attracts people who will accept anything.
How long should a job ad's requirements list be?
Short. List only what you would genuinely reject a strong candidate for — usually three to five items. Everything else belongs under 'nice to have' or not at all.
The twelve-point requirements list is the most reliable way to reduce your applicant pool to people who do not read carefully. Strong candidates audit themselves against the list, find two items they cannot tick, and move on. Weaker candidates apply regardless. You have inverted your own filter.
Split the list in two, honestly:
| Non-negotiable | Nice to have |
|---|---|
| Current driver's licence | Experience in our specific industry |
| Trade qualification / registration | Familiarity with our software |
| Legal right to work in Australia | Previous supervisory experience |
| Available Tuesday–Thursday | Degree-level qualification |
Then write the nice-to-haves as an invitation rather than a hurdle: "If you've used Xero, great. If you haven't, you'll pick it up in a fortnight."
Don't
"5+ years' experience" on a role a good second-year could do
Instead
Describe the work. Someone three years in who has done exactly this beats someone six years in who has not.
Don't
"Excellent communication skills" / "team player" / "self-starter"
Instead
Cut them. They are in every ad, so they distinguish nothing, and they are not screenable.
Don't
"Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment"
Instead
Say what actually makes it fast. Candidates read this phrase as 'we are understaffed'.
How should a job ad describe the day-to-day work?
In specifics, with volumes and proportions — not in position-description verbs. Candidates are trying to picture a Tuesday, so give them one.
Compare these two attempts at the same job:
| Position-description language | What a candidate can actually picture |
|---|---|
| Responsible for accounts payable and receivable functions | About 120 invoices a week in, 60 out. Xero, with a shared inbox you'll own. |
| Liaise with internal and external stakeholders | You'll talk to six site supervisors most days and chase about ten suppliers a week. |
| Support ad-hoc projects as required | Roughly one day a month on something unusual — last quarter it was moving us off spreadsheets for job costing. |
Numbers do something subtle here. They signal that you know your own business, and they let a candidate self-select accurately — which is the entire purpose of an ad. Someone who has handled 400 invoices a week will know this is a step down; someone handling 30 will know it is a step up.
How does the apply step affect job ad completion rates?
More than anything else on this page. Every additional field, login or document request loses candidates, and it loses the in-demand ones first because they have other options.
A candidate applying for your role at 9pm on a phone is, realistically, applying for five roles. Yours is competing on friction as much as on merit.
- 1Count the steps. Open your own ad on a phone and apply for your own job. Time it. If it is over three minutes, you have a problem you can fix this afternoon.
- 2Do not require a cover letter to apply. Ask your screening question in the ad instead and let people answer it in two lines.
- 3Do not require account creation. This single requirement is the largest voluntary reduction in applicant numbers available to an employer.
- 4Do not ask for referees up front. You do not need them until the shortlist, and asking early makes candidates nervous about their current employer.
- 5Reply within 48 hours, even if it is a no. Your reputation as an employer is built mostly here, and candidates talk.
Where should an Australian job ad be posted?
Wherever the people doing that job in that suburb actually look — which for most SME roles means one or two job boards, your own careers page, and your existing network, in that order of effort.
A well-written ad on one board beats a badly written ad on five. But once the ad is right, distribution is the only lever left, and it is worth getting deliberate about — see the guide to Australian job boards for how the main options differ on cost, reach and candidate type.
For most small businesses the honest answer is: post it properly on a board that reaches local active jobseekers, put it on your own site so it can be found and shared, and send it to the three people most likely to know someone.
Common questions
How long should a job ad be?
Between 300 and 700 words for most small business roles. Shorter than 300 and candidates cannot tell whether the job suits them; longer than 700 and the parts that matter get buried. Structure matters more than length — a scannable 600-word ad outperforms a dense 400-word one.
Should I include my company name in the job ad?
Yes, in almost all cases. Named ads get more applications than confidential ones because candidates can research you before applying. The main legitimate exception is replacing someone who does not yet know they are being replaced.
What can't you say in a job ad in Australia?
You cannot specify or imply a preference based on a protected attribute — age, sex, race, disability, pregnancy, marital status, religion or political opinion, among others — unless a narrow exemption applies. In practice this rules out phrases like 'young and energetic', 'recent graduate', 'mature person' or 'Australian-born'. Describe the work and the requirements of the job instead of the person you picture doing it.
Is it worth using AI to write a job ad?
It is useful for structure and for a first draft, and it will reliably beat a copied position description. It cannot supply the things that make an ad work — the real pay range, the actual invoice volumes, why the role is open — so treat the output as a frame you fill with specifics rather than as finished copy.
Go deeper on this
Job ad templates you can actually use
Four complete worked examples, plus the reusable skeleton underneath them.
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Should you put the salary in your job ad?
The objections, honestly assessed — and what to publish when you can't publish a number.
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Advertising a role you might sponsor
What labour market testing demands of the ad itself, and the salary thresholds that decide whether sponsorship is even possible.
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Should you put the salary in your job ad?
The objections, honestly assessed — and what to publish when you can't publish a number.
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