Slide 1 of 6, Teardown: why senior construction job ads get ignored. Four common mistakes, and what to write instead.
Slide 2 of 6, Mistake 01: leading with the title. Instead of “Project Executive. Exciting opportunity.” try “Project Executive. Ground-up residential tower, Brooklyn.” Titles mean different things at every firm. The project tells people what the job is.
Slide 3 of 6, Mistake 02: hiding the pipeline. Instead of “Join a growing firm with a strong backlog.” try “Two projects in precon for 2027. This hire leads the first.” The first thing a strong candidate asks is whether you will still need them next year.
Slide 4 of 6, Mistake 03: no salary range. Instead of “Competitive salary and benefits.” try “$[X]–$[Y] base, plus bonus.” A range up front means you are not wasting the candidate's time, or your own.
Slide 5 of 6, Mistake 04: a scope that could be any job. Instead of “Oversee projects from start to finish.” try “Run a 12-person site team, reporting to the VP of Construction.” Experienced people want to know who they lead, who they report to and what they own.
Slide 6 of 6, What makes you scroll past a job ad? Tell us in the comments. We will share the best answers.
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Most senior construction job ads are written the same way: a title, a list of duties and “competitive salary”. Then firms wonder why the people they want never apply. Here are four mistakes we see again and again, and what to write instead.

1. Leading with the title instead of the project. Instead of “Project Executive. Exciting opportunity.”, try “Project Executive. Ground-up residential tower, Brooklyn.” Titles mean different things at every firm. The project tells people what the job is.

2. Hiding the pipeline. Instead of “Join a growing firm with a strong backlog.”, try “Two projects in precon for 2027. This hire leads the first.” The first thing a strong candidate asks is whether you will still need them next year.

3. No salary range. Instead of “Competitive salary and benefits.”, try “$[X]–$[Y] base, plus bonus.” A range up front means you are not wasting the candidate's time, or your own.

4. A scope that could describe any job. Instead of “Oversee projects from start to finish.”, try “Run a 12-person site team, reporting to the VP of Construction.” Experienced people want to know who they lead, who they report to and what they own.

What It Means for Hiring

None of these fixes cost anything. They just require saying what the job actually is.

What makes you scroll past a job ad, or stop and read it? We would like to hear from you.

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