Your Job Ad Is Why Nobody’s Applying

I read your job ad. All 1,200 words of it. Here’s the problem: so did everyone else, and then they closed the tab.

Not because they weren’t qualified. Not because they weren’t interested. Because your ad told them absolutely nothing about why they should care. It read like a compliance document written by a committee of people who’ve never actually done the job.

I review hundreds of job ads a month. Most of them have the same three problems. And all three are fixable in about 20 minutes.

1. The “47 requirements” syndrome

You listed every technology ever invented. Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, programmatic, SEO, SEM, CRM, HTML, CSS, SQL, Tableau, Looker, GA4, GTM, Salesforce, HubSpot, and “a passion for data.”

Nobody has all of that. Nobody. The person who ticks every box on that list doesn’t exist, and if they did, they wouldn’t be applying to your mid-level marketing role.

Here’s what actually happens: the candidates who could do the job brilliantly read that list, count the ones they don’t have, and move on. You’re not filtering for quality. You’re filtering OUT the people who would actually succeed.

The only people who apply to a 47-requirement job ad are the ones who don’t read requirements lists. Think about that for a second.

2. “Competitive salary” means “we haven’t decided yet”

Let’s be honest about what “competitive salary” actually communicates. It says: we either don’t know what this role is worth, or we know and we’re hoping to lowball someone.

Candidates skip these instantly. I’ve watched it happen in real time — sitting with a senior product manager scrolling through roles, watching them flick past anything without a number. “If they won’t share the range, I assume it’s low,” she told me. “And I’m usually right.”

Put the range in. Yes, even if it’s wide. $120k–$150k tells a candidate more than “competitive” ever will. It tells them you’ve thought about it. It tells them you respect their time. And it saves everyone the awkward conversation three interviews deep when you discover you’re $30k apart.

3. “Fast-paced environment” and other meaningless phrases

What does “fast-paced environment” actually mean? Every company says it. Literally every one. I have never seen a job ad that says “relaxed and slow-moving environment where nothing much happens.”

Same goes for “dynamic team,” “exciting opportunity,” “passionate individuals,” and “rockstar.” Please, for the love of all that is good, stop saying “rockstar.”

Say something specific. “You’ll manage 4 campaigns simultaneously across different markets.” That’s fast-paced, and now I actually know what you mean. “You’ll present performance reports to the CEO monthly.” That tells me about visibility, seniority, and pressure — in one sentence.

Specificity is the difference between a job ad that gets scrolled past and one that gets bookmarked.

Your job ad is a sales pitch. You’re selling it badly.

Most job ads lead with what the company wants. “We need someone with 5+ years of experience who can manage blah blah blah.”

Nobody cares what you need. Not at first. They care what they get.

Lead with what the candidate gets. What will they learn? Who will they work with? What’s the trajectory? What problem will they solve that actually matters? What does the team look like — not in corporate values speak, but in reality?

“You’ll join a 6-person growth team that just hit $2M ARR and is building the playbook for international expansion.” That’s a sentence that makes someone stop scrolling. “We are seeking a highly motivated Growth Marketing Manager to join our dynamic team” is a sentence that makes someone fall asleep.

The product is the role. And right now, you’re selling it like it’s a terms-and-conditions page.

The fix

This is not complicated. Here’s the entire formula:

300 words max. If you can’t describe the role in 300 words, you don’t understand the role well enough to hire for it.

Salary range upfront. Not “competitive.” Not “DOE.” A range. In dollars.

5 real responsibilities, not 15. What will this person actually spend their time doing? Five things. The real five. Not the aspirational fifteen you copied from the last version of this job spec.

One paragraph about the actual team they’ll join. How many people. Who they report to. What the team’s working on right now. That’s it.

Done. That’s a job ad that respects the reader’s time and actually attracts the people you want.