Adverts are often the first contact someone has with our organisation. This is an opportunity for you to market the role and the benefits of working for the Trust.
To attract the right candidates to apply for your vacancy, you need a great job advert that makes them want to click the ‘apply online now’ button.
The aim of a job advert is to attract interest and communicate the essential, appealing and relevant aspects of the job quickly and clearly.
The tone, style and language of an advert will help attract applicants and will also convey our brand and culture.
When writing an advert:
- Speak to the applicant – use ‘you’ instead of ‘the candidate’ or ‘the post holder’.
- Use down to earth/warm language – be human and approachable, you want the candidate to feel like you are talking to them.
- Use active (rather than passive) tense where possible – for example, ‘you’ll plan, organise and deliver activities for service users’, rather than, ‘the post holder will be responsible for planning, organising and delivering activities for service users’.
- Avoid naming the Trust in the third person – use ‘us’, ‘we’ instead.
- Avoid acronyms, jargon and buzzwords – write in a language that all applicants will understand. If you must include an acronym, write it out fully before noting the short form in brackets, for example, Continuous Professional Development (CPD).
- Avoid using language that is too complex – may give the sense of inaccessibility.