How to write job adverts that attract the right talent

What to take away

A UK job advert attracts applications when the pay band, contract type and location appear before any pitch.
Wording that filters by age, sex, nationality or health breaks the Equality Act 2010 and costs you applicants.
One reader task and four duties beat a list of eleven responsibilities that nobody finishes.
Every claim needs evidence, because the CAP Code requires recruitment advertising to be substantiated.

Lead with the pay band, not the perks

Candidates filter before they read a word. Indeed and Totaljobs let candidates filter by salary, location and contract type, so an empty salary box drops the advert out of those results.

The ONS publishes earnings and working hours data for the UK, which gives you a defensible anchor for the range.

Worked example. A typical pay-band line reads: "Salary: 32,000 to 38,000 pounds a year, depending on experience, plus 25 days of holiday." A compliant advert opening reads: "We are hiring a payroll administrator in Manchester on a 12-month fixed-term contract, three days a week in the office."

Before: "We have a fantastic culture and a supportive team." After: "You report to the finance manager and work three days a week in the Leeds office." Say where the role sits, who it reports to, and whether hybrid working means one day or three in the office.

Wording that UK law does not allow

The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate in the arrangements for deciding who gets a job, and advert wording sits inside those arrangements.

Words such as "young team", "recent graduate" or "native English speaker" screen people out by age or nationality. A genuine occupational requirement is a narrow exception, and you must show why the role needs it.

Pre-employment health questions are restricted by the same Act, so keep medical checks for the stage after a job offer.

Ask whether each line is a requirement of the job or a preference of the last person who held it.

Claims in recruitment advertising sit under the CAP Code, which requires marketing communications to be substantiated. "The fastest-growing agency in the region" therefore needs a document behind it.

A five-step drafting sequence

Name the reader in one sentencethe role, the team and what the post holder owns in the first ninety days.
Put pay, hours, contract type and office days in the first third of the advert, before the company history.
List four duties. Begin each with a verb and end it with an outcome a colleague would notice.
Describe experience rather than personality. "Has run payroll for 200 staff" is checkable; "energetic team player" is not.
Read the draft aloud and cut anything you cannot evidence with a document or a named example.

Weak lines and what to publish instead

The left column is common in UK adverts. The right column is what you can publish this week.

Weak advert lines vs publishable alternatives

Weak line

Competitive salary: Illustrative band: £34,000 to £38,000
Young, dynamic team wanted: A team of six shipping fortnightly
Must be a native English speaker: Confident written English for client reports
Recent graduate preferred: Two years in a comparable role
The fastest-growing agency in the North West: State the growth, period and source

What to publish instead

Competitive salary
Young, dynamic team wanted
Must be a native English speaker
Recent graduate preferred
The fastest-growing agency in the North West

Weak line	What to publish instead
"Fun, young team"	"You will work with three colleagues in the credit control team"
"Recent graduate"	"You hold a degree or have two years of relevant experience"
"Native English speaker"	"You can explain technical results to non-specialists in writing"
"Fit and healthy"	"The role involves occasional lifting of boxes up to 15 kg"
"Work hard, play hard"	"The role is 35 hours a week, with core hours from 10am to 3pm"

Where the advert should send the reader

A job advert has one task: get the right person to the next page. Send readers to a role page that repeats the pay band, the interview stages and the hiring manager's name.

If the advert promises flexible hours and the site says nothing about them, the reader assumes the worst. The guide to careers site best practices for UK employers lists the pages an advert should point to, including the ones that answer a question before the form does.

Keep the advert page live while the role is open, and date the closing line. State the closing date in the advert itself, and say when you will ask for right-to-work documents. Dead adverts that stay online collect applications nobody reads.

Measure which advert produced the shortlist

Track applies per advert view, the point where candidates abandon the form, and which headline produced the shortlist.

The list of recruitment marketing metrics every UK team should track covers the ratios worth keeping. Run two headlines for a fortnight; if one produces twice the completed applications, keep it.

Common questions

Does a UK job advert have to state the salary?

No. There is no general legal duty to publish a salary in a UK job advert. A band still helps, because Indeed and Totaljobs use that field in their filters.

How long should a job advert be?

Long enough to cover pay, hours and the four main duties, and short enough to read on a phone. Move the company history to the role page the advert links to.

Can an advert ask for a recent graduate?

Only where a qualification is a genuine occupational requirement you can justify. Otherwise "recent graduate" screens by age and is hard to defend under the Equality Act 2010.

What makes advert wording inclusive?

Describe the work rather than the person. Use "they" instead of "he or she", and check that every benefit you list is available to part-time and flexible workers.