How to write a job posting that fills:
one job, not three
A posting that sits open for two months is rarely unlucky. Read it again and you will usually find three jobs inside it, no salary, and a list of tools where the work should be. This guide is the fix: the one-job test, the seven lines every small-business posting needs, what the pay-transparency laws now require, and a complete posting for a social media manager that you can adapt to any desk job in an hour.
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Why postings stay open
We read small-business job postings every day, and the ones that do not fill share four faults.
- Three jobs in one. "Social media manager" who also shoots video on site, runs the paid ads and answers the phone. Each is a different person with a different price; the one candidate who can do all three is not applying to a small business at that salary.
- No number. A posting without pay gets applications from people guessing, and the good ones do not guess; they apply to the posting next to yours that says what it pays.
- Tools instead of work. A list of software names tells a candidate what you have bought, not what they will do on a Tuesday. It also filters out the people who learn a tool in a week and would have been excellent.
- Nothing about the first month. The strongest candidates want to know what done looks like. A posting that says what the first month must produce reads as a business that knows what it wants, and it attracts people who like that.
The one-job test
Write the responsibilities as a list, then ask of each line: would I pay a different specialist to do this? Group the lines by the answer. If you have two or three groups, you have two or three jobs. Pick the one that hurts most, post that, and either hire the others later, buy them by the project, or drop them.
Some common splits:
| Posted as one job | The jobs inside it |
|---|---|
| Social media manager | The desk job (calendar, captions, replies, reporting); the on-camera creator (filming, appearing); the ads manager (spend) |
| Office manager | The executive assistant (calendar, inbox, travel); the bookkeeper (invoices, payroll); the receptionist (phone, front desk) |
| Marketing manager | The generalist (plan, calendar, agency and freelancer briefs); the designer; the copywriter; the SEO specialist |
| Customer service rep | The inbox and chat rep; the phone receptionist; the returns and logistics clerk |
Posting the desk half of the social media job on its own, for example, makes it a job a person can do from a laptop, prices it against the right wage line, and gets it filled.
The seven lines every posting needs
- The title people search for. "Social media manager", not "brand storyteller". Candidates search the plain title, and so do the sites that list your posting.
- What the business is, in one sentence. What you sell, to whom, how many of you there are, where. Candidates choose a business before they choose a job.
- What the person will do each week. Five to eight lines of work, in verbs, in order of how much time each takes. Not tools, not adjectives.
- What the first month must produce. Three things you will be able to point at. For a social media manager: a two-week calendar in our voice, a reply protocol for comments and messages, and a monthly report from the platforms' own numbers.
- Hours, place and the rules. Remote or on site, the days, the hours, whether they must be on camera or at events. If any of these is a deal-breaker for you, it is a deal-breaker for candidates too, and hiding it wastes everyone's month.
- The pay, as a range. The number every other line is measured against. See the next section.
- How to apply and what happens next. One address, what to send, and the date you will reply by. Then reply by it.
The pay line, and the law
Put a range in every posting, everywhere, whether or not your state requires it. It is the single change that most improves who applies.
The law is catching up with the practice. As of 2026, according to the trackers we read on 2026-09-19, fourteen states and the District of Columbia require a pay range in job postings for employers above a size threshold that varies by state; Virginia's law took effect on 2026-07-01 and Maine's on 2026-07-29; Connecticut moves from disclosure on request to disclosure in the posting on 2026-10-01; Delaware's law takes effect on 2027-09-26. Thresholds, remote-work rules and penalties differ by state, so check your own state's statute or ask your accountant before you post. A range that is honest and that you would actually pay is the safe version everywhere.
Anchor the range to a real number. For the desk half of a social media job, the Bureau of Labor Statistics files the work under Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists, where the national median was $78,760 in the May 2025 estimates; the table on our hiring guide for that job shows the 10th to 90th percentiles and six metros. Then remember what the number costs you: in June 2026, wages were 70.0% of what private employers paid per hour worked and benefits the other 30.0%, so a $60,000 salary is closer to $85,700 a year before recruiting, equipment and training.
Before you post: the ten-minute check
- Would one person do every line in "what you will do each week"? If not, split it.
- Is there a number in the pay line, and would you pay the top of it?
- Could a candidate tell what done looks like at the end of month one?
- Have you said the things that would make someone withdraw (on camera, on site, weekends) rather than let them find out at the interview?
- Does the title match what people type into a job site?
- Is there a date you will reply by, and a name?
How Allying does this
A posting is also how Allying finds the businesses it works for. When a business posts a desk job like the one above, Allying reads the posting the way this guide does, takes the job the posting describes, and does its first week before any conversation: for a social media manager, the two-week calendar in the business's voice, the finished posts from its own product photos, the reply protocol and the competitive audit, made from what is public about the business. The owner reads the work, not a pitch, and decides. What the posting says the job is not (filming, ads, a second job folded in) is what Allying says plainly it will not do, and who does it instead.
The price is 30% of the posted salary, billed monthly, with each job's minimum on the pricing page, so the range you write is also the number the proposal is priced from.
The work is done with AI and overseen by a named specialist who answers for it.
Mae Santos, Allying's co-founder, is the person you talk to; write to hello@allying.com and she answers. The work is reviewed before it reaches you.
Questions owners ask
Should I post a salary if I can be flexible for the right person?
Post the range you would actually pay, and say "depending on experience". Flexibility above the range is a conversation you can have with the one candidate who earns it; a missing number costs you the candidates who never apply.
How long should the posting be?
Under 400 words. The template above is about 330. Every line beyond that should earn its place by changing who applies.
Where should I post it?
Where the people who do this job look: the large job sites for the desk jobs, the trade's own boards for the trades, and your own site and channels always. The title and the pay line matter more than the board.
What if I really do need all three jobs?
Then you need three people, or one job and two contracts by the project, or one job done and the others dropped. A posting cannot fix a staffing plan; it can only describe one job honestly.
How do I know the posting worked?
You get fewer applications and more of them are from people who can do the job. If you get many applications and none fit, the posting is describing the wrong job or the wrong price.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (released 2026-05-15): Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists (13-1161), national median $78,760. Read on 2026-09-19.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (released 2026-09-09): in private industry, wages and salaries were 70.0 percent of employer costs per hour worked and benefits 30.0 percent. Read on 2026-09-19.
- Jackson Lewis, Navigating 2026: pay transparency laws and employer obligations (the states that require a pay range in the posting; Connecticut's move to proactive disclosure on 2026-10-01; Delaware's law effective 2027-09-26). Read on 2026-09-19.
- Bradley, Employment Law Insights, Show and tell: new state salary disclosure laws go into effect (Virginia's law effective 2026-07-01, Maine's 2026-07-29). Read on 2026-09-19.
- Allying, how to hire a social media manager for a small business (what the job is, what it pays, what the first week produces). Read on 2026-09-19.