When you’re running a company, your staff are your biggest asset. By hiring the right people, you can ensure you have the skills, innovation and creativity you need to grow your business. However, you’ll need to make sure you can attract the best candidates if you want to achieve commercial success.
If candidates aren’t clamouring to work for you or your job adverts rarely prompt interest from the cream of the crop, take a look at these top 5 reasons why people don’t want to join your company…
1. Your job adverts don’t excite people
No matter what type of role you’re advertising, people need to feel intrigued when they see it.
Most candidates search for jobs online, which means you only have a few lines to grab their attention. What’s more, your advert will be surrounded by similar roles from competitors, so your content must stand out quickly.
Simply stating the job title and listing responsibilities isn’t enough anymore.
Candidates want to know:
- What’s the real challenge here?
- Why is this role important?
- What kind of team will I be joining?
- What does progression look like?
Workers are more aware of their value than ever, and job satisfaction is routinely cited as one of the most important aspects of a role.
If you want your adverts to be acted upon by top talent, take the time to craft them properly. A well written job advert is often the difference between silence and strong applications.
2. You don’t have brand ambassadors
A job advert may pique interest, but strong candidates will always research your company before deciding whether to apply.
They will look beyond your website and ask:
- What do employees say about working here?
- How does leadership show up online?
- Does this company feel credible and stable?
Having a Meet the Team page can help, but candidates know that your own content will naturally reflect well on the business.
It’s the external signals that carry weight.
When current employees and former staff speak positively about your organisation on social media, Glassdoor, industry forums or LinkedIn, it builds trust. Positive reviews, authentic content, and visible culture are powerful hiring tools in 2026.
If nobody is talking about your company, candidates will often assume there’s nothing to say.
3. You don’t provide enough information
Take a look at any recruitment site and you’ll see countless adverts that don’t really tell you anything meaningful about the role or the employer. Generic job posts create generic applicants.
Candidates want to know what they are walking into before they apply. Everyone understands the basic duties of, say, a Social Media Manager, but they don’t know:
- What success looks like in your business
- Who they will report into
- What the culture feels like day to day
- Whether flexibility is real or just a buzzword
You don’t need to give everything away, but you do need to strike the right balance. The more clarity you provide, the better the match, and the fewer irrelevant applications you will receive.
4. Your salaries are too low (or unclear)
No company wants to hear they should be paying their staff more but a lack of interest in your job vacancies could mean just that. Salaries are no longer a taboo subject and the internet makes it easier than ever to discover what other people are earning. If you’re offering a wage that’s lower than your competitors, you’re unlikely to attract the best candidates.
Remember – people who change job usually take the opportunity to increase their remuneration. If you aren’t prepared to offer successful candidates a higher salary than they’re currently receiving, you’re going to be hard-pressed to persuade them to join your firm.
While you don’t want to attract applicants solely because you’re offering a high wage, no-one’s going to work for free. By offering an attractive and fair remuneration and benefits package, you can highlight how much value you place on your staff and showcase your willingness to repay your employees for their hard work and loyalty.
5. Your website is out of date
If candidates are interested in a job vacancy, at least 59% of them will look at your company’s website. If your site fails to impress, they simply won’t pursue their application any further, which means you could be missing out on swathes of qualified candidates.
If your site feels outdated, unclear or unprofessional, they often won’t take the application any further. Your website is no longer just for customers, it’s one of your most important recruitment assets.
Future employees begin their journey with you online, so your web design, structure and messaging must inspire confidence.
A dedicated careers page is one of the simplest ways to connect with potential hires.
Showcase:
- Your culture
- Your values
- Your hiring process
- Real employee stories
- Clear role information
It helps candidates self select, and it ensures stronger alignment before interview stage.
Attracting the Right Candidates
The success of your business rests largely upon your staff, so recruiting the right people is critically important. Fortunately, you don’t have to manage every aspect of recruitment alone. With industry experts on hand to provide the specialist support you need, finding and acquiring the right employees needn’t be difficult, costly or time-consuming.
By understanding what candidates look for when they’re changing roles and what applicants prioritise, you can ensure that your job adverts and recruitment material strikes the right tone and facilitates meaningful engagement. By doing so, you can streamline your recruitment processes, welcome the best talent on board and look forward to unlimited success as your company grows.
