Why is advertising important?
You're looking through job postings online because you're interested in community work and would particularly like to use your social work training. As you scan the results, you find several positions that might interest you.
Community Program Staff. Full time. Some evenings and weekends. Apply online by April 5.
Youth Leadership Program Coordinator. Community organization seeks a full-time coordinator to develop and facilitate leadership opportunities with local young people. Responsibilities include program planning, facilitation, community partnerships, outreach, and evaluation. Experience in education, social work, youth development, community organizing, or a related area preferred. Some evening and weekend work required. Flexible scheduling available within program needs. Benefits and salary range provided in the full posting. Apply by April 5 through the organization's website.
Community Benefits Navigator. Full-time position helping community members understand and access public benefits and related services. Responsibilities include resource navigation, documentation, community outreach, and coordination with partner organizations. Relevant social-service experience required; supervisory or administrative experience preferred. Salary range, benefits, schedule, location, and complete qualifications are available in the full posting. Apply online by April 5.
Which posting gives you the clearest idea of what you would actually be applying to do? The first tells you very little. You don't know the purpose of the job, what qualifications are expected, what organization is hiring, what the work involves, or whether the position makes sense for you.
The other two postings provide much more information. They describe the purpose of the position, major responsibilities, qualifications, schedule expectations, and how to find the complete application information. They also give applicants some indication of the organization's work and approach.
A job posting is therefore more than an announcement that a position exists. It is part of the hiring process and often one of an applicant's first interactions with your organization. Its wording and distribution affect who learns about the opportunity, who understands what the organization needs, and who decides to apply.
- A job posting is often the first impression a potential employee receives of your organization. If the posting is confusing, incomplete, inaccessible, or inconsistent, applicants may reasonably wonder whether the organization operates the same way. A clear and accurate posting demonstrates that the organization has thought carefully about the position and the hiring process.
- A well-written posting helps qualified applicants decide whether the position is a good match. Applicants should be able to understand the work, minimum qualifications, compensation, schedule, location, and major expectations without having to guess what the organization really wants.
- Job advertising has legal and organizational implications. Recruitment and advertising practices should comply with applicable federal, state, tribal, and local employment requirements as well as any grant, contract, licensing, or organizational requirements that apply to the position. Avoid language that expresses a preference for or discourages applicants because of legally protected characteristics.
- Qualified applicants have to know that the opportunity exists. Where, how, and for how long you advertise can significantly affect the applicant pool.
What do you have to take into consideration for the ad?
Before writing or placing the posting, think about both the information applicants need and the recruitment strategy necessary to reach them.
- Recruitment budget. How much can you spend on recruiting, and which channels are likely to reach qualified applicants? Costs might include online job boards, professional or trade associations, specialized nonprofit sites, social-media advertising, recruiters, career fairs, print advertising, or other outreach.
- Audience and reach. Which recruiting channels are used by people with the qualifications you need? Is this primarily a local position, or can applicants come from a broader geographic area? Is remote or hybrid work possible? Do you need to reach people in a particular profession, field, or community?
- Accessibility. Can applicants access and complete the application using common devices and assistive technology? Is there a clear way to request reasonable accommodation for the application or interview process?
- Time. How long will the position remain posted? Give people enough time to learn about the opening, review the requirements, prepare appropriate materials, and submit an application.
- Effectiveness. Track which recruitment sources produce qualified applicants. A free channel is not necessarily useful if it reaches almost no appropriate candidates, while an expensive posting may not be worthwhile if lower-cost channels work better.
Don't assume that one channel is automatically best. A community organization may use several channels at once, such as its website, a nonprofit job board, professional networks, community partners, workforce agencies, social media, and targeted outreach to organizations whose members may have relevant experience.
Broad outreach can help make sure that people who have historically been overlooked or who are outside your organization's existing networks have a reasonable opportunity to learn about the position. The goal is to broaden access to the opportunity, not to exclude applicants or make hiring decisions based on protected characteristics.
Does particular information or wording have to be included?
Possibly. Applicable employment laws, government contracts, funding agreements, collective-bargaining agreements, licensing requirements, or organizational policies may require particular information or notices. Salary-range and pay-transparency requirements also vary by jurisdiction.
Don't rely automatically on old boilerplate such as "EEO/AA." Determine which requirements currently apply to your organization and position and use accurate language. An organization may also choose to state its commitment to equal employment opportunity and reasonable accommodation even when a specific form of statement is not legally required.
Make sure the posting matches the criteria you will actually use.
If you identify a qualification as required, it should genuinely be necessary for entry into the position unless circumstances or applicable procedures justify a change. If a qualification would be useful but is not essential, identify it as preferred.
Use the same basic job-related criteria throughout recruitment, screening, interviewing, and selection. If the criteria change during the search because you learn that the original requirements were unrealistic, document the change and consider whether the position should be reposted so applicants are evaluated under a fair process.
What should be included in a job posting?
The amount of detail depends on the recruiting channel, but applicants should be able to find the information necessary to understand the opportunity. A short social-media announcement may link to a full posting rather than contain everything itself.
The full posting will often include:
- An accurate, recognizable, and searchable job title
- A concise description of the position's purpose and major responsibilities
- Required and preferred qualifications
- Full-time, part-time, temporary, seasonal, or other employment status
- Work location and whether the position is on-site, remote, hybrid, or primarily field-based
- Schedule expectations, including genuine evening, weekend, on-call, or travel requirements
- Anticipated starting date when useful
- Salary or wage range and major benefits where appropriate or required
- The position's reporting relationship and supervisory responsibility, if relevant
- A brief description of the organization's mission or work
- Information about reasonable accommodation in the application process or a clear way to request it
- Application instructions and a deadline, first-review date, or indication that applications will be considered until the position is filled
Include enough information about the organization to help applicants understand the context of the work. You might describe the organization as collaborative, community-based, participant-centered, research-oriented, or another accurate term if that description has real meaning in the workplace.
Avoid using language primarily to attract applicants who share the existing staff's personality, politics, social background, or worldview. Employees need to be able to carry out the organization's mission and work constructively within legitimate organizational expectations; they do not need to resemble the people already employed there.
Be straightforward about major working conditions. If regular evening meetings, substantial local travel, field work, or a particular on-site schedule are genuine parts of the job, tell applicants early. If scheduling flexibility, professional development, remote work, advancement opportunities, or other features are available, describe them accurately rather than using vague promotional language.
Application requirements
Ask applicants for the information you need at the stage when you need it. A résumé or application and a few job-related questions may be enough for initial screening. Some positions may also justify a cover letter, portfolio, work sample, or other material.
Consider the purpose of each requirement:
- A résumé or application can document relevant employment, education, training, and experience.
- Short application questions can help applicants explain experience or competencies not apparent from a résumé.
- A writing sample may be appropriate when writing is an important part of the job.
- A presentation, simulation, or other work sample may be useful when it closely reflects an important job function.
- References may help verify relevant experience and performance and can often be requested later in the selection process rather than from every initial applicant.
Avoid unnecessary application requirements that consume significant applicant time without providing information you actually use. If you require a work sample or exercise, make sure it is reasonably related to the position and that applicants know what it is intended to assess.
Use plain language. Don't deliberately use unexplained abbreviations, professional jargon, or insider terminology to screen out people who are unfamiliar with the organization's way of speaking. If knowledge of specialized terminology is genuinely required for the job, assess that knowledge directly.
What are the different forms of job advertising?
Recruitment may use paid or unpaid channels, and many organizations use several at the same time. The most useful channels depend on the position, geographic area, profession, labor market, and people you need to reach.
Possible channels include:
- The organization's website or careers page
- Large online job-search platforms
- Job boards specializing in nonprofit, public-service, health, education, social-service, or other relevant work
- Professional associations and credentialing organizations
- State or local workforce-development systems and employment services
- Colleges, universities, technical schools, apprenticeship programs, and alumni networks
- Community organizations and partner agencies
- Email newsletters, professional networks, and appropriate online communities
- Social-media and professional-networking platforms
- Internal job postings
- Direct invitations encouraging qualified individuals to consider applying
- Employee, Board, partner, and community referrals
- Professional conferences and meetings
- Community postings in locations used by potential applicants
- Career fairs and hiring events
- Local or regional newspapers and other print publications when they reach an appropriate audience
- Radio, television, podcasts, community media, or other channels when they are appropriate to the search
Referrals and word of mouth can be useful, but don't rely on them exclusively. If nearly everyone in your existing network has similar professional, social, geographic, or demographic backgrounds, recruiting only through that network may unnecessarily narrow who learns about the position.
Internal candidates can be valuable, and promotion from within can provide continuity and development opportunities. Decide in advance whether a position will be filled through an internal search, an external search, or an open search available to both. Don't advertise publicly if the organization has already made an undisclosed decision to appoint a particular internal candidate.
How do you place job ads to attract qualified candidates?
Place postings where people with relevant qualifications and experience are reasonably likely to see them, while also considering whether your usual recruiting channels unnecessarily exclude people outside your existing networks.
For a locally focused position, community organizations, regional job boards, local educational institutions, workforce agencies, and local professional networks may be especially useful. For specialized or difficult-to-fill positions, you may need to recruit regionally or nationally through professional associations, specialized job boards, conferences, search firms, or other networks.
If your organization wants to broaden participation by people from communities historically underrepresented in a field or organization, expand the places where you advertise and develop relationships with organizations, schools, professional associations, and networks that can help more qualified people learn about the opportunity. Keep the position open to qualified applicants and apply the same lawful selection criteria to everyone.
Be cautious about recruitment practices based explicitly on race, ethnicity, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, or other protected characteristics. Employment law limits when such characteristics may be considered, and narrow exceptions should not be assumed.
Using technology in recruitment
Many employers use applicant-tracking systems, automated résumé screening, online assessments, chatbots, targeted advertising, recorded interviews, or other technology to recruit and screen applicants.
Technology can make recruitment more efficient, but it does not eliminate the organization's responsibility for the hiring process. Before using a tool, consider:
- Whether the application process is accessible to applicants with disabilities
- Whether applicants have a way to request an accommodation or alternative process
- Whether automated criteria actually relate to the job
- Whether the system could screen out qualified applicants because of irrelevant characteristics or inaccessible design
- What applicant information the system collects and how that information is stored, shared, and protected
- Whether human review is available when an automated result appears inaccurate or inappropriate
If a vendor supplies recruiting or screening technology, don't assume that using an outside product transfers responsibility for employment decisions to the vendor. Understand how the tool is being used and whether it supports a fair and accessible process.
How long should you advertise?
There is no universal number of days appropriate for every position. Consider how difficult the position is to fill, how many channels you are using, whether applicants need substantial preparation, internal or funding requirements, and how urgently the organization needs someone to begin.
State a clear application deadline or first-review date. If applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled, say so. Avoid unnecessarily short deadlines that make it difficult for qualified applicants to learn about the position and prepare materials.
Monitor the applicant pool during the search. If you receive very few qualified applications, don't automatically lower essential standards or select from an inadequate pool. Consider whether the title, salary, requirements, advertising channels, application burden, work arrangements, or deadline are limiting recruitment and whether the posting should be revised or extended.
In Summary
The wording of a job posting and the places where it is distributed can have a major effect on who learns about the opportunity and who decides to apply. A strong posting accurately describes the work, distinguishes required from preferred qualifications, explains important employment conditions, and gives applicants clear instructions for applying.
Modern recruitment often uses a combination of organizational websites, online job boards, professional networks, workforce systems, community organizations, educational institutions, referrals, social media, and other channels. Traditional print or broadcast advertising may still be useful when it reaches the people you need, but it is one option rather than the default.
Recruitment should also be fair and accessible. Advertising and outreach should not discourage applicants because of protected characteristics, and the organization should provide reasonable access to the application process. Broadening recruitment networks can help people who might otherwise never hear about the opportunity without turning protected characteristics themselves into hiring criteria.
Finally, think of advertising as the beginning of the selection process. The job posting should match the job description, the selection criteria used in screening and interviewing, and the actual conditions of employment. Clear, accurate, accessible advertising gives both the organization and applicants a better basis for deciding whether the position is the right match.