Clarify what success looks like in the role

Before you start drafting the job description, be specific about what you’re hiring this person to do and how you’ll know they’re successful. Talk with your hiring team about what a strong first few months in the role look like, which teams this person will partner with most often and how their work supports your broader goals.

That shared picture makes it easier to:

• Highlight the skills and experience that matter most for day-to-day success.
• Separate qualifications that are truly required from those that are preferred or trainable.
• Right-size the role if you realize you are combining responsibilities that may be better split into multiple positions or levels.

It also gives matching tools like Smart Sourcing and ATS integrations a clearer view of the role, which can help Indeed surface more relevant candidates in Smart Sourcing and send better-matched applicants into your ATS for review.

Use clear, candidate-friendly job titles and descriptions

Job seekers typically search by straightforward titles and scan job descriptions quickly, often on their phone. Internal labels or newer titles that aren’t widely used yet can make your role harder to find or understand. When your internal title is unique or the role is emerging, it often helps to pair it with a more familiar title that reflects the core work, so candidates can recognize the role at a glance.

As you refine your posting, focus on:

• A job title that matches what candidates are likely to search for, even if your internal title is different or the role is relatively new.
• A short opening summary that explains what the role does, who it reports to, and why it exists.
• Responsibilities framed in terms of what success looks like, rather than as an exhaustive task list.
• Qualifications written in clear, skills-first language, with required and preferred criteria separated so candidates can quickly see if they may be a match.
• Formatting that supports easy scanning, with short paragraphs, clear headings, and concise bullets that work well on mobile and across your hiring tools.

For example, if you’re hiring a customer service representative, using a title like “Customer Service Representative” instead of “Customer Success Level II” and calling out skills such as conflict resolution, written communication, and CRM experience can help Indeed surface stronger matches and attract job seekers who recognize the role immediately.

If you want help getting started, Indeed’s free AI Job Description Generator can create a draft description based on your job title and location, which you can then tailor to reflect your specific responsibilities, required and preferred qualifications, and work arrangements.

You can also use our toolkit to optimize your interview process, improve your hiring decisions and enhance the candidate experience. Get the Toolkit.

Clearly separate required and preferred qualifications

Job seekers are more cautious about where they apply, and many won’t submit if they feel they don’t meet every item in a long requirements list. Being explicit about what’s required versus preferred can help you attract more qualified candidates without unintentionally narrowing your pool.

Before you post, consider:

• Which skills, certifications, or experiences are truly essential for success in the role.
• Where you are willing to be flexible or provide training, and how to label those as “preferred” in your post and screening tools rather than “required.”
• How your screener questions and minimum criteria align to those must-have qualifications.

Clear separation makes it easier for candidates to self-assess and helps Indeed’s matching systems, including Smart Sourcing and ATS integrations, prioritize people who more closely fit your core criteria, while still surfacing strong applicants who can grow into the role when you have labeled some qualifications as preferred.

Align on pay, location, and working arrangements

Job seekers look at the whole package: pay, where they work, and how the role fits into their life. Being specific where you can help set expectations and can improve application quality. In the US, jobs showing employer-provided salaries get 5.1X more impressions per job than those without salary information.^[1]

On Glassdoor, the top five benefits users evaluate opportunities by are salary, health insurance, vacation or PTO, bonuses, and 401(k) match.^[2]

Before you post, try to align on:

• Pay details: A realistic range or structure you can share publicly, plus any variable pay (bonuses, commissions, shift differentials).
• Location and flexibility: Whether the role is on-site, hybrid, or remote, how often in-office time is expected, and whether there’s flexibility around hours or time zones.
• Schedule and time off: Shifts, on-call needs, weekend work, or seasonal peaks, as well as any notable time-off or leave policies you’re comfortable highlighting.

When you share clear pay, location, and schedule details in your Indeed job post, you can reduce back-and-forth, help candidates quickly decide whether the role is a fit, and give Indeed matching and promotion systems more context when prioritizing your posting in search results and recommendations. To understand how visibility and budget work together, see Indeed Pricing.

Share relevant culture, team, and growth context

Beyond pay and title, candidates want to know what it is like to work with your team and how the role fits into the broader organization. A few specific details can make your post more memorable without turning it into a culture brochure.

You might include:

• A brief line on work style and collaboration norms (for example, meeting cadence, asynchronous work, key tools like Slack or Teams).
• Any job-relevant policies or practices candidates care about (for example, travel expectations, on-call rotation, safety practices for frontline roles).
• One or two credible proof points that you follow through on development (for example, mentorship programs, training budgets, or typical tenure in similar roles).

This context can help job seekers decide whether the environment and expectations align with what they are looking for and can support more relevant conversations once you start reaching out through tools like the Employer Dashboard or Indeed Smart Sourcing. For more ideas on describing your workplace in a balanced way, see this guide to company culture.

Plan your application experience and screening approach

How candidates apply affects who completes an application, how quickly you can respond, and how confident you feel moving people forward. Long or complex flows can cause drop-off, especially on mobile, while a focused, well-aligned application can surface stronger matches and make it easier to review candidates in one place across Indeed, your ATS, and other hiring tools that integrate with it.

On average, jobs with Indeed Apply turned on receive 66% more application starts per job than those without Indeed Apply.^[3]

Before you post, it’s useful to think through:

• How you want candidates to move through your hiring process from first click to offer, and how your Indeed application form and follow-up touchpoints (for example, automated messages, interview invites) support that journey. 
• How you will use ATS integrations and Indeed Apply to keep applications short, mobile-friendly, and consistent across channels, while still collecting key details.
• Which signals or screener questions will help you quickly identify candidates who meet your minimum qualifications, and how those map to filters and labels in your ATS, Indeed Smart Sourcing, and the Employer Dashboard.

In the US, job seekers who apply to jobs after employers contact them are 3.4X more likely to get an interview than those who apply on their own.^[4]

A streamlined, well-aligned application experience can encourage more qualified candidates to apply and makes it easier to work from a single, consistent view of each applicant across your ATS and your Indeed Employer Dashboard, while giving Indeed’s matching tools clearer, more structured data to work with. 

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FAQs Before Posting Your Job on Indeed

Why should I plan before clicking “Post job” on Indeed?
Planning ahead helps you write a clear, skills-first job description, separate must-have from nice-to-have qualifications, and align on pay and working arrangements. That makes it easier for the right candidates to recognize themselves in the role, decide to apply and complete your application.

What should my team agree on before we write the job description?
Align on what success looks like in the first few months, which teams the role will work with most and how the job supports your broader business goals. This shared picture makes it easier to highlight the right skills, right-size the role and write a description that works across your careers site, ATS and Indeed.

How do I make sure my job title and description are candidate-friendly?
Use a straightforward job title that matches how candidates search, even if your internal title is different. Then write a short summary, a focused list of responsibilities tied to outcomes, and a clear separation between required and preferred qualifications, formatted with short paragraphs and concise bullets that are easy to scan on mobile.

How should I separate required and preferred qualifications?
List only the skills, certifications and experiences that are truly essential as “required,” and move anything you can be flexible or train on into a “preferred” section. This helps candidates self-assess more accurately and reduces the chance that strong applicants will skip your posting because they do not meet every line item.

Why is it important to align on pay, location and working arrangements upfront?
Job seekers compare roles based on pay, where they will work and how the job fits into their life. Agreeing on a clear salary range, whether the job is on-site, hybrid or remote, and what the schedule looks like allows you to set accurate expectations in your post and can improve both the number and quality of applications. On average in the US, 76% of employers say their overall time-to-hire is reduced when multiple products are used together on Indeed.^[5]

How does my job description affect Indeed’s matching tools and my ATS?
A clear, well-structured description gives tools like Indeed Smart Sourcing, ATS integrations and the Employer Dashboard more accurate information to work with. That can help surface more relevant candidates, send better-matched applicants into your ATS and keep each applicant’s details consistent across the systems you already use.

What can I do to make my application process more candidate-friendly?
Keep your application short and mobile-friendly, collect only the information you truly need at the first step and make sure your screening questions and follow-up touchpoints match the responsibilities and qualifications you highlighted in the job description. A focused, well-aligned flow can encourage more qualified candidates to complete their applications. When you plan follow-up steps (such as outreach before asking candidates to complete a longer application), keep in mind that in the US, job seekers who apply to jobs after employers contact them are 3.4X more likely to get an interview than those who apply on their own.^[6]

How much culture and team information should I include in the job post?
Include a few specific, job-relevant details, such as how the team collaborates, any important policies candidates should know about and one or two proof points that show how you support growth. This gives candidates a realistic sense of what it is like to work with you without turning the posting into a full company profile. Job seekers who visit your Company Page are, on average, 3.5X more likely to apply to your jobs than those who don’t.^[7]

Putting it all together

Spending a bit of time on these considerations before you post a job can make each new role easier to fill and your overall hiring process more consistent. Clarifying what success looks like, writing clear, skills-first descriptions, separating required and preferred qualifications, aligning on pay and working arrangements, and planning a simple, mobile-friendly application experience all help candidates decide whether they may be a match.

When you use that same, well-structured description across your careers site, ATS, and job posts on Indeed, you give both candidates and matching tools a clearer picture of the role, so they are seeing and evaluating the same responsibilities, qualifications, and expectations wherever they encounter the job.

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