The job advert that does not sound like every other one
Echipa HR 365 · reviewed 2026-09-07 · 5 min read
An advert is read in twenty seconds, on a phone, among five others. In those twenty seconds the candidate is looking for three things: what will I do, where, and how much. An advert that does not answer all three in the first half-screen is compared with one that does — and loses, however well the rest is written.
Why they all sound alike
Because they are written from the same source: the internal job description, which describes the role for somebody already working there. The result is a list of duties that is accurate and undifferentiating — the same words appear in a competitor’s advert, because they also have an accountant post.
What differentiates is not what the role does but its context: who they work with, what kind of problems they solve, why the post opened. An advert that says “the post is new, because the team grew from four people to nine” communicates more than ten duties.
The structure, in reading order
| Position | What it contains | How much |
|---|---|---|
| The title | The name the candidate searches for, not the internal one | One line |
| First paragraph | What the role does, where, what schedule, what salary range | 3-4 lines |
| The real work | The four things that take up the most time, with percentages | A short list |
| What we are looking for | Only the requirements without which they cannot start | Five at most |
| The context | Why the post opened, who they work with, what team | 3-4 lines |
| What we offer | Concrete and verifiable, not “an attractive package” | A short list |
| How to apply | One step, with what follows and how soon | 2 lines |
What you cut first
- Three paragraphs about the company at the top. They belong after the candidate is interested in the role, not before.
- “Dynamic environment”, “young team”, “interesting challenges”. They appear in every advert, so they communicate nothing.
- “Other duties as assigned by management.” It signals a role without limits and frightens off exactly the good candidates.
- Requirements copied from other adverts that nobody will ever check.
- The number of years of experience, if you can state the competence directly.
The last point is worth arguing, because it is the most contested. Years are a poor substitute for competence: someone with three years on exactly what you need is often a better fit than someone with eight on something else. A years filter removes the first before you ever see them.
One paragraph, before and after
We are looking for a dynamic, results-oriented person to join our rapidly expanding team. The ideal candidate has a minimum of 3 years’ experience, a team spirit and a desire to develop in a challenging environment.
Before — it fits any post in any company
You would take over the relationship with twenty existing clients — orders, deadlines, delivery problems. Roughly 60% of the time is direct communication with them, the rest is internal coordination. The post is new: until now the manager handled it, and the volume outgrew what he can do alongside everything else.
After — it describes one post, in one company
The second text is not longer and not better written stylistically. The difference is that someone who does not want to talk to clients all day works it out immediately — and does not apply. That is a saving of time for both sides.
The salary range
The deciding criterion is not a preference but what everyone else in your market does for that role. If most publish, omitting the range loses candidates before first contact; if nobody publishes, publishing becomes a visible advantage.
What never works is a range so wide it means nothing. A range from one figure to double it communicates only that you have not decided, and the candidate reads it as the bottom end.
How long should it be?
Under one page on a phone. If it does not fit, you have written a job description rather than an advert — and the difference between them is the subject here.
Do I publish the same advert on every platform?
The structure yes, the length no. Some platforms truncate after a character count, and if the opening lines are about the company, exactly the useful part gets cut.
What if the manager insists on a long requirements list?
Run each requirement through the question “would you reject a candidate who is excellent at everything else but lacks this?”. Usually half of them drop by themselves to “would help”.
Where to start
Take the last advert you published, delete the company name and the role name, and read it. If you cannot guess what it is about, you have found the problem.
Then rewrite the first paragraph with the four things candidates are looking for. It is the one change that shows in the number of applications, and it takes ten minutes.
How long an advert stays live
An advert live for over six weeks with no update looks abandoned, and good candidates read it that way: if you have found nobody in six weeks, either the post is problematic or the process does not work.
What works: republishing with a real change — a clarification, an added detail, a requirement removed. Not as a visibility trick, but because if six weeks have produced nobody, something in the advert genuinely needs changing.
Adverts published from the job description, with applications straight into the pipeline
The advert is written once from the real job description and published on the careers page and connected platforms — and candidates enter the pipeline directly, not your inbox.
You can create an account in a few minutes and use every module for 7 days, no card required.