With pages of help wanted ads, you have to make yours stand out from the crowd. It has to be appealing — but also honest. If you oversell the job, your new employee will quickly become disappointed and perhaps leave or become less productive.

Use language that is vivid, interesting, or different. When I first listed a job for my personal Administrative Assistant, I labeled it “Author’s Assistant,” which sounded more intriguing. The job you’re advertising may seem much more mundane, but even labeling it with specifics, such as "Assistant to the VP of Marketing” makes it distinct from the dozens of other administrative assistant listings.

Don’t be afraid to be a bit quirky and do write your to reflect the corporate culture or "personality.” To show that my assistant has to handle a range of responsibilities, I wrote: “Duties from the sublime to the ridiculous,” which attracted applicants who were interested in having diverse job tasks. I also included “Must love dogs” under the job requirements. Most applicants viewed working alongside my terrier Cosmo as a benefit, and it brought me a number of great prospects.