What to Put on a Now Hiring Ad: 10 Must-Haves for Effective Recruiting

Looking for qualified and motivated people who would be a good fit for your company? Then don’t make the mistake of creating generic “now hiring” materials! To find the right people for the right positions, effective recruiting materials can make all the difference.

From posters to flyers to yard signs, the checklist below covers everything you need to include on your now hiring materials. With the right content and design, you’ll be well on your way to fully staffed!

1. “Now Hiring” Headline

Within milliseconds of glancing at your now hiring poster, a viewer should understand that you’re hiring. Simple, right?

Avoid the temptation to be overly clever or cute-sy in the main headline. It’s always best to be upfront and clear, saving the more creative wording for smaller text that isn’t as important. 

Headlines like these work well:

• Now Hiring
• Join Us
• Join Our Team
• Help Wanted
• Accepting Applications
• Open Positions
• Hiring Immediately
• Apply Now
• Apply Today
• Send Us Your Resume

2. Business Name and Logo

It’s no surprise that your name and logo are absolute must-haves! If you’re a well-known company in your area or industry, then you can lean heavily on name recognition and shouldn’t be afraid to put your logo in the most prominent position.

3. Open Positions

A clear headline is a great start, but you’ll probably want to list specific open positions and/or job titles as well. 

For example, a gym with a banner that says “hiring now” could be looking for part-time front desk staff or for certified personal trainers. A software company could be looking for senior engineers or for facility maintenance staff.

Being clear about what you’re hiring for can help reduce the number of applicants (and the time it takes to hire) by weeding out those who are not interested in the positions at hand.

4. Key Contact Information

You’ll definitely want to provide your company’s contact information—but exactly what to include will depend on the nature of your business and the size of your now hiring ad. Depending on those two factors, we recommend at least the following:

• Your website URL
• Your social media pages (only if you’re active!)
• Physical location(s) where you’re hiring for in-person positions

For a now hiring poster or flyer displayed in a public location, you could also put your contact information on tear-off tabs, making it more likely that someone will snag one and contact you later.

5. Clear Call-to-Action

Just like the headline, make your call-to-action as clear and obvious as possible. After scanning your now hiring ad, the viewer should know exactly what to do to apply.

These calls to action might be:

• Inquire at the front desk
• Drop off your resume inside
• Apply at [website URL]
• Call us at [phone number]
• Email your resume to [email address]
• On-the-spot interviews available, M-F 8AM-5PM at [location]

Consider making your call-to-action even easier by displaying a QR code that links to a relevant hiring page on your website.

6. On-Brand Design 

Whether you’re creating a giant poster or a portable door hanger, there’s always room for well-branded design! Keeping your now hiring ad on-brand (in terms of colors, fonts, imagery, and so on) will help establish a sense of professionalism and credibility—which in turn sets the tone for everyone who applies.

Think about it like this: Would you take an interview more seriously for a company with well-branded recruiting materials…or one with a hand-scrawled note taped to the door? 

7. Required Education/Experience/Skills

If your positions require a certain background or experience level, be sure to list that on the now hiring ad. You can put this text in a smaller size since it’s not the most important message, but it should definitely be on there!

Feel free to keep it vague if you have multiple open positions with various requirements. Something like “all experience levels welcome” or “high school diploma and up” can work well.

Don’t have any requirements? Then say so! “No experience required” can be a great selling point.

8. Job Benefits

Especially if you’re in the service industry, you know how difficult it is to find dependable employees—and the “Great Resignation” is only making things harder! To attract the highest-quality applicants, it’s important to explain why someone would want to work for you.

Such benefits might include:

• Scheduling flexibility
• Employee discounts
• Room for advancement
• Work-from-home opportunities
• Healthcare plans
• Retirement contributions
• Vacation/sick policy
• Company culture
• In-office amenities

One tip for making these benefits more attractive to applicants is to skip the HR speak and instead ask your employees. Why do they like working for you?

9. Wage or Salary

From the perspective of a job applicant, one of the most important benefits of all is the money that can be earned.

There are differing opinions on how much to advertise a salary or wage when recruiting employees, so it’s ultimately up to you. At the very least, you should consider the implications of including a pay scale or not:

• Including the salary can set you apart—in either a good way or a bad way depending on how much you pay! It can also help pre-qualify applicants, as they’ve seen the wages before deciding to apply.
• Not including the salary may give you greater flexibility, but it may also decrease the number of applicants. Nobody wants to waste their time if the pay is too little.

10. Social Proof

If employees love working for you, say so! Just like customer testimonials for products or services, reviews from current employees can help reassure applicants that you’re a good choice. Often called “social proof,” this information can be written and displayed in many forms:

• Quotes from a current employee—with a name and picture if possible!
• A badge from a third-party organization (local business bureaus, employee review sites, etc.)
• Facebook reviews (if your employees leave them)
• Links to your profile on Glassdoor, Indeed, or another employer-employee marketplace

Ready to Recruit?

After you’ve got your must-have info brainstormed and ready to go using the tips above, jump into MyCreativeShop’s online editor to design your now hiring materials! We have easy-to-customize templates for all of the now hiring ads mentioned above, and you can order professional prints as soon as you’re done.

Once your now hiring flyers, posters, or banners arrive, check out this article for some creative ideas on where to display them.