If you’re a recruiter, chances are that online job adverts are the bane of your life. Annoying, time consuming and just downright boring, online job adverts are just an irritating part of your job; and the task of writing them probably sits right at the bottom of your to-do list.
After all, they’re really not important are they? I mean, there’s thousands of job adverts out there on thousands of job boards, and they all pretty much look the same so why waste lots of time and effort on them when you could be doing something much more productive like making placements?
Sound familiar? Well, Houston, we could have a problem. You see, when you look at it, that seemingly insignificant little job advert actually presents you with a tricky choice.
Imagine the following scenario. You’ve worked really hard convincing your client that you’re the best recruiter since that wrestler off The Apprentice. They’ve given you the go-ahead on that urgent vacancy. They want results and, presumably, so do you. You need to go out there and get some top quality candidates to present to your client. You’ve got your advertising budget and you know which job boards you’re going to use to advertise your vacancy. So now for that job advert. What are you going to do?
Like the rest of us, you probably like an easy life, so the simplest and safest option is surely to do what most others do and plump for the “cast the net far and wide” approach. Yes, that’ll do. I mean, if you get as many applications in as you possibly can then surely there must be a good candidate or two in amongst them, right? So, you write a brief, bit of a vague advert, with a few bullet points of relevant skills that will have mass appeal, doesn’t really rule anyone in or out, that will guarantee you get lots of applications from keen job seekers. Easy peasy. Or is it?
Unfortunately there are a few problems with this cunning plan. Firstly, if you do manage to get hundreds of applications to your advert, you’re going to have to filter, screen, rank and rate them all in your search for that ideal candidate. And then you’re going to have to do the entire communication piece with all those applicants to ensure you’re meeting your candidate experience / customer service targets, (you do have those don’t you?). Then there are the screening calls, diary arrangements and interviews.
And what about the job seekers? They have hundreds, if not thousands, of job adverts at their fingertips. Yes, they can filter the options down during their job search; but they’re still going to be left with lots of choices so what makes your advert stand out from the crowd? Will you actually get your hundreds of applications and will that ideal candidate be amongst them? So by going for the simple approach at the beginning, you could actually cause yourself a whole bunch of headaches further down the line. Doesn’t sound like such a cunning plan after all!
Like any advert a job advert is ultimately there to drive an action; but there’s much more to it than just sticking the basics up there and expecting someone to click the ‘apply’ button. Job adverts are there to really ‘sell’ the role; and they’re really not that different to any other product out there.
Think about it; if you had a great product to sell online and wanted people to buy it, you wouldn’t just stick up a dull description and rubbish photos would you? No, you’d write a really great, catchy description that would really ‘sell’ your product and upload high quality, unique images that would really convince the buyer that they need this product in their life. Product manufacturers and retailers spend millions of pounds on customer insights and ‘big data’ in an effort to match what they are selling to the right customer audience. So why shouldn’t the same approach be used when advertising a job vacancy?
OK, your ‘customers’ are not buying a product, they’re applying for a job; but when you think about it, the latter is a much bigger commitment and potentially life changing. At the end of the day, just like recruiters will whittle down hundreds of CVs to a shortlist, job seekers with hundreds of job adverts at their disposal are going to look for any way they can to whittle them down too.
Let’s look at the above scenario again but let’s change the starting point. You’ve presumably got a good understanding of your client, their business, their culture, the job and the person they’re looking for. Invest some time at the start and see how you can pull together all of this engaging, invaluable information and communicate it in a well thought out, nicely written, informative job advert.
Yes, it will take more time than the small generic advert, but what could be the return on this investment of your time and effort? Well, for a start, you might get less overall applications. Admittedly you may still get the odd serial applicant in there but you will have vastly improved your chances of getting a much more focussed and higher quality of application from a better informed more receptive job seeker. Your advert is also more likely to stand out from the crowd. It’s likely to be a bit longer than your average generic advert and it’s also going to have much more detailed and insightful information in there. It’s therefore much more likely to have survived the ‘whittling down’ process and made it onto the job seeker’s shortlist.
The potential results? How about less applications, higher quality candidates, easier screening, happier client, fewer headaches.....and a placement fee to boot!
Starting to reconsider your attitude to online job adverts? Putting in some time and effort at the beginning could pay dividends at the end. You never know, with a bit of creativity and personality, writing online job adverts could even add something you didn’t realise to your already impeccable recruitment profile. Just imagine all those additional LinkedIn endorsements! (That’s a joke by the way)
At the end of the day, the choice is yours but I think there’s a case for arguing that the humble online job advert can genuinely make or break your recruitment campaign. Think about the last couple of online job adverts you wrote. What’s your next one going to be like?....
Written by Bubble Jobs Ltd
