How to write a job advert that gets the right 20 applicants, not 400 wrong ones

A bad advert does not fail by getting no applications. It fails by getting four hundred, of which six are relevant, and costing somebody three days to find them.

Why most Nigerian adverts fail

• No salary. Serious candidates skip it; everyone else applies to find out.
• No location, or “Lagos” for an office in Ibeju-Lekki that is two hours from Ikeja.
• A pile of fourteen requirements, none distinguished as essential.
• Words that mean nothing — “must be hardworking, dedicated, dynamic and proactive”.
• No clear way to apply, or three different ones.

The six things every advert needs

1. 1The exact job title — the one you would search for if you were hiring.
2. 2Location and work mode — city, area, and whether it is on-site, hybrid or remote.
3. 3The salary range, gross, per month.
4. 4Five to seven requirements, split into must-have and nice-to-have.
5. 5What the job actually looks like in a normal week.
6. 6One way to apply, and a closing date.

Write the title like a search query

Candidates search “customer service officer Lagos”, not “Urgent Vacancy!!!”. A title written the way people search is found by the people you want — on the job board and on Google.

Publish the salary

It feels risky and it is the single highest-leverage change you can make. Three things happen:

1. 1Volume falls. People who were never going to accept the number stop applying.
2. 2Quality rises. The ones who apply already know the number and want the job.
3. 3Negotiation starts from a known point, instead of a hopeful guess on both sides.

It is also the rule here: employers on GetAJob must disclose a genuine salary range, because a candidate cannot make a decision without one.

Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves

A requirement list is a filter. If everything is essential, nothing is, and the filter passes everyone. Two or three genuine must-haves will do more than ten aspirational ones.

A template you can copy

The application step

One step. If applying means filling a form, emailing a CV and then sending a WhatsApp message, a third of your good candidates will stop halfway. Pick one, say it once, and confirm receipt to everyone who applies — even a two-line automatic reply.

The first 48 hours after you post

Most of the good applications arrive in the first two days. What you do with them decides whether the advert worked.

1. 1Screen in one sitting, against a written scorecard, not against each other. Three criteria, scored out of five.
2. 2Reply to everyone within 72 hours, even a two-line rejection. It protects your reputation in a market where candidates talk to each other.
3. 3Book interviews while the role is fresh. A two-week gap between applying and hearing anything loses the best candidates to whoever moved first.
4. 4Close the advert once you have a shortlist. Leaving it open collects applications you will never read.

Write a rejection that does not burn the bridge

Three sentences is enough, and it costs nothing: thank them, say the decision, and say what would make a future application stronger. Candidates remember the companies that treated them like people, and some of them will be your applicants again next year.