How to write a job post that attracts the right applicants in India

You need a purchase executive who will visit mandis, and you have written three lines and a phone number. A good job post answers five questions before the candidate asks them. What is the job called, and what will I do? Where will I do it? What does it pay, or how is pay set? What do you need from me? What happens after I apply? Write the answers in that order, in plain sentences, and add one line on who should not apply. Weak posts leave out the place, the pay and the next step, so the wrong people apply and the right ones scroll on.

A template to fill in

Copy this skeleton, then replace every square bracket with a fact.

[Title people search for], [trade or product], [town] You will [the most frequent task], [the second], and [the third]. Work is [on site / in the field / mixed], [days], [shift if it matters]. Travel: [how much, who pays]. Pay is [fixed range] a month, plus [variable part and how it is worked out]. Or: pay is set by [experience and a short task] and discussed before the interview. You need [three must-haves]. Helpful but not required: [two things]. This is not the job for someone who [one honest trade-off]. To apply, send [what] to [number or address]. [Who] reads it and [what happens next].

The rest of this post explains each line.

The title: use the one people type

Candidates search by the title they hold or want. "Sales Ninja" and "Customer Delight Associate" are not searched by anyone. Use the common title, then add trade and town.

• "Field Sales Executive, tiles and sanitaryware, Nagpur"
• "Accounts Executive (GST and TDS), Surat"
• "Purchase Executive, paddy and rice, Raipur"

A title that carries trade and place brings the right readers on a job board and tells everyone else to scroll on. Keep the fancy name for the visiting card.

The same post will travel to more than one site. A job board is searched by title, so keep the full title and trade there. A social post is read on a phone in a few seconds, so open it with the town and the pay or the main task, and link to the full version.

The day, the place and the pattern

Write five to seven lines on the actual work, in the verbs the person will use. Put the most frequent task first, not the most impressive. If the "marketing executive" role is mostly collecting orders from shopkeepers by phone, say so, because a candidate who wanted campaigns will not apply and you save an interview.

Then the place. "Bengaluru" is not a working place. Nagarbhavi and Whitefield are a long, tiring commute apart. Give the area, whether the job is on site, in the field or mixed, the working days, and the shift. If travel is part of the job, say how much and who pays. If a two-wheeler is needed, say so. A candidate who learns it at the offer stage drops out then.

Pay: from best to worst

1. A band with the fixed and variable parts, using your real figures.
2. A band with no breakdown.
3. A description of how pay is set: "by experience and a short task".
4. Nothing, or "as per industry standards".

Publish only a number you would honestly pay the right person. What an employer must disclose differs by state and changes, so check with your own adviser.

The next step

Say where to apply, what to send, who reads it and what comes next. "Send your CV and one line on the biggest purchase you handled; the mill manager reads every message and rings those shortlisted" filters, reassures and sets expectations in one sentence. Do not promise a number of days unless you keep to it.

A rice mill in Raipur rewrites its post

This is an invented mill, not a client. Its first post: "Purchase executive required for rice mill. Experience 2 years. Good salary. Apply with CV." It draws a stack of CVs from people who have never bought paddy and silence from two who have.

Read against the template, four things are missing. The title is generic. The work is not described: visits to mandis and farmers' collection points, checking moisture and quality, agreeing rate and weight, and passing the bill to accounts. There is no pay. And an experienced buyer wants to know how often they are on the road and whether payment to farmers goes through them or through the owner.

The rewrite:

Purchase Executive, paddy and rice, Raipur (field-based, six days) You will visit mandis and farm collection points around Raipur to buy paddy. You check moisture and grain quality, agree rates within the owner's limits, and hand weighbridge slips to accounts the same evening. About four days a week are on the road; fuel is paid at actuals. Pay is ₹25,000 to ₹35,000 a month depending on experience, plus an incentive on quality that the owner explains at interview. You need two years buying agricultural produce, good Hindi and Chhattisgarhi, and a two-wheeler. This is not a role for someone who wants a desk, or who wants authority to fix rates alone. Send your CV and the last crop you bought to the WhatsApp number below. The mill manager reads every message.

The days on the road, the fuel terms and the pay band in the rewrite are all invented for this example; use your own. Say the mill gets 12 replies instead of 60 (invented numbers), and nine are from people who have bought produce before. That is the aim. It is a partial gain: two of the nine want more than the band, and the owner still has to read every reply.

Where a long post is wrong, and your first edit

If you hire by walk-in for helpers and packers, a short post with the address, time, pay and what to bring beats all of this. A long post suits roles where candidates compare you with other employers. For a senior role, a direct message to a shortlist may do better than any public post.

If your post is already up and not working, why good candidates ignore your job post helps you find the step where people leave.

Take the post that has been open longest and add the place, the pay and the next step. Candidates read it, then look you up. The post is the first page of your employer branding. See recruitment advertising for where the post is placed. For help with the wording, tell us what you need.