Why are you only getting applicants who demand the highest hourly rate?
When every job ad headline reads 'Carpenter' or 'Plumber', candidates have no way to tell your business apart from the rest. The only variable they can compare is the hourly rate you have listed. So that is exactly what they compare. You end up attracting people who are purely chasing money, not people who want to join a good business.
This is the same problem you face when quoting to clients. If your business looks identical to every competitor, the customer defaults to choosing on price. Your job ads work the same way.
What does a typical Seek search actually look like?
Searching for Carpenter on Seek returns headlines like: Carpenter, Carpenter, Second Fixed Carpenter, Carpenters, Qualified Carpenters Needed, Carpenters Wanted, Quality Carpenter, Experienced Carpenter. Search after search, the pattern is the same across trades. Electrician searches return: Electrician, Commercial Electrician, Maintenance Electrical, Electrician. Plumber searches are no different.
One listing in the plumber results did stand out: it mentioned a paid day off on your birthday. That single detail was enough to catch attention because every other headline around it was just a job title. That is how low the bar is. A small change to your headline is all it takes to separate yourself from the pack.
How do you write a headline that actually attracts attention?
You do not need a sophisticated strategy to stand out on Seek right now. Because every other ad uses only a job title as the headline, any genuine point of difference will lift your listing above the rest. Look at what your business genuinely offers and lead with that instead of the trade name alone.
The point is not to trick anyone. It is to give a quality candidate a reason to click on your ad rather than scroll past it as one of twenty identical listings.
What is wrong with the way most ads are written inside the listing?
Beyond the headline, most ad copy is written entirely from the employer's perspective. Phrases like 'we are currently seeking', 'the role requires', and 'the ideal candidate must have' fill the description. The whole ad talks about what the business wants from the applicant.
A candidate reading that gets one message: we don't really care about you. There is no reason for them to feel drawn to your company or to accept a lower rate because the role offers something money cannot buy.
The ads that read differently flip the script. Instead of 'we are looking for', they open with something like 'if you are looking for a career with a business that does this, this could be for you.' That shift in perspective talks to the employee. It gives them a reason to be interested before they even read your requirements.
How do you fix the copy inside your ad?
Write the body of your ad the way you would sell your services to a client. When you want to charge a premium rate to customers, you do not just list your trade and your price. You explain why working with your business is a better outcome: less mistakes, quality work, proper safety procedures, good communication, fewer callbacks. The client pays more because they can see they are getting more.
Apply that same thinking to your hiring ad. Show the candidate what joining your business actually means for them. What will they be doing day to day? What kind of team are they joining? What makes your business worth choosing over the one paying five dollars more an hour?
What is the real reason you cannot find good staff?
It is not the market. When your ad looks identical to every other listing and hourly rates are the only visible difference, you attract exactly the people who are motivated only by hourly rates. The market has good tradespeople in it. They are just not clicking on your ad because nothing in it gives them a reason to.
Setting your ad apart, starting with the headline and carrying through into the copy, is what changes who applies. The same effort you put into differentiating your business to win clients needs to go into how you present your business to potential staff.
