A careers page that candidates read to the end

A candidate arrives from a job post or a friend's message with one question: is an hour on an application here worth it? A careers page that is read to the end answers five things in one scroll. They come in this order: the open roles, how pay and growth work, the people they will work beside, what happens after they apply, and who should not apply. A day in the job, told by someone doing it, earns a sixth block when you can get one. Put it all on one page with one way to apply. Pages that get abandoned open with a stock photograph and a paragraph about culture.

What a candidate does on the page

They scan for the role, the place and the pay. Then they look for a sign that a person will read what they send. Anything that does not help that decision is a reason to close the tab.

So the page is a decision aid, not a brochure. It is also the page your job posts, your adverts and your staff will send people to, which is why it must match them.

The page, written out for one firm

This is an invented firm, not a client. A ceramic tile maker in Morbi is hiring a kiln operator, a dispatch clerk and a dealer-sales trainee. Here is the page it publishes, in short form, with a note on why each part is there.

Open roles Kiln operator, Morbi plant, rotating shifts (the kiln runs round the clock), fixed pay with an overtime rate you can ask about at interview. Dispatch clerk, Morbi office, general shift, Monday to Saturday. Dealer-sales trainee, Morbi office with dealer visits in Saurashtra, two-wheeler and fuel allowance provided.

Why: each line has a place, a shift pattern and the thing that decides whether a person can say yes. Pay bands sit under each role when the firm can stand behind them.

How pay and growth work Pay is on [the fixed date]. Raises are reviewed [as often as the firm really reviews them]. The sales trainee has a fixed part and a commission on dealers they open. We do not pay a bonus on production.

Why: it says what is not offered, and the bracketed parts are for you to fill with what the firm really does. A candidate who hears "no production bonus" from you is more likely to believe the rest.

A day in the job For the kiln operator, in the words of the operator now on the day shift: the handover from the night operator, the temperature check, what to do when a batch cracks, and where the chai break falls.

Why: written by the person doing the job, it carries details a manager would not think of.

Who you will work with Names and roles for the people a joiner sits beside: the plant head, the dispatch supervisor and the sales manager, with one line each. A photo only if the person agrees.

What happens after you apply The plant head reads applications and calls shortlisted people. There is a short practical task for operators and a dealer role-play for the sales trainee. Everyone who applies is told the result.

Why: it lists the steps. Add a number of days only if the firm keeps to it.

Who should not apply If you want a desk job within a year, this plant is not it. If you dislike working next to heat and noise, you will not enjoy the kiln. If you expect to leave the floor without a supervisor's sign-off, the process here is slower than that.

How to apply WhatsApp your name, the role and one line on your last job to the number below. Or write to the email address.

That is the whole page. It fits in two screens on a phone.

The mistake in the version it replaced

The old page had a paragraph on "our values", a gallery of festival photographs and one email address. It treated plant, office and field candidates as one audience. The plant candidate wanted a shift pattern, the clerk wanted to know about the Saturday, and the trainee wanted the commission terms. None of them found their answer, so they rang the plant head, who spent the mornings explaining the same four things.

The rebuilt page took some of those questions off the phone, though not all, and the plant head still takes calls from people who skip pages. The day-in-the-job block was the part applicants mentioned at interview. It also costs something: the operator who wrote it was off the line for an hour, and it needs rewriting whenever the handover changes.

Writing "who should not apply"

This is the section owners skip and the one candidates remember. A good line is a trade-off, not a threat.

• Name what the job asks that some people dislike: heat, travel, a long probation, being measured on numbers.
• Admit what you lack and some want. A training budget. A large team. A fast promotion track.
• Never use it to screen on age, gender, community or marital status. That is unfair and may break the law, so ask your own adviser if you are unsure.

Keeping it honest

A page listing a role filled two months ago tells candidates that nobody reads their application. Give one person the job of taking down a role on the day it is filled. Check the hiring-steps block against what really happens. If you say there is a task and never set one, a candidate will say so in a review.

Skip the video tour unless it shows the real work area with the people there today. A polished film of someone else's office does more harm than having none.

Draft the first two blocks

Link the page from the footer and from every job post, and print its address on any advertisement. Then write the open-roles block and the who-should-not-apply block first. They take little time and change what candidates do. The employer branding hub has the wider picture. If you want the whole page drafted from your own people's words, website design and development covers the build, and you can tell us what you need.