What's an effective strategy for writing a job ad?

Question

I think I'm an avid subscriber to Joel's Smart and Gets Things Done hiring philosophy. My question is whether there's a job ad authoring strategy that will help attract the people you want. Our list of desires (um, requirements) is basically the kitchen sink... c++ experience, machine learning, SQL, both java- and .NET-based web apps, yada, yada. I find it hard to believe that such a candidate really exists, and certainly not in our geographical location. Should I spam the ad with the laundry list of skills requirements, or should I be more concise with some more fundamental skills? Also, what sort of sugar coating can I put on it to discourage the underperforming?

Answer 1

Go for concise. This lends you a lot more perceived credibility IMO. Remember the technical job market is flooded with recruiters spamming buzzwords, you making a well written, concise ad would be a breath of fresh air to a weary job seeker.

Answer 2

Only list the job skills you're really interested in. Most tech job ads look like alphabet soup and yours will stand out.

Answer 3

I think the best ads are honest about what technologies you'd be expected to work with on day one, so include a "laundry list" - candidates who know how the world works shouldn't be discouraged from applying if they don't know all of them cold before their first day, because we work in a field where you learn things on the job (things change too fast not to!).

I think the most important thing to do on the ad is to make people interested and excited about working for you, to get them to submit a resume. The good candidates should be looking for you, and not the other way around.

Answer 4

I vote concise also.

To discourage the underperforming - Leave out pay, scares away those that are just looking for a bigger buck. As an inexperienced programmer I say this first hand ;)

Answer 5

Here's an excellent article that points out how to attract great developers.

Answer 6

Yes, just looking at the list of all the acronyms in the industry in a job ad repels me to proceed further.

I get attracted to concise description of

• what the company does
• where and why there is an opening
• few typical responsibilities (without scaring away)

Answer 7

Maybe you should rather go for Done, and Get Things Smart

Answer 8

So far the BEST AD i came across for Windows Internals Guru

How else could you describe that you should be Windows Internal Guru?

When a coworker tries to use an apartment threaded object from free-threaded code, you can explain
clearly what went wrong and show how to fix it.


The difference between PostMessage and SendMessage is so deeply ingrained
into your brain by now that you almost can't understand how anyone would fail
to understand it.

Here's my favorite part

Not only do you know who Don Box is, but you've read all his articles, and
understood them.

Complete ad here

Answer 9

Especially when you have portable domain experience (banking, graphics) mixed with platform experience, the portable experience is more valuable and takes longer to develop, while someone with one platform can more easily learn more platforms. List it first because it should be your first priority and most difficult to find; in your case, machine learning.

When it comes to platforms, you are telling them what you use, and what you need them to do, but that doesn't necessarily equate to them having all those skills at a certain level on day 1 - because, out of Java, C++, .NET, SQL - they are going to have a favorite and a weak point, and maybe even one they would prefer not to work in if at all possible. Go for what you need them to achieve for you in descending order of your priorities rather than the skills you think they need in order to meet your expectations. Goal-oriented.

And don't be coy about the company or what they do, there's nothing more annoying than secrecy.

My example for you:

Programmer with machine-learning (give METHODOLOGY here) and full software lifecycle experience (give TOOLSET here) for development and maintenance of desktop application (give NAME here) using C++ (optimized libraries), Java (EJB), .NET (WinForms - we love Infragistics or whatever), and SQL (Oracle 9i); a market leader in (give MARKET here) Good communication skills, teamwork and creative thinking are vital for this job in a casual but intense small/large team environment (Agile or Waterfall or Complete Chaos) with few meetings.

Answer 10

A really good developer could* get a job almost anywhere, assuming the company doesn't hamstring its own recruitment process.

You need to make sure that you include a good reason for the developer to come and work for you. Say a little bit about what makes your product special, or why the company culture makes it a good employer, or how your development team has great working practices. You'll need to be honest, of course, since a good developer will be interviewing you as much as you are interviewing them.

Keep the basic advert simple. Some buzzwords are OK, but someone who can pick up the exact combination you need is very nearly as valuable as someone who ticks all the boxes on day one. Don't frighten someone off by making everything on your long list seem essential.

* Actually, in the current environment, this may not be quite as true as it used to be. The fact that you are recruiting at all will make you stand out to some extent.

Answer 11

I would recommend including the following...

• What company is hiring
• Location of opening
• Title of position
• How many positions are available
• Primary function of position (i.e. responsibilities)
• Salary range
• Brief & limited list of qualifications required
• Brief & limited list of qualifications desired
• Contact information

If you have additional space you may want to consider listing...

• Brief history of the company
• Primary business of the company
• Who the position reports to
• Who reports to the open position
• Development processes
• Benefits Package

Stay concise and keep away from buzz words. This will cause your ad to look professional and stand out. Look for skills that will get the developers that can grow and learn with your company rather than the language/technology of the month.

Be honest in your ad, don't list skills that you don't need and don't omit skills that you do need but think will turn off developers (i.e. maintenance tasks, COBOL, etc.). Leaving off required skills will just waste your time in interviewing candidates that are not interested once they hear the details or, worse yet, turns out to be a poor fit if you hire them.

As far as benefits, the more you can list the better. In addition to the standard fair, developers are interested in what type of development environment they will be in, what type of hardware is provided, tools provided, conference and training packages, telecommute options, work culture and work/life balance.