How to Write a Job Ad: Structure, Pay Rules and Example

To write a job ad, start from what the candidate needs to decide whether to apply: a clear job title, a first few lines that say what the job is and why it is worth considering, the pay, the location and work pattern, what they will actually do, what they need to bring, and how to apply. Write it for the person you want to hire, not for the internal approval process, and keep it short enough to read on a phone.

Job ad vs job description

A job description and a job ad are different documents with different readers.

	Job description	Job ad
Reader	HR, managers, the employee in the role	Candidates who do not work for you yet
Purpose	Define duties, grading and reporting lines	Persuade the right people to apply, and the wrong ones not to
Tone	Formal, complete	Direct, written to "you"
Length	As long as it needs to be	As short as it can be while answering candidates' questions
Content	Every responsibility	The responsibilities that define the job, plus pay, benefits, work pattern and why join

Use the job description as source material. Do not paste it in as the ad. Treat the ad as marketing copy. If you want the wider context of what is recruitment marketing and where job ads fit, start with our overview.

A structure that works

This order puts the information candidates look for first near the top:

Job title
Key facts: pay, location, work pattern (on site, hybrid, remote), hours or shifts, contract type
Opening lines: two or three sentences on what the job is and why it matters
What you will do: four to six bullet points describing the real work
What you need: the requirements that are truly necessary
Nice to have (optional, short)
What you get: benefits, development, the team
How to apply and what happens next: steps, timeline, who to contact with questions

Some job boards and applicant tracking systems force their own layout. Work within it, but keep the order of information the same.

The job title

The title is what candidates search for and what they scan in a list of results. It needs to match the words they use.

Use the common market title. If your internal title is "Customer Happiness Hero", advertise as "Customer Service Representative". You can mention the internal title in the body.
Add the useful qualifier. Seniority, specialism or shift can help: "Senior Payroll Specialist", "Night Shift Warehouse Operative".
Keep extras out. Salary, location and "urgent" usually have their own fields on job boards. Stuffing them into the title makes it harder to read and may break the board's formatting rules.
Keep it gender-neutral. Article 5(3) of the EU Pay Transparency Directive says employers shall ensure that job vacancy notices and job titles are gender-neutral.

The first lines

Use the opening lines to say what the job is, who it is for and what makes it worth considering. Skip the company history; that can come later, briefly.

Weak opening (example): "XYZ Group is a leading provider of integrated solutions with a strong heritage and a passion for excellence. We are seeking a dynamic individual to join our growing team."

Stronger opening (example): "You will run the inbound side of our Reno warehouse on a four-on, four-off day shift, leading a team of 12 operatives. It suits someone who has supervised in logistics before and wants more say in how the shift is run."

The second version tells the reader what they would do, when, at what level and who it suits.

Pay transparency and the law

Including pay is good practice because it is one of the first things candidates want to know. In some places it is also a legal requirement. Rules differ by jurisdiction and change often, so check the current law for every location you hire in, and take legal advice where you are unsure.

European Union

The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) gives job applicants the right to receive information about the initial pay or its range for the position, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria. Article 5 says this information must be provided in a way that ensures an informed and transparent negotiation on pay, "such as in a published job vacancy notice, prior to the job interview or otherwise". The same article says employers shall not ask applicants about their pay history in current or previous jobs, and that vacancy notices and job titles must be gender-neutral.

The directive applies to employers in the public and private sectors. Member States had until 7 June 2026 to bring national laws into force (Article 34). The national law in each country is what employers must follow, and it may add detail or go further than the directive, so check the rules in each country where you advertise.

United States

There is no single federal rule on pay in job ads; requirements come from states and cities. Three examples:

California: the California Labor Commissioner's Office states that an employer with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale for a position in any job posting. It defines pay scale as a good faith estimate of the salary or hourly wage range the employer reasonably expects to pay on hire, says the pay scale should be in the posting itself rather than behind a link or QR code, and reads the rule as applying to any position that may ever be filled in California, in person or remotely.
Washington: RCW 49.58.110 requires employers with 15 or more employees to disclose in each posting the wage scale or salary range (or the fixed wage, if only one amount is offered) and a general description of all benefits and other compensation to be offered.
New York State: according to the New York State Department of Labor, Labor Law Section 194-b requires businesses with four or more employees to list compensation ranges for designated job opportunities, promotions and transfers, and to state clearly if a position is commission-based.

Other states and cities have their own rules. If you advertise remote roles, check whether a state's law reaches jobs that could be filled by someone living there, as California's guidance does.

How to show pay

Give a real range you would pay on hire, not the full band up to the top of the grade.
State the unit: per hour, per year.
Mention variable pay (commission, shift premiums, bonus) separately and say whether it is guaranteed.
Put pay in the visible text of the ad, not only in a job board field that some sites hide. If you use structured data on your own job pages, Google Search Central says the salary in the markup must also appear on the page.

Inclusive wording

Words in a job ad shape who sees themselves in the role. A 2011 study by Gaucher, Friesen and Kay, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and summarized by the Harvard Kennedy School Gender Action Portal, found that job ads with more masculine-coded wording led women to find the jobs less appealing and to feel they would belong less, while their view of their own ability to do the job was not affected.

Practical steps:

Describe the work, not a personality. "You will negotiate contracts with suppliers" is clearer and more neutral than "You are a competitive, dominant negotiator."
Cut inflated requirements. Every requirement should be needed on day one. Move the rest to "nice to have" or drop it.
Question degree and years-of-experience rules. If someone could do the job with equivalent experience, say so.
Avoid age-coded phrases such as "digital native" or "young, dynamic team".
Drop jargon and internal acronyms that only current staff understand.
Say how to ask for adjustments in the application or interview process.
Use a gender-neutral title, which is also a legal requirement in the EU under Article 5(3) of the directive mentioned above.

How long should a job ad be

Long enough to answer the questions that decide whether someone applies, and no longer. A practical test: can a candidate find pay, location, work pattern, the main duties and the must-have requirements within a short scroll on a phone? If not, cut.

Use bullet points for duties and requirements; keep each to one line where possible.
Keep paragraphs to two or three sentences.
Remove anything that would be true of any employer ("fast-paced environment", "team player", "competitive salary").
Move legal boilerplate to the end.

Before and after example

Before

Rockstar Customer Ninja (m/f)

We are a market-leading, award-winning provider of best-in-class customer solutions. We are looking for a dynamic, energetic self-starter to join our young and growing team in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to: handling inbound and outbound customer contacts across multiple channels, ensuring KPIs are met, liaising with internal stakeholders, maintaining CRM records, other duties as assigned.

Requirements: degree required, 3+ years of experience, excellent communication skills, ability to work under pressure, team player.

Competitive salary. Apply now!

After

Customer Service Representative

$21–$24 per hour | Hybrid: 3 days in our Tacoma office, 2 from home | Monday to Friday, 8:00–4:30 | Permanent, full time

You will help customers who have a problem with their home internet connection, mostly by phone and chat. Most calls are about billing and setup, and you will have a team lead on hand for the harder ones. It suits someone who stays calm with frustrated people and likes solving a problem properly the first time.

What you will do

Answer customer calls and chats and resolve billing and setup questions

Walk customers through basic router and connection checks

Pass technical faults to our engineering team with clear notes

Keep customer records accurate in our CRM

What you need

Experience dealing with customers, in any setting (retail, hospitality and call centers all count)

Clear written English for chat

Comfort learning new software

What you get

Three weeks of paid training before you take calls on your own

Health, dental and vision coverage from your first month

401(k) with employer match

How to apply

Send a resume or fill in our short form (about five minutes). We reply to every applicant within five working days. Next is a 20-minute phone call, then a one-hour interview with the team lead. Questions? Email the recruiter named on this page. Tell us if you need any adjustments for the interview.

What changed: a searchable, gender-neutral title; pay and work pattern up front; an opening that describes the job and who it suits; duties a candidate can picture; requirements cut to what is needed; specific benefits instead of "competitive"; and a clear process with a response time the employer has to keep.

Job ad checklist

The title uses the words candidates search for and is gender-neutral.
Pay, location, work pattern and contract type are visible near the top.
The pay information meets the rules in every location the job is open to.
The ad does not ask for pay history where that is prohibited.
The opening lines say what the job is and who it suits.
Duties are four to six concrete bullet points.
Every requirement is needed on day one.
Generic phrases ("fast-paced", "team player", "competitive salary") are gone.
Wording has been checked for gender-coded and age-coded language.
Benefits are specific.
The application process, timeline and contact are clear.
There is a way to ask for adjustments.
The ad reads well on a phone.
Links in the ad are tagged so you can track the source of applicants.

Once your ads are in shape, decide where to run them. Our guides to recruitment marketing strategy and facebook recruitment ads cover channel choice and paid distribution.