IT Job Board advises public sector on effective online recruitment

Online recruitment specialist, www.theitjobboard.com, has produced a free guide to enable public sector employers to make their online job ads more effective. With the skills shortage in the IT sector taking hold, www.theitjobboard.com advises on how to ensure online adverts maximise the chances of candidates finding and applying for jobs outside the commercial sector.

The guide gives practical tips on a number of techniques specific to online advertising, which requires different criteria to the print advertisements more traditionally used by public sector recruiters. To help employers generate a good number of high quality responses, www.theitjobboard.com also advises that adverts should highlight the significant benefits of working in the public sector.

Mark Thomas, public sector specialist at www.theitjobboard.com explains: ìThe public sector offers excellent career development opportunities, including training, exposure to a broad range of different projects and the potential for inter-department secondment. It also provides good pensions, long holiday allowances and flexible working initiatives. Job advertisements must therefore draw attention to these advantages so that they attract candidates who might not otherwise consider a career in this sector.î

The guide suggests some of the following tips for ensuring maximum exposure on the web:

Think about what search terms a candidate will use and tailor adverts accordingly

Avoid using internal job titles, or terms only prevalent in the public sector, as these are likely to be unfamiliar to a lot of job seekers

Highlight the benefits of working in the public sector environment

Insert skills and keywords in the body of the text to increase the ërankingí of the advert

Word limits to do not apply to online ads, so ensure the body of the advert is ëkeyword richí to maximise the chances of candidates finding (and therefore applying) for the job

For more information, or to obtain a copy of ëTop Tips for Writing Online Recruitment Adverts: A Public Sector Guideí please email contact@theitjobboard.com or download it from here