The single biggest reason a job ad fails to get applicants is that it describes what you need without telling candidates what they are actually signing up for.
Step 1: Get the job title right before you write anything else
The title is the first filter. If someone searches for "warehouse assistant Auckland" and your ad is titled "Operations Support Coordinator", they will never find it. Use the plain name a person would type into a search bar. Keep it to four words or fewer. Drop the internal jargon, the Roman numerals and the level descriptors like "Junior II". If the role is part-time, put that in the title too, because a candidate who needs full-time hours will not click through anyway and you have just saved both of you some time.
Step 2: State the location and hours in the first three lines
Candidates are screening for practicality before they read a single line about the role itself. If they cannot get to your site, or the hours clash with school pickup, they are gone. Write the suburb, not just the city. Write the actual shift pattern, not "flexibility required". If the role involves travel between sites, say so. Every vague phrase here produces an applicant who discovers the deal-breaker at interview, which wastes everybody's time.
Step 3: Describe what the day actually looks like
This is where most ads fall over. A list of responsibilities written from an internal job description reads like a legal document, and it tells a first-time applicant almost nothing about whether they could do the role. Instead, walk through a typical shift. "You will spend most mornings picking and packing orders, checking quantities against a pick list. Afternoons are quieter and usually involve restocking shelves and cleaning down the workstation." A candidate reading that can picture themselves doing it, which is exactly what you want.
Avoid stacking more than eight bullet points of duties. If you have fifteen responsibilities to list, you are copying the job description directly into the ad, and the ad is not a job description. Pick the five that define the role and write them in plain English.
Step 4: Name the pay
This is the part employers most often skip and it is the part candidates most often say they need. Leaving pay out does not create mystery, it creates irritation, and a candidate who has to apply just to find out the rate will often not bother. The adult minimum wage in New Zealand is currently $23.95 per hour. If you are paying at or close to minimum wage, say so plainly. If you are paying above it, say so, because that is your competitive advantage.
Source: Minimum wage rates, Employment New Zealand
A range is fine. "$25 to $28 per hour depending on experience" sets an honest expectation without locking you in. What you want to avoid is "competitive remuneration", which in the eyes of most entry-level candidates has come to mean the lowest rate the employer thinks they can get away with.
Step 5: Tell them what you want from them, briefly
For entry-level roles, keep the requirements list short and honest. If a full driver's licence is genuinely essential, include it. If it is merely convenient, drop it. Every unnecessary requirement you list is a potential applicant who talks themselves out of applying. The phrase "must have X years of experience" on a role that genuinely trains someone up from scratch is one of the fastest ways to thin your applicant pool without meaning to.
For roles where you are hiring on attitude, say that clearly. "We are looking for someone reliable and willing to learn. We will train the right person." That sentence does more work than a list of qualifications the role does not actually require.
Step 6: Close with something a person would actually want to read
A short paragraph at the end about the team, the hours, or what makes the workplace decent is not filler. It is the last thing a candidate reads before they decide to apply or close the tab. You do not need to oversell. "Small team, good hours, training provided from day one" is enough. Be specific rather than warm. "Friendly team" means nothing. "Eight of us in the warehouse, Monday to Friday, and we knock off at 3:30 on Fridays" means something.
Checklist before you post
- Job title uses plain language a candidate would search for
- Suburb and exact shift pattern are in the first paragraph
- Pay rate or honest range is stated
- The day-in-the-life section describes actual tasks, not HR bullet points
- Requirements list contains only things that are genuinely essential
- Closing paragraph says something specific and true about the role or team
Key takeaways
- A job title written in plain search language gets found; an internal title does not.
- Stating the suburb and shift pattern early filters out mismatched applicants before they apply.
- Naming the pay rate, even as a range, consistently produces better-matched applicants than leaving it blank.
- The day-in-the-life paragraph does more to attract the right person than a list of fifteen responsibilities.
- Keeping requirements to genuine essentials widens your applicant pool without lowering the standard.
Frequently asked questions
Does it matter how long a job ad is?
Length matters less than clarity. A short ad that covers title, location, hours, pay and what the job involves will outperform a long ad full of vague responsibilities. Aim for enough detail that a candidate can decide whether to apply, then stop.
Should I include a closing date in the ad?
Only if you mean it. A closing date signals urgency and can prompt faster applications. But if you leave the ad live past the date, candidates who see it later will assume you are disorganised or that the role is already filled.
Is it worth putting the team size or company size in the ad?
Yes, briefly. Candidates for entry-level roles often prefer knowing whether they are joining a team of five or a team of five hundred, because the working experience is quite different. One sentence is enough.
What if I have very few requirements? Will the ad look too easy?
No. An honest requirements list that matches the actual role looks professional. The risk runs the other way: inflated requirements make the role look intimidating and reduce the pool of people who apply.
Can I repost the same ad if I need to hire again later?
Yes, but review it first. If the first run did not produce the applicants you wanted, something in the ad needs adjusting before you run it again. The same ad will produce the same result.
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