When Cynthia Cole, AgCareers.com Talent Solutions Manager, speaks with employers who are about to post a job on AgCareers.com, they often want her input on how to create the most effective job posting for the talent they are seeking.

“The first piece of advice I give them is to focus on attracting the best candidates and not necessarily screening out those that are unqualified,” says Cole. At a minimum, job postings should include information about the company, a brief description of the job, the qualifications or requirements to effectively do the job, and how to apply for it. Generally, the “qualifications or requirements” section is the most challenging and crucial portion of the job posting. Cynthia shares some tips on how to create a job posting that will compel the best candidates to apply:

 Required vs Preferred Qualifications

And one last piece of advice: modify your posting as needed. Once your posting is public, adjust the wording of your qualifications, if necessary, to steer the proper candidates to your opportunity. If you find that the applicants you are receiving are consistently lacking a certain skill you want to see on their resumes, fine tune your posting accordingly.

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The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Penton Agriculture.