Writing job advertisements for the Web

The following information is provided as a helpful guideline for job-posting.

vc-jobs.com cannot be held liable or responsible for any action arising or for missing or out-of-date information.

Job-posters are responsible for their own material and should check with their own legal-advisors regarding the content and wording.

The Basics

You want your job advertisement to attract people and to attract the right people!

So it should inspire the reader to want to learn more about your organization and the position, whilst making it quite clear who is eligible.

It may sound obvious but the first part of the advertising process is to ensure that you know what job you are advertising! Consider the responsibilities and functions that need to be filled and list them. Then lay out the skills, qualifications or experience needed for a person to successfully fulfill the role. Give a little background about the organization itself – its purpose, nature and culture.

Make sure you include the vital information – most good job-posting sites will require you to do this anyway:

Salary

This should include a basic salary or salary-range, as well as some information about bonus schemes, profit-sharing etc

Location

City, state, country and traveling requirements if relevant

With Cities such as London, Paris, Rome, New York, Los Angeles etc add some sense of location within the city, e.g. London - West End, or, Paris – 5^th Arr.

“The position is based in London – West End, but there will be frequent business travel to support our offices throughout Western Europe – France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria”

Role and responsibilities

Try to avoid clichés – very few people in the VC and PE world would regard themselves as being undynamic, unresourceful or unprofessional!

Duration

Permanent, temporary, part-time, contract – and if so how long for, etc

Starting date

Give some indication of your requirement

Your ‘process-requirements’

CV format – whether you require hard and/or soft-copy, and if soft-copy what format

Covering letter – whether you require hard and/or soft-copy, and if soft-copy what format

The Text

Candidates want to know:

Is this the right step for my career in terms of progression?

You need to lay out the roles and responsibilities

Can I do the job?

Qualifications and key qualities

Is it a good place to work?

What are you like to work for? Be honest – and ask your staff, they know!

Who are their clients?

A good candidate will research your industry, sector and clients before the interview, but to start with an idea of the extent, size and type of your client-portfolio will help

A wide range of international investment houses and pension funds…

Focusing on a small number of dynamic, private-sector clients in IT and telecoms…

What are the other benefits of working there?

Promotion prospects – within the company, within the group

Travel prospects

Training and development

Fringe benefits