Writing Effective Job Postings
With over 500,000 job seekers and hiring professionals logging onto Monster.com every day, it is important to set your job postings apart from the rest. The following tips will help you write more effective job postings to attract the most qualified candidates for your positions. Use Keywords • 40% of all job seekers search by key words, and therefore they are an essential component of a successful job posting. • Keywords are words, phrases, terms, etc., that describe technical and professional experience. Relevant accounting & finance examples include payroll, cash forecasting, reconciliations, accruals, project accounting, Sarbanes-Oxley, 1099s, strategic planning, manufacturing industry, CPA, MBA, BA Accounting, JD Edwards, SAP, and AccPac, etc. • Keywords are recognized throughout the entire job posting, thus the more you write, the more opportunities you have to coincide with a candidate’s keyword search. • The most common Monster keyword searches include cfo chief financial officer accounting controller vice president financial analyst business analyst director payroll tax part time entry level SAP Peoplesoft unix sas Oracle accounts payable work from home MBA
Take up as much space as you need • A two-line job posting is likely to turn a potential candidate away rather than have them apply. Unlike newspaper ads where you pay by the line, online advertising allows you to type up to a full 8.5x11 sheet of paper for a single posting. This allows you to effectively sell your client’s position to job seekers and use as many keywords as necessary to help the job seeker find your ad. • Remember, the more detailed you get in your posting, the better chance qualified job seekers will find you, and it costs the same whether the ad has 5 lines or 55. Use separate paragraphs and bullets Some of the most successful postings are set up with the following formula: • Job Title (Don’t get to fancy here. Because of keywords you want to state the obvious, i.e. Accounting Manager) • Company Overview/Job Purpose • Job Responsibilities • Skills/Qualifications • About Accountants Inc. The next page illustrates an example of an ad written for an Assistant Controller position with potential keywords highlighted. Note, keywords are subjective, based on what the candidate puts in as their keywords.
Job Title:
Assistant Controller, CPA
Job Description: Company Overview/Job Purpose Our client is a large multi-entity corporation located in the heart of downtown Castskill, WY. We are looking for a seasoned accounting professional with strong supervisory skills. This person will report to the corporate controller and supervise a team of senior and staff accountants. This individual will also be responsible for determining financial status by designing accounting systems, supervising accounting processes, and reviewing and analyzing financial reports. Job Responsibilities • Accomplishes accounting staff objectives in selecting, orienting, training, assigning, scheduling, coaching, counseling, and disciplining employees. • Responsible for meeting budgetary requirements by providing annual budget information, monitoring expenditures, identifying variances and implementing corrective actions. • Accomplishes accounting requirements by designing and maintaining accounting processes, including journal entries and general ledger, payroll, billing, collections, accounts payable, and accounts receivable, supervising bank reconciliations and closing processes, supporting annual budget process, developing and maintaining forecasts and models, ensuring compliance with General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). • Establishes financial condition by preparing balance sheet, profit and loss, cash flow, and consolidated statements, and supporting schedules; comparing actual results to budget projections; developing summaries and interpretations. • Improves financial condition by analyzing financial reports and variances; revising accounting policies and practices and internal control procedures. • Completes statutory requirements by preparing and filing 10-K, 10-Q, and SEC reports; reviewing and submitting tax filings. • Maintains professional and technical knowledge by tracking emerging accounting practices; attending educational workshops; reviewing professional publications; establishing personal networks; benchmarking state-of-the-art practices; participating in professional societies. • Accomplishes organization goals by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests, exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments. Skills/Qualifications CPA. Accounting degree, cost accounting, financial planning and strategy, financial skills, financial software, general math skills, analyzing information, supervision, Attention to detail, dependability, financial diagnosis. Prefer three years of experience using Oracle or similar ERP system to perform multiple entity consolidations and financial applications. About Accountants Inc. Accountants Inc. provides employment services for accounting and finance professionals from the management to support level. We partner with leading companies across a broad spectrum of industries, providing our candidates with access to some of the most exciting career opportunities available across the country. And, because we integrate project, project to direct hire, and direct hire services, we provide flexible options for our candidates’ career needs. For more information on Accountants Inc. visit us on the Internet at www.accountantsinc.com.
Choose from a variety of response options In today’s job market it is imperative to provide multiple response options on your postings including: • Your email address • Your branch address • Your phone number • Your fax number • The apply online feature enabled Note: Monster suggests using a job code in this section to help track where your applicants are finding you (this can be your job order number). Choose category(s) and location(s). Typically, your accounting and finance positions will be posted under the “Accounting/Auditing” section, but there may be times when it would be appropriate to post under Finance/Economics, Financial Services or Executive Management. Additionally, if you are seeking an accountant in the healthcare field, you may choose to post it both under the Accounting/Auditing section and use an additional posting by placing it under Healthcare. Note you will be charged for two postings instead of one.