How to Write Killer SEEK Ads (Part 1)
Like Paul, myBRC and the Small Business Owner blog don’t endorse or have a relationship with SEEK.
Paul’s advice in this post is extremely useful – happy reading! 
Some of my clients are starting to recruit again.
Just in case you are too, I’ve decided to reveal my methodology for writing killer SEEK ads.
This two-part guide summarises my learnings over several years & many, many successful ads.
You’ll see I’m using ampersands (&) instead of ‘and’.
When recruiting online, it pays to cut to the chase.
Summary
You have 150 characters, including spaces. Try to use them all, so you inspire readers to click through.
Include job title, focus & status (contract/perm/temp), specific location, money (salary or hourly rate) & benefits & something positive about the role or firm.
Bullets
Use exactly 3 to cover at least the following:
- Something positive about the role.
- Money (salary or hourly rate) & benefits.
- Specific location. Job status (contract/perm/temp).
You can add more good things to a bullet, so long as it stays on one line. Familiar abbreviations (e.g. ‘&’, ‘pkg’, ‘neg’) free space for interesting content.
Be as specific & explicit as you can. If the salary is bad, find & flag other benefits.
Title
If the job title in the summary is a composite (e.g. Engineer – Electrical) reverse it here (e.g. Electrical Engineer).
Subtitle
An optional place to summarise the job in a creative way (e.g. Galvanise your career!). Don’t exceed 8 words.
Avoid hype, bad puns & clichés & only do it if you’re confident. If in doubt, leave it out.
Ad body
Talk to the reader as one person. Be friendly but professional. Address them as you would on the phone or in an interview.
Start with a line that relates the job to the reader, i.e. what it involves & what it (& the firm) will do for them & their career.
Then briefly describe the firm & what’s good about it. Awards & major projects impress more than detailed staff, location & revenue stats.
Try to give a sense & summary of the firm without boring readers or taking the focus off them.
How much you say here depends on how much content you have below. The idea is to make each ad fill a single page in this format. If one section is thin, go thick on another (or do more research!).
Rewards
What’s in it for the reader. This is where you live or die, so badger the client (which may be you!) for data.
Specifics talk much louder than generalisations. Try to cover:
- Conditions & benefits (generous, flexible, packaged).
- Projects (big, exciting, cutting edge).
- Career options (many, varied, global).
- Teams (expert, friendly, helpful, fun).
- Travel (lots, exotic, all expenses paid).
- Professional & personal development (generous, tailored, lateral).
- Anything else that’s good, especially if it’s rare.
Stay Tuned!
Part 2 covers job duties, selection criteria, call to action & things to watch out for.
So don’t touch that dial!
How’m I doing so far?
Comments?
Questions?
Stories?
Your frank feedback is
SOUGHT.
Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire
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Thanks Paul,
This is brilliant! I have already forwarded this to our HR manager and I’m sure we’ll get a much better result in the future. You should be charging for this advice!
Regards
Malcolm
You are so kind, Malcolm! Thank you. I told you 2010 was my Year of Giving Dangerously. As this is the bedrock of my expertise, I can’t think of anything more dangerous to give! Best regards, as always.
I love your line “Year of Giving Dangerously” – perfect! Having just spent the best part of my morning typing up a detailed plan for attracting more clients for a business friend, despite the fact that as a franchisee, there is limited or most likely no prospect of work for communic8 design from him, I know what you mean.
Karma points will have to suffice
Thanks, Angela. Man, if ever there were a woman with expertise to give, it’s you! Careful you don’t pull a hammy!
Karma points are the only ones that never expire. Beats cutting coupons off 2000 boxes of tea for some mangy spoon.
Thanks for dropping by!
This is great stuff, Paul (though coming from you, that’s no surprise!). It just shows that it’s often harder to write well in a small space than a larger one. As a freelance journo, I’d much rather have 2000 words than 1200, and 500 is really terrifying. Looking forward to part 2!
I really appreciate your endorsement, Joanna. The older I get, the shorter my short stories become, as I spot ever more redundant words. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up with nothing but haikus!
The ad Paul prepared for us has seen 23 applications in the first 24 hours! Fantastic!
Welcome, Andrea. Sorry for the wait. New commenters sometimes get hung up for a bit. I’ve put a link behind your name too. Sing out if you’d rather not have it.
Your feedback is tremendous. I often say I like to live or die by the success of my words. Sounds like I may make it to this afternoon.
If it’s appropriate, I’d love you to check back with us to report whether the applicants were suitable. Quality not quantity and all that.
Thanks so much for taking the time to add your voice.
Bluddy awesome mate…
I can’t add anything to what has already been said…except that, as I’ve said before, if you ever get your own planet, I’ll be first in line…oh! Actually, probably 2nd, behind Fonnie
Ooh! I can add this though:
I love it when folks say “You should be charging for this stuff”…if it’s that good and they can afford it, what’s stopping them from paying anyway? Do we have to ask? Is there some bluddy unwritten moral code preventing people from offering to pay? Or is it automatically overridden by that other unwritten moral code called ‘get away with whatever one can’?
I’m so over all of this ‘righteous money’ stuff propounded by those that have it…endless moral platitudes that if looked at closely amount to unfounded moral disclaimers and platitudes…and if they are founded on anything at all it would arguably be ‘the economy’, and we’re seeing how solid that ground is aren’t we?
When decent folk make decent contributions from which others derive value, is the obligation always going to be on the side of the ‘givers’ to ask for payment or dare I say it….donations? Should it first be written into law? Does everyone need an ‘incentive’ to do the bluddy ‘right thing’? It would appear so…
Who knows? If we actually tried it for a couple of years, ‘The year of giving dangerously’ may become ‘the year of reciprocating evenly’…God! What sort of ‘Economy’ would that produce?
You know we’re soaking in it…
Cheers
Stephen G
Thanks heaps, Stephen. Soaking in it has even removed the grass stains from my orange coveralls!
I’m fed up with trying to flog stuff. I’ve decided to give it away.
I hear that under certain conditions, a tennis ball thrown to the horizon will eventually hit you in the back of the head.
So I’m casting my pearls to the airwaves. Maybe I’ll get nix. Or maybe the Hand of Faith will clip me on the earhole before I can say Dick Hamer.
As Vlad III was wont to say:
I’ll keep you posted.
Good ol’ Vlad III…gotta love a guy that can stand in his convictions at everyone else’s expense
I think the ’sucks’ bit about Karma (i.e. Hand of Faith), is that it has no time clause. I often wonder if all the stuff I do for nix this time is a balance for what I took in some other life?
If it is, then I have nothing to whinge about. But then the ‘forgetting’ bit chimes in and that’s what really sucks…and I can whinge about that!
I’m really pissed at the prospect that some unknowable, non-corporeal dude/dudess, that is supposed to be a higher aspect of me (and all of us), has summarily decided that it’s ok to keep our own memories from us!
And if it isn’t? Well, I reckon I’ll be getting some serious protective attire for my ‘Dogma’ in preparation for the next time my ‘Karma’ tries to run it over…
As for casting pearls to the airwaves? It’s just the kind of place I’d prefer to live in…and how will it ever be if we just acquiesce and do what everyone else does because everyone else does it?
And it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been ‘posted’ ol’ Bean…ya get that on the big jobs ;-P…
Never give up! Never surrender! OOOOHWHAAA! Don’t you just love all that mucho boy stuff?
Always a pleasure Cobba
Cheers
Stephen G
PS Ouch! I just got hit in the back o’ the head by a tennis ball… ;-P
Advantage: Glanville.
Advantage my ____ bits! I didn’t throw it!
I’ll just whip it down to Forensics…it was probably Vlad ;-P
Glanville to serve?
Great stuff Paul. Are you gunna mention in part 2 that there’s a great expose of this in aural form at your website http://www.thefeistyempire.com/ The other thing that gives me a lot of help in writing adverts is the book “Words that Sell”
I completely forgot about those audio files, Winston!
They’re on my home page, but when you sees something every day it tends to become ‘invisible’. Anyone interested in job ad writing could well find those interviews a useful adjunct to this article.
Many thanks for the reminder. And for that excellent book reference. Best regards, P.
Hi Paul. Thanks for sharing this fantastic advice! Looking forward to part 2!
I have a helmet you can borrow for the tennis ball theory (so you don’t ruin your new one).
Thank you, Naomi. I accept!
Final report from my client:
‘The ad attracted 48 applicants, 7 were considered, 2 were interviewed. One withdrew and the successful candidate was a person well known to both Mike and Trevor. He went through the formal application process and was the stand out applicant all the way through. He is starting next week and operating on a mutually agreed 3 month trial I believe. I’ll get mike to give you a further run down.’
There you go!