How to Write a Job Ad That Attracts the Right People (and Screening Questions That Filter the Rest)

Most job adverts in Ghana are written as a list of demands. "Must have 5 years' experience. Must be hardworking. Must be a team player. Send CV to..." Nothing about the work, the pay or why anyone good would want it.

Then the business wonders why the applicants are weak.

A job advert is a sales page. You are selling a role to the people you most want, and the best of them have options. This guide shows how to write a job advert that attracts them, and how to add screening questions that filter everyone else out before you spend an hour reading.

Why do most job adverts attract the wrong people?

Because they are vague in the places that matter and specific in the places that don't.

"Hardworking", "self-motivated" and "team player" describe everyone, so they filter no one. Meanwhile the things a strong candidate actually needs to decide, such as the pay, the hours, whether it's remote and what success looks like, are missing. Good people skip it. Desperate people apply to it, and to everything else too.

Fix the content and the applicant pool changes.

What should a job advert include?

Answer the questions a strong candidate would ask before applying.

1. What the job actually is

Describe the work, not the title. "Sales executive" means ten different things. "You'll follow up with people who've asked about our products on WhatsApp and close them over the phone" means one.

2. What a great first month looks like

Say what the person will have produced or achieved after four weeks. This helps the right people picture themselves doing it, and helps the wrong people realise it isn't for them.

3. The pay and how it works

Salary, commission, per piece or per project. If you can, state the figure or range. It is the first thing everyone wants to know, and saying it upfront removes people looking for something different.

4. How and where the work happens

Office, remote or a mix. Hours. Weekends. Tools. Equipment they need to bring.

5. Who will do well, and who won't

Be honest. "This role suits someone who likes talking to strangers and doesn't mind hearing no." "If you need a fixed routine, this isn't for you." Telling the wrong people to skip it is one of the strongest filters you have.

6. What happens next

Explain the process: application, screening, test task, interview. People take an application more seriously when they can see there's a process behind it.

What should a job advert leave out?

• Empty adjectives. "Dynamic", "passionate", "result-oriented". Show the work instead.
• Age, gender or other personal characteristics. "Ladies only", "under 30" or "male preferred" are discriminatory, and on Facebook and Instagram, Meta bans discriminatory content in adverts. Describe the skill or the requirement of the job instead.
• A wall of requirements. List the few things that are truly essential. Long lists put off capable people who tick most boxes, and don't stop people who tick none.

How do I write screening questions that filter for quality?

Screening questions sit on your application page and do the first round of sorting for you. Good ones fall into four types.

Knock-out questions. Simple facts the role depends on. "Can you work Saturdays?" "Do you have your own laptop?" "Are you able to work from Kumasi?" A wrong answer here ends the application politely.

Experience questions. Ask people to describe something they've done, not to rate themselves. "Tell us about a sale you closed that nearly fell through" is better than "How good are you at sales, 1 to 10?"

Proof requests. A portfolio link, writing samples, a short video, past designs. For skilled roles this is the most useful part of the form.

Thinking questions. One short scenario related to the job. "A customer says your price is too high. What do you reply?" The answer shows judgement and how well they write.

Keep it to the questions you'll actually use. A form that takes ten minutes filters out people who aren't serious. One that takes an hour filters out the good people too.

Should I use a test task?

For any role where the work can be shown, yes. A short, paid or clearly limited task built around real work is one of the best predictors you have.

• An editor cuts a short clip from a longer video.
• A salesperson writes three follow-up messages for a quiet lead.
• A designer creates one social graphic from a brief.
• A writer drafts a product description.

Send the task only to people who pass screening. That keeps it fair for applicants and manageable for you.

Where should applicants apply?

To a page with a form, not your WhatsApp or email. A page shows every applicant the same information and asks everyone the same questions. A form saves every answer in one place, so you can sort, compare and reply without hunting through chats.

We build application forms on PayLead for our clients. Every application lands in one list that can be filtered, given a status and noted. You can see an example on the clipper application page we built for Stryve, described in how we recruited clippers for Stryve SMM with ads.

How do I get the job advert in front of the right people?

Sharing on your status and in groups only reaches people who already know you. To reach skilled people who aren't looking at your page, run the job as an advert, aimed at the kind of person who does this work and sent to your application page. We explain how in recruitment ads in Ghana.

A simple job advert template

Use this as a starting point:

[Role in plain words]

We're looking for someone to [what they'll do every day].

In your first month, you'll [what they'll produce or achieve].

Pay: [amount or range, and how it's paid]
Where: [office, remote, or both] · Hours: [hours and days]

This role suits you if [two or three honest traits or skills]. It's not for you if [one honest deal-breaker].

How to apply: fill in the short application form. Shortlisted applicants get a small test task before interviews.

Common questions

How long should a job advert be?

Long enough to answer what a strong candidate needs to decide, usually a few short paragraphs plus key details. The advert on Facebook or Instagram can be shorter and point to the full details on the application page.

How many screening questions should I ask?

Enough to make a first decision without reading a CV. For most roles that's a few knock-out questions, two or three experience questions and a request for proof of work.

Is it fair to ask applicants to do a test task?

Yes, if it is short, relevant to the real job, and only sent to shortlisted people. Tell applicants upfront that it's part of the process.

What if I still get too many applicants?

Tighten the advert first: be clearer about pay, hours and who it isn't for. Then add a knock-out question for the most common reason people turn out to be unsuitable.

Let us run your hiring campaign

If you need to hire well and you're tired of reading applications that were never a fit, we'll write the job messaging, build the application page with screening questions, and run the adverts. See our recruitment ads service or book a free strategy call.