5 Tips for Writing the Perfect Remote Job Posting

With the cost of hiring a new employee topping $4K, recruiters and human resource professionals are under pressure to get it right. Especially when conducting a search for a remote employee. While there are many ways to improve the quality of candidates and the efficiency of the hiring process, one of the most important is writing the perfect remote job posting or advertisement.

As the main method of enticing applicants, taking time to create an effective job post will pay off with a more qualified applicant. Even if your organization thinks it’s doing a great job in this area, it might be worth another look. A recent survey found that 72% of hiring managers felt their job descriptions were accurate, however, only 36% of candidates agreed.

To help ensure that your job posts attract the right candidates, below are tips for writing the perfect remote job posting. To help illustrate, we’re citing an example of a recent successful job post for the position of “Editor” written by Kelsey Reynolds, Content Lead at Flixed. This is a small startup that recognized their investment in their hiring process is critical to their success.

“When we say that we’re a people-first company, we really mean it. Unlike many companies that put their product first and culture second, we feel that companies should operate in the opposite order. We see our product, Flixed, as a secondary priority. Our first priority is building a team and company culture of support and mutual benefit.”

Kelsey Reynolds, Content Lead at Flixed

The original job post can be found here.

1. Be Clear, Concise, and Engaging When Writing the Perfect Remote Job Posting

You don’t have much time to entice a qualified applicant to apply. A survey by Indeed found that, on average, applicants only spent 3-5 minutes reading a job description before deciding whether to apply. Therefore, making sure that your job ad is an easy and interesting read is critical. This applies to both language and format.

Make it short, keeping the length between 300 and 700 words.
Title your post with a functional job title. Avoid fancy titles that are confusing or won’t come up in keyword searches.
Use bulleted lists to highlight important points.
Format the post to be mobile-friendly with short sections and clear headlines.
Write your job ad in the second person to encourage applicants to see themselves in the position.
Use inclusive language by avoiding words with gender bias to increase the number of applicants by 42%. Try using a gender decoder tool to help.

Taken directly from the Flixed job posting, this screenshot shows the brief and concise description of the role:

2. Add a Shortlist of Position Requirements to Attract the Most Qualified Applicants

Avoid wasting time on unqualified applicants by including a clear list of what skills, experience, and education are required. It may be tempting to include a long wish list. However, it’s best to focus on a short list of the most critical requirements. This will prevent you from over-limiting the applicant pool and overwhelming potential applicants.

Here is how Flixed clearly outlined their shortlist of requirements in their job description:

3. Include All Pertinent Company Information When Writing the Perfect Remote Job Posting

While information about what you are looking for in a candidate is important, it is also important to clearly state what the company can offer the employee, both tangibly in the form of compensation and intangibly, such as agreement with the company mission. According to a survey by Glassdoor, below are the top 5 pieces of information that jobseekers look for when researching where to work.

Information about compensation. In addition to giving a salary range, include any other pertinent details, such as if they are a no-negotiation company (and explaining why).
Details on benefits packages. Briefly list any health, life, disability insurance options as well as retirement investment opportunities.
Basic company information. Include a company overview that summarizes your core business and strategic approach, including location(s). The role may be remote, but location information is important if there are any in-person requirements as well as any tax ramifications.
Details about attractive perks. This is where you can entice candidates with things like wellness programs, paid volunteer time, and unlimited vacation days.
Company mission, vision, and values. With more than 75% of jobseekers only applying to companies that share their values, it’s important to summarize this information in a job post.

While it is impossible to provide complete company information, since most job posts are online, it’s easy to include a summary or a teaser blurb with links out to more information on your website. Since fit is important to both remote employers and jobseekers, any details you can offer about your company culture can only help candidates even more in determining whether or not they think your company and their goals are a good match. Here is how Flixed offered some specific insight into their company culture:

There is also a growing swell of support for stating compensation in the job description, so that both parties can save the time usually spent playing the “are we in the same ballpark as each other” salary guessing game. Below is a great example of how Flixed handles compensation in a straightforward and transparent way:

4. Add Details About Remote Work Status and Expectations

Not all remote roles are created equal. Providing candidates with complete details here will save time later. Make sure the job post answers the following questions:

How much of the role is remote? Clearly state how much of the role can be completed remotely. Let candidates know up front if there are any in-person requirements for weekly or quarterly meetings.
Are there any location limitations? A role may be remote while also being limited to certain locations. If your company needs to specify residency in a certain state or country, be sure to do that up front.
Is the schedule flexible? While some may think that a remote role also means a flexible schedule, that is not always the case. Include in the job post any company requirements regarding business hours.
What is the remote office setup? If your company requires specific equipment or access to software packages, include that in the job ad. Also, let potential candidates know if you assist with these costs.

In the Flixed job post, remote status was stated clearly and they even defined what part-time means in their company:

5. Include Information About the Application and Hiring Process

In addition to helping hiring managers ensure that applicants submit their documents appropriately, applicants want to know what the next steps are and, if at all possible, how long the process will take. The importance of a streamlined hiring process can be understood with the following statistics:

60% of applicants are unhappy with time-consuming hiring processes.
70% of candidates are unwilling to submit a job application if it takes more than 15 minutes to complete.

The next steps in the Flixed job ad were clearly listed in detail, leaving no questions about what they require in their process:

In summary, the ubiquitous job ad is the foundation of your hiring practices. This short piece of text can determine if you make a great hire or have to go back to the drawing board. To help you with writing the perfect remote job posting, below is some final advice from Kelsey Reynolds.

“Hiring is a huge part of building a company like this, so we do it really slowly and thoughtfully. We’ve realized that each person we add to the team changes the product and culture in some way. We invite that change and also want to respect it, so we try to use our job listings to tell candidates what we’d want to know before joining a company.”

What is the key to crafting an accurate and comprehensive job posting in your opinion? Connect with Virtual Vocations on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube to share your thoughts and tips. We’d love to hear from you!