What should a help wanted flyer say?

Six things, and a flyer missing any of them costs you applicants.

• The role. Barista. Line cook. Weekend delivery driver. Be specific enough that the right person recognises themselves.
• The shift. Part time weekends. Weekday mornings. Nights and weekends. This is the first filter most people apply.
• The pay. An hourly range, plus tips if there are tips.
• Where. If the flyer is in your own window, the address is on the door. If it is on a community board, it is not.
• One honest sentence about the place. Not a values statement. Something true and specific, like "family run, closed Mondays, we train from scratch".
• How to apply. One method, spelled out.

Yes, and in several states you have no choice. Pay transparency laws requiring a range in job postings have taken effect in Colorado (2021), California and Washington (January 2023), New York State (September 2023), and Illinois (January 2025), with more added since. Whether a flyer in your own window counts as a posting varies, so check the rule where you are.

The practical argument is stronger than the legal one. A flyer without pay gets read by people who are guessing, and the ones who guess low do not call. "Competitive pay" reads as low pay to anyone who has looked for hourly work, because that is usually what it means.

If your range is genuinely wide because of experience, write the range and the reason. "18 to 24 depending on experience" is more credible than a single number nobody believes.

The job title, in the biggest type on the page. Not the words NOW HIRING. Everyone knows a flyer in a window is a hiring flyer, and "NOW HIRING" in four inch letters over a job title in half inch letters means the passer-by learns nothing.

Put NOW HIRING small above the title if you want it. Give the title the room. On an 8.5 by 11 flyer in a window, the title should be readable from the pavement, which means around an inch tall.

For hourly hiring, in this order. Apply inside works best, because the person is already standing there and the barrier is a door. Text this number is second, and it works because it matches how the applicant already communicates. A QR code is third and it needs to land somewhere that works on a phone in one tap. Email us your resume is last, and for most hourly roles it is a filter that removes good candidates rather than bad ones.

Whatever you pick, pick one. A flyer offering three ways to apply gets fewer applications than a flyer offering one, because choosing is work.

Your own window at eye height, which is around 5 feet 6 inches from the floor, facing out. Print it at 8.5 by 11. If it is going on a pole, a community board, or a laundromat wall, print at 11 by 17 so it holds its own against everything else pinned there.

The best placement most places forget is the inside of the staff door. Your current staff know people who would be good at this, and they are the highest quality applicants you will get.

Clip art. Five different fonts. The phrase "we are a family", unless you are willing to explain what that means in hours and pay. A phone number nobody answers during service. And any requirement you do not actually enforce, because listing three years of experience for a job you would train someone for on Monday costs you the person who would have been great.

Once you know the six things, the flyer is ten minutes in a template editor or one text message. With Dovey you send the facts, like "a now hiring flyer for a part time barista, weekday mornings, 18 to 22 an hour plus tips, apply inside", and the finished flyer comes back in the same thread. Changing the pay later is a reply.

Your first 3 designs are free, no card, and it works from your phone while you are standing behind the counter thinking about it.