Structure the ad as title, hook, role, requirements, package and call to action. Put the most attractive part of the role in the first line, sell the job in the first 50 words, write to "you", state the salary, and keep the language open to everyone who could do the job. Then expect the ad to be one channel of several, not the whole search.
How to write a job advertisement: the structure
Every job ad has the same six parts: a title, a hook, the role, the requirements, the package and a call to action. The order matters less than the weight you give each one. Most ads put all their effort into the role and the requirements, and almost none into the hook.
The majority of job ads I see follow the same cookie cutter template: a simple description of the business, then a list of responsibilities. That can work for some roles. But if you want the best finance people in the market applying, the ad has to say why they should join, right from the start. I named my business Story partly because of this. Storytelling is one of the most underrated parts of recruitment, and plain ads that only say "this is what we need" never sell where the business is going.
Start from the job itself, not the ad. If you have not yet agreed what this person owns in their first year, write that down first. I set out what goes into a finance manager job specification and a head of finance job description separately; the ad is the selling version of that document.
The first line and the first 50 words
The hook is the opening of the ad: the first line and the paragraph under it. On a job board it is often all a candidate sees before deciding whether to click.
Treat the first line like the first line of a news article. It has to hook the reader and carry the most attractive benefit of the role. After that, the first 50 words have to lock the reader in. The best candidates have options, and if they do not feel compelled to apply in the first 50 words, they will not read any further. It does not matter how good the responsibilities are if nobody reads far enough to see them.
In a startup the selling points are usually ones a large company cannot offer: building the function, working with the founders and the board, a raise to help run, and equity. Be clear which are true for you before you write a word.
| The template ad | The ad the right person answers | |
|---|---|---|
| First line | "We are a fast-growing fintech seeking a..." | The most attractive thing about the role, written to "you" |
| First 50 words | Company history and the job title again | Stage, seniority, who they report to and what they get |
| Requirements | A long must-have list | Two or three things that are truly required |
| Salary | "Competitive package" | A stated range, super and equity |
| Flexibility | "Flexible working" | Exactly how many days from home |
Write to "you", not to an audience
Each person reads your ad as an individual, not as part of a group. So write to them. I am a big believer that job ads work, but only when they are written well: about what is genuinely interesting in the role for the person reading it. If the ad says you must have this and you must have that, you will not get much traction. If it says you will get this, you will have the opportunity to do that, you are talking to the person, and they respond.
It changes results quickly. A company I knew was hiring directly and not getting anyone. The ad was the problem. They changed a few specific things and filled the role about a week and a half later.
Two small rules for the formatting: no emojis and no hyphens.
Requirements, salary and the package
Requirements should be the few things the person genuinely needs, written as experience they have had ("you have run a month end close"), not a wish list. The package section should state the salary range, super, equity and flexibility in plain numbers.
Do not skimp on salary. Paying a little over market makes a massive difference, particularly when advertising. Even at accountant level, the gap in applicant quality between an A$100k and an A$110k plus super role is much bigger than most hiring managers expect. Get advice from someone who works in the space on what market value actually is before the ad goes live. For a first finance hire, my head of finance salary guide has the 2026 bands.
Be specific about flexibility as well. "Flexible working" tells a candidate nothing. "You will work from home three days a week" tells them exactly what they get.
What goes into a first CFO offer package, beyond the base.
Inclusive language in a job ad
Inclusive language means wording that does not discourage people who could do the job from applying. Under the Fair Work Act an employer cannot take adverse action against a prospective employee because of a protected attribute such as sex, age, race or carer's responsibilities, so wording like "young and energetic" does not belong in an ad.
The wording also shapes who applies. When I worked at my previous firm, 80 to 90% of the calls to our office line came from women asking for more detail on a role they had seen advertised, and whether they should apply. Clear requirements, a stated salary, specific flexibility and a line inviting questions all make it easier for a capable person to back themselves.
Job ad example: a first finance hire at a Series A startup
This is an illustrative example I wrote for this page. The company is fictional. It follows every rule above: it opens with "you", the first 50 words carry the pitch, the salary is stated and there are no emojis or bullet lists of buzzwords. Use it as a template, then replace every claim with one that is true for your business.
Head of Finance, first finance hire (Series A software, Melbourne)
You will be the first finance person in a business that has just raised its Series A and plans to double revenue in the next 12 months. You will build the function from scratch, report to the founders, sit in the board meeting, help run the next raise and hold equity in what you build.
In your first year you will set up the month end close, the forecast and the board pack, choose the systems that will carry the business to Series B, and take payroll, tax and the R&D claim off the founders' plates. As the company grows you will hire the team under you.
You have been a financial controller or finance manager in a growing business, you are comfortable owning the numbers end to end, and you would rather build something than maintain it. Startup experience helps; it is not required.
The package is A$200k to A$220k plus super, plus equity through our ESOP. You can work from home two days a week.
Apply with your CV and a few lines on why this role. If you are unsure whether you fit, call or message first. We would rather hear from you.
Where to post a finance job ad, and what to expect
When I advertise, it is mostly on Seek. Founders also post roles themselves: in the first week of January 2025 I saw more job ads than I had ever seen that early in the year, and they were all posted directly by hiring managers on LinkedIn.
Posting is the easy part. In 2026 an advertised finance role can draw two or three hundred applicants, so the job becomes filtering, not finding. Decide your two or three non-negotiables before the ad goes live, and be ready to read every application against them in the first week. When I advertise a role myself it is one channel among several, alongside outreach, market mapping and referrals from the CFOs I know through my podcast.
What recruitment fees in Australia cost against running it yourself.
Why the ad will not find your first CFO
Recruitment advertising is becoming less effective at finding the right people. If you rely on it alone, you miss most of the talent, and the more senior the role, the truer that is. Back in 2024 less than 10% of my placements came through advertising. Of the roughly seven placements I had made by August 2026, one came from an ad. The rest came from people who answered a post about the role or from outreach and market mapping.
The CFO a founder wants is often not the one filling in an application. One CFO I placed in 2026 was not on a job board and had not sent a CV in years; they were head down running finance somewhere else. So when a founder tells me their advertised CFO role has underwhelming applicants, I get it. The person who could change their business the most is not reading job ads. You reach them through a relationship, and a reason to take the call.
Senior candidates tell me the same from their side: most of the roles they find come from their network, not ads. So write the ad well for a first finance hire, where it has a real chance. For a strategic CFO, treat the ad as a backstop and put the effort into knowing who the right person is before they are looking. I run only two searches, the first finance hire and the first CFO, for venture-backed Australian tech, fintech and deep tech companies, and that second one is almost never filled from an ad.
Common questions
How do you write a job advertisement?
Use six parts: a searchable title, a hook, what the role owns, the few genuine requirements, the package with a stated salary, and a clear call to action. Put the most attractive benefit in the first line, sell the role in the first 50 words, and write to the reader as "you" rather than describing the ideal candidate in the third person.
What should the first 50 words of a job ad include?
The reasons the right person would want the job: the stage of the business, the seniority of the role, who they report to, what they will build and what they get, such as equity, development or flexibility. Strong candidates have options and often stop reading if the opening does not give them a reason to continue.
Should you put the salary in a job ad?
Yes. A stated range filters out people who would never accept the offer and tells strong candidates the role is at the right level. Pricing slightly above market also tends to lift the quality of applicants noticeably, so check current market rates before the ad goes live.
Is there a job ad template for a finance role?
Yes. A finance job ad template opens with a paragraph written to "you" about the stage, seniority and reporting line, then covers what the person will own in their first year, the few requirements that matter, the salary range with super and equity, and how to apply. Replace every claim with one that is true for your business.
Can a job ad find a startup's first CFO?
Sometimes, but rarely on its own. The strongest CFO candidates are usually employed, not looking and not reading job boards, so an advertised CFO role tends to draw many applicants and few of the people a founder actually wants. A first CFO search usually relies on outreach, market mapping and referrals, with the ad as a backstop.
These guides set out how we see it, drawn from the searches we run and the finance leaders we work with. They are general information about the market, not financial, accounting or legal advice, and they are no substitute for advice on your own circumstances.