Your Company Name should be your complete company name, as this will be what is advertised on job boards.

Avoid abbreviations, d/b/a, or “Inc.” unless it’s how you typically refer to the company.

Insert the company website that matches the company name on your account.

Your email address should match the company website domain (e.g. your email is john@coolcompany.com and the website is www.coolcompany.com).

You should be an identifiable employer with public contact details or other verifiable information.

If you have a company logo, be sure to upload it.

People search job sites using the name of the position that’s most familiar to them. While “senior licensed insurance sales guru” might sound exciting on a business card, job seekers are more likely to be searching for “Insurance Sales Representative”.

Give job seekers the best chance of finding your job by using common job names.

Avoid industry terms and jargon like P&C and CSR you can always get a bit more creative in the job description.

Select a category that best describes your industry and/or function. Job seekers will use categories to filter positions.

For example, when a candidate searches for “insurance sales in Austin, TX”, your job is more likely to come up in the search results if you select the category “Insurance Sales.”

Conversely, if you choose “sales” (a very general category) your ad will be mixed in with much more increased competition with jobs like “Shoe sales”, “Car sales”, “Sheet metal sales”, etc.

Include a valid zip code as the location of the job.

By default, job boards will use a 25-mile radius around your zip code to publish your job advertisement (this can be changed by the applicant only.)

Do not publish the same job in multiple locations, unless the postings are for separate openings in different offices.

Each job opening should only be published once or it may be flagged as spam by job boards.

Include enough detail so that candidates understand the duties and requirements of the position at your company.

If you need help creating the job description you’ll find a template button on the top right of each text editor box, it looks like a + sign. It includes libraries of editable templates. This will help get you in the right direction, but be sure to make it your own. Job seekers are savvy and can sniff out common templates.

The description should be for a single job opening. Each separate position should be its own job in IdealTraits. If you’re hiring for multiple openings, you still should write as if it was a single position (e.g. “Nurses” or “Salespeople” should be “Nurse” and “Salesperson”). Job seekers will only search for a singular position.

Make your description easy to read by using formatting options, such as headings, bold text, and bulleted lists. Refrain from using links and images since most job boards don’t support them.

Format your text inside of IdealTraits, as opposed to writing a formatted description in a text editor and pasting it in. Pasting formatted text may lead to formatting issues on certain job boards.

Don’t provide other ways for candidates to apply, like an email address, phone number, or website link. IdealTraits will always include an Apply button automatically. Adding links could flag your account as “spam” and result in it being blocked for abuse.

Avoid language that could be viewed as discriminatory. This includes any age limits or similar language (e.g. “college students welcome”), specific pronouns (e.g. avoid using “he” or “she”), and nationality (when referring to language abilities, use “native-level” instead of “native.”)

Use a Salary Range. The salary range is a filter that can be used by job seekers, which could remove your job listing from the results if left blank. This is why it is always great practice to include the salary range. If the field is left blank, some job boards may, by default, only include your job in search results for the lowest salary range band. Check out these two articles for more information on what to put in the Salary Range, including salary transparency.

When it comes to including more searchable keywords in your ad, the Benefits section is your best friend. Think about it this way, candidates aren’t just searching for the jobs they want, they’re also searching for the things they want to get from their jobs. This is where your benefits come in handy for including keywords. Make sure you’re including everything you offer, such as Bonuses, Weekends Off, Supplemental Insurance, 401k, and everything in between. Candidates are searching for specific benefits when they are looking for jobs, and they’ll never know you offer something if it isn’t listed in your job ad. If you need a little bit of inspiration when it comes to formulating your perfect benefits section, check out this article for a good list of benefits.

All job sites tend to show more recent job postings higher in search results. This means that in the first couple of weeks, you’ll get more candidates. However, later on, the job listing may be buried deep in the search results.

Reposting a job or duplicating it so that your job posting has a recent posted date is highly frowned upon. If you overdo this (i.e. creating an identical job position and republishing it every month) it will be detected by job boards and your account could be blocked permanently for abuse.

The preferred solution to stay relevant in search results is to purchase paid listings on premium job sites, such as Indeed or ZipRecruiter. These paid sponsorship options offer prominent placement and typically yield 3 to 5 times more results than an organic posting. IdealTraits integrates seamlessly with our sponsors, and in many cases, offers you discounts and special offers.