How to Write a Job Ad that Attracts Top Search Market Talent

Josh Peacock

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September 9, 2026

Most job ads aren’t badly written, they’re incomplete. Phrases like “fast-paced dynamic team” or “competitive salary” aren’t laziness, they’re what comes out when a business hasn’t agreed what the role actually owns. The fix isn’t a better paragraph. It’s a 90-minute meeting with your leadership team before anyone writes anything, producing a one-page scorecard with 3-5 measurable outcomes, what the person owns in the first 90 days, and a real decision timeline.

Jump to a section:

• 0:00 Why candidates scroll past your ad
• 0:26 What a normal job ad says
• 1:06 What candidates actually hear instead
• 2:32 The ad is the readout, not the problem
• 3:11 Why requirements don’t excite A-players
• 3:19 Your ICP for hiring, not just clients
• 4:15 The 6 things the best brief did
• 5:27 Why slow clients lose more candidates
• 5:58 How one client filled a role in 23 days
• 7:01 What actually belongs in a job ad
• 7:42 What candidates ask on screening calls
• 8:21 The 90-minute fix and scorecard
• 9:59 How Josh wrote his own job ad
• 11:27 What to do before your next ad

Key takeaways

• A “normal” job ad, competitive salary, fast-paced team, self-starter, five-plus years, isn’t necessarily wrong, but every strong candidate translates those phrases into what they actually mean, based on experience with ads just like it.
• Vague phrases exist because nobody in the business has agreed what the role owns yet, the ad is a readout of that gap, not the cause of it.
• Agencies already build an ICP for their best-fit clients but rarely build one for the role they’re hiring, even though the same exercise (who they are, what they’re afraid of, what makes them say yes) applies directly.
• The strongest hiring brief I’ve received this year did six things: named who to screen out (not just who to bring in), positioned the role correctly, described the seat in concrete language, published a decision timeline unprompted, named the business’s own failure mode, and committed to what they owed the recruiter.
• I’ve lost more good candidates to slow-moving clients than to bad ones — a three-week wait on stage two isn’t thoroughness, it’s an unintentional choice to lose the candidate to a faster process.
• A job ad needs four things that fall directly out of that thinking: a real number (not a wide salary band), the honest reason the seat is open, who the person reports to by name, and three measurable things they’ll own in the first 90 days.
• The fix is one 90-minute meeting with everyone who interviews plus whoever signs off, producing a single page: 3-5 outcomes for the year, 90-day ownership, a 60/40 behavior-to-skill weighting, and a committed decision timeline, nobody reads a CV until that page exists.

Why do the best candidates scroll past your job ad? (0:00)

A role gets posted, three weeks pass, forty applications land, and none are hireable. I run Search for Hire and I’ve built over 100 teams, so I read job ads the way your best candidate does: as written, not as intended.

What does a normal SEO job ad actually say? (0:26)

Fast-paced dynamic team. Competitive salary. Self-starter who can hit the ground running. Five-plus years. A third of the job boards this morning would read the same way. Nothing wrong with it on the surface. That’s the point.

What does a candidate really hear when they read your ad? (1:06)

“Competitive salary” reads as we haven’t decided. “Fast-paced dynamic team” reads as two people just left. “Self-starter” reads as nobody’s going to manage you, there is no plan.

“Five plus years” reads as we copied this from another ad. Nobody means it that way. Every strong candidate hears it that way anyway.

Why is the job ad the readout, not the problem? (2:32)

Those phrases aren’t laziness, they’re what comes out when nobody’s done the thinking.

You can’t write what someone owns in their first 90 days if the business hasn’t agreed what the role owns. I see it on discovery calls every week: unsure on the title, unsure what they’ll own, unsure on salary. That’s not a market problem. It’s a Tuesday afternoon problem nobody’s booked yet.

Why doesn’t a list of requirements excite an A-player? (3:11)

Writing roles, responsibilities and requirements on a job description has never once been exciting to an A player. It’s a list of things you’d like doing that you currently have to do yourself.

Do you have an ICP for hiring, not just for clients? (3:19)

You can describe your best-fit client in your sleep.

Size, sector, what they’re afraid of, what makes them say yes. Now tell me your ICP for the role you’re hiring. The requirements are not an ICP.

Who do you want, what do they care about, what would make them choose you over the other three conversations they’re having? Most of you have never written it down. Same founder, same skill, never pointed at hiring.

What did the best hiring brief I’ve ever received actually do? (4:15)

I won’t name them, but the best brief I got this year arrived before the search even started, and did six things almost nobody does: named who to screen out, not just who to bring in; positioned the role correctly; described the seat in language a candidate could picture; published its own decision timeline unprompted; named its own failure mode and designed around it; and committed to what they owed me, including what happens if my first submissions miss.

Why do slow clients lose more good candidates than bad ones? (5:27)

Money was in that brief, but money wasn’t what did the work. Speed did. I’ve lost more good candidates to slow clients than to bad ones, and it isn’t close. An A player talking to you is already talking to someone else.

Take three weeks to come back on stage two and you’re not being thorough, you’re choosing to come second without meaning to.

How did one law firm client fill a role in 23 days? (5:58)

A recent law firm client came to us before it hurt, which is rare. They already knew what they wanted, what success looked like in the seat, and why an A player would want the job.

We filled a genuinely tricky role in 23 days. Not us being clever. Them having the work done before they called.

What actually belongs in a job ad? (7:01)

Speed to hire isn’t a recruiter metric, it’s a shared one.

Four things belong in the ad, and all four fall out of doing the work: a real number, not a wide band (salaryguide.com if you need help there); the honest reason the seat’s open, even if it’s unflattering, because silence is what candidates assume anyway; who they report to, by name; and three measurable things they own in the first 90 days.

What do candidates really ask on screening calls? (7:42)

Six things, every time: what the company’s really like, not the boilerplate.

1. Where it’s going this year and how.
2. Who’s already on the team.
3. What it actually stands for, the version you’d lose money over.
4. What the interview process looks like and how long it takes.
5. Why the role is open.
   
   Check your ad against that list. For most of the ones I read, it answers none of them.

What is the 90-minute fix, and what goes on the scorecard? (8:21)

Book 90 minutes, once per role, before anyone writes anything. Everyone who’ll interview, plus whoever signs off.

Out comes one page: 3-5 outcomes for the year in order of what matters most; what they own in the first 90 days; a 60/40 weighting of behavior to skill, so a strong CV can’t blind the process; who to screen out next to who to bring in; what happens to the work if the seat’s still empty in 90 days; and a decision timeline with a name against each stage.

One rule makes it work: nobody reads a CV until that page exists. You can overengineer this too. Six or seven interview stages with no structure is overkill, and A players see through it.

How did I write my own job description at Salary Guide? (9:59)

I’m hiring a data content and digital PR lead at Salary Guide right now. Instead of leading with responsibilities, I wrote what success looks like in three blocks: 90 days, six months, twelve months, each with specific, measurable outcomes.

Took me an afternoon. A candidate later told me, unprompted, that having an actual roadmap was what made them lean in. Not the salary. The fact that someone had clearly thought about the job before asking anyone to want it.

What should you do before you post your next job ad? (11:27)

If a role’s gone quiet, don’t rewrite the ad yet.

Book the 90 minutes, sit down with your leadership team, build the one-page scorecard.