Are your hiring expectations realistic?

Are your expectations in line with market demands and are you presenting your company as a place where top talent would genuinely want to grow their career?

Your job posting is an advertisement, not a wish list. Despite challenges in our industry the job market is still highly competitive, yet so many companies approach their postings from a place of taking rather than giving or offering.

Stop underpaying. If your salary range is below market rate, you’ve already lost the battle for the best candidates. You can’t expect someone who isn’t a co-founder or C-Suite executive to care as much as you do about the brand while simultaneously offering them a sub-par compensation package. The mission or culture is important, but it doesn’t pay the bills.

Be transparent with your salary range. Hiding it suggests you know it’s not competitive. And in many states, it’s downright illegal. If you truly cannot be competitive on pay, you have to compensate with something equally valuable to candidates.

Determine the must-have skills and nice-to-have skills. Are you writing a laundry list of skills that would require a candidate to be three different people? If you’re looking for the best skill set in all areas of your business all rolled into one person, you’re inadvertently pushing away very qualified candidates simply because they don’t tick every single box (and who could?). When you include too many requirements, the best people often think they don’t qualify, while those less experienced apply anyway.

Shift your perspective from what you want to what the candidate gets. An effective job posting sells the job, the company, the culture, and the opportunity. Candidates don’t just want a title; they want to know their work matters. Instead of just describing the responsibilities, describe the impact they’ll have.

For example:

• Not so good: “Manage the company’s social media accounts.”
• Good: “Be the voice of our brand, directly influencing customer engagement and driving a double-digit increase in lead generation through creative social media strategy.”

Know your value proposition. What are the compelling reasons to join your company beyond a paycheck? Health benefits and Summer Fridays are nice to have but aren’t going to attract nor retain game-changing talent.

Be aware of your tone. Your tone is the first impression of your culture. If your job posting is stiff, impersonal, and full of corporate buzzwords, candidates will assume your workplace is too. Use clear and authentic language.

Offer professional growth: Is there a training & development program? Will they be mentored by industry leaders? Will they receive a stipend for continuing education?

Describe the company culture: Be specific. Instead of “work hard, play hard culture,” say “We appreciate our employee’s hard work, so we prioritize mental health with mandatory ‘no-meeting’ Fridays and offer 4 weeks of paid time off each year, in addition to professional development days.”

A job posting that isn’t working isn’t a problem with the candidates; it’s a content marketing issue. When you view your posting as your most important piece of recruitment content, the quality of your applicants will significantly increase. If you’re still not seeing the candidates you’d like, it’s because they aren’t looking at job boards. Contact GSP to gain access to an exclusive pool of vetted, top talent.

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