CHAPTER 3 HOW TO WRITE THE JOB AD EMPLOYMENT OFFICE EVERYTHING ELSE LOOKS PREHISTORIC

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1 EMPLOYMENT OFFICE EVERYTHING ELSE LOOKS PREHISTORIC CHAPTER 3 HOW TO WRITE THE JOB AD Screening products - Recruitment Marketing & Branding - E-recruitment

2 Chapter 3: How to Write the Job Ad Create the job in a way that appeals to the profile So you have your candidate profile and you re ready to create your job. Now you have to make sure you create the job in a way that appeals to that profile. Before you create your job ad, there are a few things to note: Your job ad should not be static Consider what you really need Brand your company as a great employer Your job advertisement should not be static. You may need to change it often, especially if you re posting on multiple sites that represent multiple people. Just like applicants are instructed to consider changing their resume to appeal to the company they re selling to, so too should you consider changing the job ad to help attract people in different markets. Your job advertisements needs to consider what you really need, and what you really don t need. Remember, for every qualification you ask for, you re potentially telling a great employee I don t want you. For example, if you say you require 3 years of experience, but a perfectly qualified individual only has 1 year, they may not apply even though they re perfect for the role. However, you also don t necessarily want to make it too broad, because if you genuinely need someone with 3 years of experience you do not want all of the 1 year individuals applying. Your job advertisement needs to brand your company as a great employer. Figure out what you can say that will make people want to work for you. Focusing only on what you need and not emphasizing why someone want to apply to your job will turn off some people that know they re valuable talent. Page 16

3 You don t necessarily want your job ad to be just like everyone else s. Of course, it s not just keywords about the position either. You don t necessarily want your job ad to be just like everyone else s. You want it to be uniquely written for you, and given the proper care and attention necessary to ensure that you re going to get the applicants you genuinely want. Base Your Job Advertisement on the Candidate Profile Your job advertisement needs to be written with the candidate profile in mind. Try to figure out what key words and phrases the applicant is looking for when they are applying to the job. These are going to be tailored to each industry, and they need to consider all of the potential keywords the applicant is looking for. For example, in the world of online marketing, there are a lot of terms for roughly the same techniques (just a different emphasis), such as SEO, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, and Online Marketing. Your ideal applicant may be someone that is looking for only one term, like Inbound Marketing, and if you use the term SEO you may not get this applicant to apply. Of course, it s not just keywords about the position either. Your ideal candidate may want to see words like Company Car or Merit Raises Available or Ability to Work From Home. If that s what your ideal candidate is looking for and it s something you can offer, it should be considered. Your candidate profile should drive every decision you make, because your candidate profile is your ideal candidate. Make sure you re applying that profile to the entire description. Starting Off A Good Headline It starts off with a good headline. Headlines are often all that someone will see, and if you re trying to get the attention of a potential applicant, that headline needs to really speak to them. Attention to keywords is very important. Most job ads can be found via keyword searches, so you want to make sure that you have the keyword that your ideal applicant will use, otherwise they may not find your job ad. Even if they do find your job ad, the right keywords tell an applicant that s me! and make them want to apply to the position. Page 17

4 Headlines should have the following qualities: The most important keywords Ideally, the headline should have the most important keyword that you re hoping the perfect candidate is looking for. Often this is part of the job or job title, like Inbound Marketing Coordinator, where the title has the position that the ideal applicant is likely looking for. But it may not. You ll have to carefully consider your headline. Great title that attracts better applicants Your job title will also attract better applicants. Specific, valuable sounding job titles can vastly increase the amount of respondents you receive for example Marketing Assistant will sound worse than Marketing Associate or Marketing Director or Senior Marketing Analyst. If you want to get valuable talent, a great title may be what you need. Add perks to the title You should also see if there are any perks you can show in the title that make people want to click. Examples include Flexible Hours, 6 Weeks Vacation, or Free Gym Membership. These are perks that will draw people to learning more about your job and your company. Any perk that you share will brand your company as one that cares about rewarding employees. Job titles may not be very long, but they are a chance to increase clicks and get interest in your job. Two different job titles to show the difference between a good and bad title: 1. Bad: Telemarketer/Appointment Setter Wanted 2. Good: Customer Service Specialist Needed for High Paying Career. Flexible Hours! The difference between these two is pronounced, and the latter will draw in more potential talent despite both jobs being the same. Page 18

5 Writing Your Job Description Of course, you ll still need an awesome job description, and that s where it becomes a bit harder. Every single job is different, and your employee profile is different as well, which means that your great job ad may look nothing like someone else s great job ad, because their ad was written for a completely different audience. However, a great job ad should have the following qualities: Positive Energy When someone reads your job description, they should feel excited. They should see that you re excited to have them. Anything you write should be brimming with positive energy, so that others are excited to work for you as you are to have them. Background of the Company Whether you re a well known name or not, let people know about your company, including what you do, any successes you ve had, and possibly even the rough number of employees or upcoming advancements. Excellent Formatting People scan. You should make sure that your job description is very easy for someone to scan and get an idea of what s expected. Remember bullet points, subheadings, and bold whenever it s valuable. Realistic Needs and Qualifications Using your candidate profile, figure out exactly what you need (and what you d like but don t need) and place those in easy to read bullets. As discussed in the previous chapters, make sure that you re certain about your needs the skills you absolutely want, and none of the ones that you don t. Pay and Benefits You ll also want to clearly entice people to your career. Pay commensurate with experience or competitive pay) may be too broad to attract the applicants you re looking for. Applicants are looking for an answer to why you? and clearly defined (and excitedly written) information about pay and benefits can really help you. Call to Action So now you ve gotten their attention. Tell them where to go. Excite them to apply. Tell them what to send, and make sure that they re given exactly what they need to apply for the job. Individual jobs will have many differences, because a factory worker isn t going to have the same language or information as someone looking to be the executive at a technology company. Nevertheless, these keys should always be there, to ensure that you re creating a job ad that attracts the employees that are going to make a difference at your company. When we do recruitment advertising for our clients, we pay special attention to how these job ads are written to make sure they re getting applicants. Page 19

6 Common Mistakes Let s go over some of the common mistakes that people make with their job advertising: Pompous Writing Many companies already feel that job seekers should want to work for them, and that if they get hired the company is doing them a favor. Companies need to earn great talent, not vice versa, so make sure you re not writing in a pompous style. Extraneous Qualifications Many companies also throw in qualifications that aren t necessarily needed. For example experience with Microsoft Powerpoint for a job that doesn t use PowerPoint. You should always make sure that you re only listing what an employee truly needs, because otherwise a great applicant missing a skill that they don t need may not apply. No Details About Company or Benefits If you post a job with only details about what you need, you ll probably get a lot of applicants. But you won t get the right applicants. You ll get resume spammers that want to send in an application to you because you re available, but not the top tier talent that are carefully considering their options. So keep these ideas in mind when you re writing your job ad. There are definitely examples of good job ads and bad job ads out there, and you need to be certain of your audience and the applicant you are trying to attract when you list a job opening. Page 20