In today’s labour market, it can be challenging to reach suitable candidates. Recruiting the best talent is vital as the companies with the best employees are more successful. Job advertisements are often the only way a candidate learns about the vacancy, and so to make sure you are attracting the right candidates, the advert must be right.
The job advertisement should be engaging and effective in trying to snag the attention of potential applicants. Read on for some quick tips to optimise the efficacy of your ad.
Rating Candidates
Before posting a job advert, a company should first decide on the metrics for success. What are the goals that need achieving by the fulfilment of the position? What are the objectives that a successful candidate must meet? Is it experience? Is it qualifications? Is it meeting the person specification? This will allow you to weed out applicants after the fact without being distracted by CVs or cover letters.
Posting the Advert
The internet is now the number one place that job seekers consult when searching for a new role. Are you planning on posting your advert online or within internal networks or organisations? Some relevant industry publications still include job adverts. These are things to consider as you may want to tweak your advert depending on where it will be published. For example, you can advertise a job with Hiring People, but you may wish this advert to be different from one that you use to advertise internally or in publications. Hiring People also offer templates for job adverts and job descriptions if you are looking for an easy life.
For those who are targeting a wider audience, it may be beneficial to research what is programmatic job advertising and how it can automate and optimize the process. By using data-driven strategies, you can better target your desired talent pool and increase the visibility of your job advert.
Job Description
You want to reach the appropriate candidates, not every single candidate. Avoid keeping the job description too general and instead specify. List essential role responsibilities, not too many as to overwhelm applicants. These should be tasks that a successful applicant is expected to perform. If possible, you should try to relate these back to business objectives so that the applicant can see how they would contribute. You do not need to include every element of the role but just enough to ensure that the right people apply.
Person Specification
What are you looking for in a successful candidate? What skills, qualifications, or attributes are desired or essential for the role? Divide these skills up by desired and required when writing them out. If you are looking for a higher volume of applicants, then it pays to be less specific. Conversely, if these qualities are non-negotiable, then include them but expect a low number of job seekers.
Job Title
Make the job title appealing but keep it as straightforward as possible. Extra descriptors are unnecessary and actually make it harder for people to find when searching on job sites. Keep it honest and brief. If you make the job title sound better than the job actually is, you will find yourself readvertising the role before too long.
Sell the Job
You may be searching for the ideal candidate, but candidates are searching for their perfect job. If you do not sell the role and indeed your company, they may pass over the opportunity. Try to list a few reasons why a successful candidate would enjoy this role. These could be things like the team, the company culture, or the company’s future goals.
Sell Your Company
More and More workers are choosing their jobs based on the benefits. Briefly list the perks that a potential employee can expect. What else would make a candidate want to apply besides simply the financial? What separates this job from a similar position with a competitor? These do not have to be big things. They can be as simple as flexible working hours, holiday days or childcare options.
Keep It Simple
Droning on and on is a quick way to turn off potential candidates. Search engines and job sites do not tend to promote wordy and lengthy postings as much. Less is more. Utilise short paragraphs and simple language. Include the essential information, and that is it.
Take Inspiration
If you are struggling to write or format your job advert look up other adverts and emulate their features. Put yourself in the applicants’ shoes when searching for a job. What would entice you to apply, or what would turn you off from applying? You can find things to inspire your adverts without copying directly obviously, and you can see the mistakes that others have made and avoid them.
In Conclusion
How a job advert is written directly correlates to the type of candidates, you are likely to receive. Follow the above tips to ensure that your job advert is primed to maximise the quality of candidate you can expect. Remember, you are selling the vacancy and the company just as much as the candidate is selling themselves.
