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Ivan Petkov

I've been on both sides as a person seeking employment, reading multiple postings and in the position of someone composing postings to find the best possible applicant for a position. This article is an attempt to summarize my experience and share it in the shortest possible, clear and comprehensible manner. I will mention the most important at the outset by explaining why the word "art" is in the title. The job posting is a special "art genre", because in its relatively small volume you need to tell many things, draw the interest of the exact people from the target group of professionals, make the posting distinguish among other postings, and more, and more. Obviously, it is not so simple to write a good job posting. Or at least, it is not so simple when it comes to recruiting qualified staff, which is scarce, even in times of crisis. Even in times of crisis, there are areas where it is difficult to recruit a good specialist.

I will list the standard parts that may be present in a job posting, and they are:
- Company Information
- Profile of desired candidate
- Nature of work
- What the company offers
-'Technical' information concerning the application process: reference number of the posting, required documents, deadlines, methods of application (by e-mail or through the website), confidentiality of information and feedback (which applicants will be notified - the most common practice is those approved only on the base of the documents required), etc.
- Any additional information in case it is necessary.

The arrangement of the parts specified above is not necessarily the right one, given that the various job offering websites have their own structure to be followed.

Volume. Everything we want the applicants to know about us and what we think would draw their interest and sort out some of the most suitable applications to a certain degree. A very long and descriptive posting will surely lose the applicants’ attention somewhere in the middle and might not emphasize the most important points which we want to underline. A too short posting loses its informative nature and has the same adverse effect. For this purpose, it is better to highlight the advantages that will make us prefer one candidate to another.

Clichés. There are standard terms that are difficult not to use. Surely, there are clichés that are necessarily not to use. As I think, template postings attract more template applicants and CVs. This is so because the posting is literally lost among many others. But even if the quantity of postings is small and the competitive ads targeting the same target group of specialists are less in number, the clichés do not contribute to a good informative posting. Tip: Cliché can be avoided with some degree of descriptiveness and originality. It is important not to go too far not to lose the focus of the posting. It must be distinctive and not too extravagant and incomprehensible for this reason.

Swiss knife. So I called the ads seeking a "broad specialist", but so broad that part of the required skills are not relevant to the nature of his work. If you are still looking for some additional skills, they can be specified as additional requirements, which would not be fatal if not present. Of course, it should not be overdone.

Clarity. Perhaps this is the most important thing. After the applicant reads our posting, he or she should get a basic idea about the company in which he or she applies, for what position, what the requirements are, what he or she will receive from the company, how to apply and when to expect a possible invitation for an interview. If the posting does not contain this, no matter how it looks, how original it is and distinctive, it has not done its job.

Finally, the question that changed my view to writing a job posting: "If I read this ad, would I apply for it?" Of course, the posting should not meet only your expectations and criteria, but even if you think the posting is not intriguing, then what's the point of it?

General advice: If a posting has not served its purpose, make a brief analysis and change the things that you think could be improved. It is obvious, but often the pattern of job postings drag for a long time practices that bring unclear results, but have amazing popularity.

Ultimately, the rules are more guidelines with practices that have proved effective in a given period of time, rather than hard limits. If a posting comes to the right people you are looking for, it does not matter whether it meets the recommendations and guidelines. As they say, the colour of the cat, black or white, is not important. What matters is whether it catches mice.