Tag Archive for: job ads

Most small business owners I talk to hate writing job ads. You’ve got a gap in the team, you’re already doing two people’s work, and now you have to sit down and sell the role to strangers. So the ad gets rushed. It’s either three lines long or a wall of copy-pasted duties from five years ago, and the applications that come back show it.

AI is genuinely good at this job. Not at deciding who to hire or what to pay, but at turning your rough notes into a clear, friendly ad in plain Australian English. In this post I’ll show you how I’d do it: what to tell the AI, a prompt you can copy, the parts you must check yourself, and how to reuse it every time you hire.

Why most small business job ads miss the mark

When I read job ads from small businesses, the same problems come up again and again:

• They’re about the business, not the person. Two paragraphs of company history before you find out what the job actually is.
• The real job is hidden. “Assist with general duties as required” tells a good applicant nothing.
• Corporate fluff. “Rockstar”, “self-starter”, “fast-paced environment”. Every ad says it, so nobody reads it.
• No pay, hours or location detail. Good people skip ads where they can’t tell if the job fits their life.
• Wording that puts people off without you meaning it to. More on this below, because it matters legally as well as practically.

A clear ad does a lot of your screening for you. When people can see exactly what the job involves, the wrong people tend to rule themselves out and the right ones apply with confidence. That saves you hours of reading applications and doing phone screens that go nowhere.

What to give the AI before it writes a word

The quality of the ad depends on the quality of your notes. AI can’t guess what a day in your business looks like. Spend ten minutes jotting down dot points, rough is fine.

The job itself

• The job title people actually search for (for example “admin assistant”, not “Client Happiness Coordinator”)
• What a normal day or week looks like, in plain words
• The three to five things this person must be able to do from day one
• Things that are nice to have but you’d happily train

The practical details

• Full-time, part-time or casual, and the hours or days
• Location, and whether any of it can be done from home
• The pay rate or range you’ve already worked out (more on how to check this below)
• Licences, tickets or checks that are genuinely required, such as a driver’s licence for a role that involves driving

Why someone would want to work for you

• What’s actually good about the job: a small team, flexible start times, training, variety, a short commute for locals
• How to apply and what happens next

If you’ve already written up how the job is done, feed that in too. My post on writing SOPs with AI shows how to get that knowledge out of your head, and it makes job ads, training and handovers much easier.

A prompt you can copy

Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude, Grokbot or whichever AI assistant you use, then add your notes underneath:

You’re helping a small Australian business write a job ad. Use plain Australian English and a friendly, direct tone. Keep it under 400 words. Structure it as: a two-sentence hook about the role, “What you’ll do” (5 to 7 dot points), “What you’ll need” (must-haves only), “Nice to have”, “What we offer”, the hours, location and pay exactly as I give them, and “How to apply”. Don’t invent any pay rates, benefits, perks or facts I haven’t given you. If something is missing, list it as a question at the end instead of making it up. Use gender-neutral job titles and avoid wording about age, gender, marital status or other personal characteristics unless I tell you it’s a genuine requirement of the job. Here are my notes:

That last instruction about not inventing details is the important one. AI assistants are eager to please, and if you don’t give them a pay rate or benefits, some will happily fill the gap with something that sounds plausible. You don’t want “competitive salary plus free gym membership” in your ad when you don’t have a gym.

Then ask for a second version

Once you have a draft, ask the AI for a shorter version for social media or a community noticeboard, around 80 words with the same facts. One set of notes, two ads ready to go.

Plain AU English: make it sound like you

The first draft will be good, but it often sounds a bit like every other AI-written ad. A few quick edits fix that:

• Read it out loud. If you wouldn’t say it to a candidate across the counter, change it.
• Cut the buzzwords. Ask the AI to “remove any corporate jargon and clichés” and it will do a solid job of it.
• Use Australian spelling and terms. Organise, colour, ute, smoko if it suits your workplace. Tell the AI “Australian spelling” up front.
• Be specific about the good stuff. “Finish at 2:30 on Fridays” beats “great work-life balance” every time.

An example of the difference

Example only: “We’re seeking a dynamic, motivated rockstar to join our fast-paced team” becomes “You’ll be the first voice our customers hear: answering calls, booking jobs and keeping our two techs on schedule.” The second one tells an applicant what the job is. The first one tells them nothing.

The parts you must check yourself

This is where you stay in charge. AI drafts, you approve. There are three things I’d never let an AI decide.

1. The pay rate

Don’t ask an AI what to pay someone, and don’t trust a pay figure it suggests. Work it out from the source. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay and Conditions Tool lets you find the award that covers the role and the minimum rates, penalties and allowances that apply. This matters for the ad itself, too: Fair Work’s guidance on job ads says ads can’t advertise pay rates below an employee’s minimum entitlements under the Fair Work Act, an award or an enterprise agreement. If you’re unsure, check with Fair Work, your industry association or an adviser before you post.

2. Words that could discriminate

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s guidelines for writing and publishing recruitment advertisements are worth a five-minute read. They recommend gender-neutral titles (“salesperson”, not “salesman”), avoiding upper age limits, and not making assumptions about marital status. My prompt above tells the AI to avoid this kind of wording, but read the final ad with that lens anyway. If a requirement isn’t genuinely needed to do the job, take it out.

3. Anything that sounds like a promise

Check every benefit, perk and claim against reality. If the ad says “training provided” or “room to grow”, make sure that’s true. And if you plan to run a work trial, know the rules first: the Fair Work Ombudsman explains when unpaid trials are and aren’t allowed, and anything beyond a short, supervised demonstration of skills needs to be paid.

One more thing: don’t paste applicants’ CVs or personal details into a free AI account. If you want help comparing applications later, check your data settings first. My post on whether AI is safe for small business covers what to look for.

Turn it into a reusable hiring kit

The real win isn’t one good ad. It’s never starting from a blank page again. Once you’ve got an ad you’re happy with, save these in a folder:

• Your notes template (the dot points from earlier)
• Your prompt, with your business details and tone already filled in
• The final ad, so next time you can say “write one like this for a casual role”
• A short reply for applicants who aren’t a fit, so everyone hears back
• A few phone-screen questions based on the must-haves

The AI can draft every one of those from the same notes. And when your new person starts, the same approach helps you get them up to speed. See how to onboard new clients with AI for the checklist method, which works just as well for new staff.

What to do this week

1. Write your dot points. Ten minutes: the job, the practical details and why someone would want it.
2. Check the pay. Use the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool to confirm the award and minimum rate before it goes anywhere near the ad.
3. Run the prompt. Paste it into your AI assistant with your notes and answer any questions it lists at the end.
4. Edit and check. Read it out loud, cut the fluff, then check pay, wording and promises yourself.
5. Save the kit. Keep the notes, prompt and final ad so the next hire takes half the time.

Hiring is one of those jobs where AI saves you the writing but you keep the judgement. If you want more of your weekly admin handled the same way, my free Steal My AI Agents pack has ready-to-use agents for lead replies, follow-ups, reviews, onboarding, inbox triage and a weekly business review. They’re plain-English instructions that work with ChatGPT, Claude, Grokbot or any AI assistant, so there’s nothing to install.

FAQ

Can AI write a job ad for me?

Yes. Give it clear notes about the role, hours, location and pay, and it will draft a clean ad in plain Australian English. You still check the facts, the pay rate and the wording before it goes live.

Should I let AI suggest the pay rate?

No. Work out the award and minimum rate yourself using the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay and Conditions Tool, then give that figure to the AI. Job ads can’t advertise pay below an employee’s minimum entitlements.

How do I stop AI adding things that aren’t true?

Tell it not to invent pay, benefits or facts, and to list any missing details as questions instead. Then read every claim in the draft and delete anything that isn’t real.

Which AI assistant is best for job ads?

Any of the main ones will do the job well, including ChatGPT, Claude and Grokbot. Your notes and your prompt matter far more than the tool you pick.