Better, but seems kind of wishy washy. Reverse the order of things:
'Are you a great php/mysql developer who wants to work with a dynamic and vibrant team in W Yorkshire? Do you love to bring your own ideas… blah blah… ’
then describe the benefits and pay to the candidates…
Only THEN do you put the requirements that you are looking for.
I notice that you have “MySql” in your advertisement, which is not the correct capitalisation; it should be “MySQL”.
It might pay off to correct this, as the wrong word may lead people to think you don’t know what it is and/or didn’t bother to look it up, and that looks a bit sloppy. I’m not saying that’s what happened, am saying that’s how it can be perceived.
I just wanted to thank everyone for their input. I ran the revised ad and seemed to get more and a better quality of responses. I guess it was naive/arrogant of me to think that, in current economic times, an employer doesn’t really need to try hard in the application process. I’ll know better for next time.
On a side note, a few of my applicants turned up to interview in jeans or trainers or other attire I would consider inappropriate for a job interview. Is there some rumour in the industry, that I hadn’t heard, that this is the done thing? I would have thought smart dress was absolutely essential for any interview unless told otherwise? Even if you’ve worked at places with a casual dress code, you’d find out the dress code of the new place before you made that assumption of casualness, wouldn’t you?
I believe that “dress code for interviews” depends mainly on what the position is. If I was applying for a job in the bank or finance sector, I would not show up in jeans. But for a developer job, I would most probably show up in jeans and a nice shirt.
When sitting on the other side of the table (hiring), I consider it the same way. Though that might be due to how I view it personally. I don’t expect someone to show up for a developer or designer interview dressed in a suit, heck if they did that I would actually start wondering what the person is thinking. As long as the clothes are clean, and they are “groomed”, I would not put too much thought into what clothes they are wearing. In the event they dress completely different than the company’s dress code I would point that out during the interview (in the event its going well) to see if it would be a problem for the person to dress differently at work if they get the position.
As a final advice that Ive learned the hard way, unless your sitting back thinking “wow what a great guy/gal” after the interview (With other words, if you believe this person is skilled and that they are a good match with you and the other employees), I would not consider hiring them. Over the years, I have tried hiring several persons who I was thinking “perhaps” after the interview. In all those cases it has turned out that we had to let them go and find someone new due to they either were not skilled enough, or did not fit with the rest of the team. In the opposite cases, I have never had any issues after hiring the persons.
So unless your certain about a person for the position, I would not recommend hiring them, just because hiring the wrong person is a very costly mistake.
Glad to hear it’s going better. As for the dress code, this is something that you should consider carefully so that you have a dress standard in mind before you meet candidates. If you have a casual/easygoing shop and you don’t deal with clients face-to-face much (like my staff) then they can be casual as long as they are looking groomed and clean like TheRedDevil said. If you are going for more of a proper agency approach and want to have a higher level of professional dress standard, then set that expectation for yourself and your candidates.
There are lots of great resources who dont dress business-style so I wouldn’t worry about it beyond your personal/business needs. You should see what I’m wearing right now!
+1, heck +10
More & more dressing down is the norm. There are tech companies that go as low as tshirt & jeans for an interview… the idea is to draw out personality and see if someone will actually fit the culture rather than seeing if they can fit into a suit they’ll never wear for you again. Many candidates come in knowing the other options and with the full realization that this decision may get them passed over but you know what, for most it’s worth it to find an actual fit. The market for developers is nothing like the market for manufacturing line employees… In most of California I could hold an auction for a good developer.
There’s only two places I’ll wear a full suit too anymore: weddings and funerals. Meetings, interviews, job offers, regardless of the company type are Jeans + Dress Shirt + Jacket. Truth is I don’t really mind a suit, but it’s just not a look I like so that is my “pro” image… and I run marketing & pr teams. Every now and then this comes up but AFAIK, I’m not taking a job because I can wear a suit, I’m taking a job because the company needs my skills and perhaps a new outlook on professionalism [much like I need style help to move past Northface].
why dont you hire freelancer from vworker ?
You’re offering a maximum of $AUD 28,000 /year 
which is $AUD 13/hour, that is the reason why.
That’s a joke, even a developer in India would slap you in the face (judging by the constant stream of spam and the prices they put in the emails I get). Unless the job is Part Time? This is not the 1990’s, it’s not 2000’s, it’s 2012, get with the times.
It doesn’t matter what your job description says, it’s what’s on your website and the salary. Judging from all the applications I’ve read people don’t read the job description… ever. You can listen to other business minded people like Sagewing (who is good for business advice) but he hasn’t lived in the real world for a long time and has no idea what employees want.
My world seems pretty real to me!