Recruitment Tip: Write a great ad people will answer

After 30 years the hospitality recruitment business, I have learned what’s important to get people to respond to your ad for employees.

The industry you’re in doesn’t matter when it comes to writing ads.

When I look at most ads posted, on Monster, Indeed, etc, the ad is all about what that company wants in an employee. You want this, you want that, you need to have this, you need to have that. Here’s the job description, which anyone applying for the job should already know, and oh by the way apply now.

There is nothing on most ads that get’s someone motivated to want to apply to YOUR ad. Writing a recruitment today is about attracting people to want to apply to your ad rather than your competitors ad.

All a candidate cares about is WIIFM – What’s In It For Me. Most ads don’t talk about the culture, or why they’re different, or their value proposition as it affects a job seeker. Generally is there nothing to differentiate your ad from that of your competitor.

Classic job advertisements are dead. They simply don’t work anymore.
And you know it! This is probably why you are reading this blog post.

You’ve tried posting your job descriptions online, but it didn’t work:

You didn’t get any applications.
Or you got a ton of unqualified applications.
Even if you received a few applications from high-quality candidates, they turned out to be a bad fit for your company.

Don’t worry – you are not alone.
Many employers are struggling with similar problems.
This is because they still use the classic, old-fashioned approach to the job advertisement.

But recruiting has changed.

Candidates are now in charge. These days, it is not enough to inform your potential candidates about your job opening. If you want to hire the best people for your company, you need to do much more.

You need to sell the job!

A job advertisement is exactly what its name says – an advertisement.
The goal of every advertisement is to sell something.
In the case of a job advertisement, you are trying to sell a job.

It is not enough just to state that you have a job opening.
Here is where most employers make mistakes.
They focus on the needs of their company.

In their job advertisement, they state what they are looking for.
They also present a whole list of duties and responsibilities.

This is what it sounds like:

Here is what we need. Here is what you can do for us… (insert a whole list of duties and responsibilities).
In return, you’ll get paid. Be we won’t tell you how much.

Does that sound like a great advertisement to you?
Would you buy what they’re selling?

I didn’t think so.
This is why we need to change the way we write job advertisements.

How to write a great job advertisement?

To write a great job advertisement, you need tothink like a marketer.
You need to shift the focus away from your company and your needs.

Instead, you should focus on your potential candidates.
You need to capture their attention.
You need to convince them to apply.

To do that, you need to clearly present your major selling points:

You need to explain to the candidates why this job is a great opportunity for them.
You need to show them how this job will improve their life and career.
You need to demonstrate why your company is the best place to work.

In short, you need to tell them what will they get in return if they “buy into” the job you are offering.

Remember, you are selling an opportunity that could change or at least improve their life!

Job advertisement structure

What should your job advertisement contain?

The classic, old-fashioned job advertisements were focused on the employer’s needs.
The new approach based on empirically proven best practices suggest a slightly different job advertisement structure – the one dictated by candidates interests.

5 tips for writing a job post that attracts candidates

1.Write a genuine job title

Looking at recruitment trends in 2018, attention-winning job titles have encouraged many people to click on a job post. However, the strategy for acquiring that talent should be based on substance and a realistic job title.

Where possible, your job title should be standard because candidates tend to do a search based on that. Any job title that will be offbeat tends to undermine the credibility of your job post especially among talented candidates who consider their next move very seriously.

2.Make detailed job description

Clear job descriptions have proven to improve candidate’s experience. Your job description should be as clear as possible. With the many options that candidates have, there is a chance that they will shy away from anything that does not have clarity. Therefore, make the expectations and responsibilities of your vacancy very clear.

Looking at the adverts that attracted a high number of candidates, those with clear-cut job descriptions took the lead. Ensure there is clarity on salary expectations, performance objectives and any additional benefits that come with that position. Make it open, otherwise, no one will waste their time on something they are not sure about.
3.Speak about your brand

Give the candidates a reason to apply to the job posting. In that case, it should say something about your Employer Brand. It should provide some excitement and color as a sign of a good and positive culture that the successful candidate will walk into. Along with the roles and responsibilities, applicants should know the environment in which such is to be implemented.

There are many Employer Branding ideas you can use to attract the right people to your company.

4.Highlight the application process

Details to the process of application should be provided and made simple at the same time. To encourage the many to apply, a “one-click” online application process would be the best way to go. A complex recruitment process will likely make many people shy off. You can make use of an Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment Marketing platforms that will allow the candidates to make an application with a simple document such as their resume or a professional online profile like LinkedIn.

5. Get the job post a full mobile functionality

Technology is moving fast and web-based solutions are now being adapted to function on mobile platforms. There has been a notable increase in mobile web use among the millennials hence the need to make sure that the job post is mobile friendly

Importance of writing great job posts

Job posts need more resources and time to get them right and ensure that they stand out from the common ones as found in the market. To get the right minds, crafting a job post must be taken seriously. It is important to put across a strong image of the organization in order to get quality candidates to help you turn your attention to hiring the most suitable person for the job.

A lot of things come to play when you want your job post to get noticed and responded to by the right candidates you are looking for. However, it must begin with the way it is presented before search engines like Google can rank it and make it visible to your targets.

Recruiting has changed – do you have an Employee Value Proposition?