In concluding this series of tips and tricks to make the most of your job postings, I thought I’d run through some things you might want to avoid. Not to end on a negative note, and some of these may seem rather elementary, but one can never be too careful, because we’re talking about the process of attracting your next employee. You want to make sure the candidates you attract are the right fit, so it’s vitally important your job posting is perfect. Otherwise, you’ll end up with someone who’s not qualified, and will find yourself having to let them go and start all over again.

Avoid the nine items below to increase search relevance and success, and attract better candidates. Doing so, along with the other suggestions we’ve made, will help ensure you get the most out of your job posting efforts. So beware of the following:

1. Keyword abuse – By all means, make sure you include the key words for the position throughout the posting. But don’t appear as though you’ve lost your grasp of sensible communication by pasting “senior copywriter” 42 times within the job description in the hopes that the plethora of references will improve search results. Doing so will drive away candidates, rather than attract them.

2. Being too broad – Narrow your focus. Stay on target and give details, details, details! Make sure candidates know exactly what job it is you’re posting. By just creating a general posting for “attorney,” you reduce the relevancy for search success. Include areas of expertise, industry niches, and other data that zooms in on the position’s specifics.

3. Multiple job openings in one posting – In this economy, we’re all trying to get more bang for the buck. But rather than getting more traffic when advertising more than one opening in a single posting, what you actually get is more confusion and fewer responses. It makes things too crowded and reduces search engine success by having too much unrelated information.

4. Unrecognizable abbreviations – We all know what RN and CPA stand for … But what about HSG&SP/S SU or C/D OP ACHF? Chances are, job seekers will be much more likely to search for the titles “Housing & Special Services Supervisor” or “Computer & Data Operations Assistant Section Chief.”

5. Trying to use HTML in title – Don’t get fancy—save the HTML for the job description.

6. Bad combinations – Combining keywords with a slash (/)or dash (–) without using a space between can prevent your job titles from being read properly by search engines. So if you have a secretary/clerical position available, make sure it’s spelled out as Secretary / Clerical.

7. Ineffective job titles – Some job posters use the title function as a marketing ploy or jumble things up rather than just providing the straight forward position title that job seekers want to see. Don’t put “Will 2008 Be a Year to Remember?” or “*$*$*ONE OF A KIND OPPORTUNITY!!!*$*$*” in the job title line. Just stick with the facts, and basic, fully spelled-out job titles.

8. Typos – Nthing shws unprofesionalism more so then when your job pasting has typos or grammatical errors in it. Given that thes is your first pont of contactw ith a potential job canddiate, you want to make a good first impersonation. Don’t just rely on spellchecker (a few would have passed the test in this paragraph). Read, re-read and read again.

9. Clutter – Like typos, a cluttered job posting doesn’t make much of a first impression. It’s fine if your desk is a mess, but make sure your posting looks “clean” before opening it up to the job-seeking public.