Brief – Getting the right candidates to apply to your ads – depicting the reality of the role, no point surprising people at interview so they drop out later.

Getting the best candidates and the most appropriate ones to apply to your advert is no easy task! There are so many choices to display your vacancy, your website, job boards, social media posts to name a few. 

Next question:- Who does it, who then checks it and who has time to access to these platforms? All valid questions and each organization has a different approach to this.

Then there is the creation of the advert content itself, how long should it be, how detailed, is it optimized for mobile readers – don’t forget the vast majority of applications (around +70%) are made via a mobile device these days, you have to think about how much info you share in your advert, put too much and the reader may swipe “next”.

To get a response to your advert or social media post you need a headline, a story, and a hook, it is important to be clear about the role, the expectations of the position and make it stand out from the competition. It’s no good posting the same content as someone else, the search engines will struggle to identify it. You also need to ensure the reader follows the call to action or hits that apply button and not someone else’s!

Perhaps you do not have time for all this and need to appoint a recruitment agency but for argument’s sake, let’s assume you go it alone!

A job advert should be kept simple, it should depict a need for a skill and the reward for carrying it out, a description of the company and the environment they offer. It has to be enticing, it has to appeal and engage an action (send CV). 

It should always provide relevant, ideally unique and attractively written information, not just a list of bullet points which often reads like a lecture and may appear dull to the reader. A well-written job ad should be upbeat, specific and concise while also providing enough information so as not to leave out any details pertinent to the situation.

You also want to ensure your advert is an accurate description of the task in hand, review your historical job description information before posting anything new, is the context still relevant or have things moved on, it is easy to assume a description written a few years ago will be the same, technology moves so quickly, job descriptions do too. There is nothing worse than taking your applicant on following an interview process and then realize that they want to leave after the actual job is not the advert description they applied to. 

Reading your advert

Remember, in this modern world, the vast percentage of readers look at adverts on a mobile device, writing war and peace to be read on a tablet or mobile phone is not the answer, your audience will finger scroll the information, if you put too much detail in, you risk being a skip statistic.

You have effectively seconds to appeal to the reader in this modern world, we understand all information is important but at this point, does the potential employee need to see every detail or can that be shared once some interest has been shown? Perhaps you can share the job description with all criteria declared once the engagement has commenced. Think how long you read something on the screen, not long is it?

The primary purpose of a job advertisement is to attract potential employees by making them interested in applying for a particular position. The employer must include essential information about their company and their vacancy, from reading this the potential employee should be able to understand if they will be qualified for the vacancy or not. 

Below are some of the essentials your advertisement should ideally include:

• What the vacancy is called and where is it based
• What is the compensation for the role and what other benefits apply (little benefits can be big to someone else – like onsite/free parking)
• Its status ie Permanent or otherwise, hours and shift patterns if applicable 
• What skills and experiences are preferred/needed
• How to apply for the position (keep it simple – cover letters are old-fashioned now)

Get these things right and your advert should do well.

As we said at the beginning, there is so much to think about before you advertise, then you have the time it takes to manage the actual interview process.

There are many things that can affect the quality of a candidate. Sometimes, the candidate will not be qualified for the role and sometimes, they will not be a good fit for the company. Applications alone may not tell you this but you need that initial application to be submitted to begin the screening process and so your advert needs to be effective. No or few applicants = no choice or minimum options.

Some people may have a misconception about what is required of them in their job, which could lead to them leaving before they even start. It is important that you clearly communicate what is expected from them so that they know if they are qualified or not.

It is also important to make sure that you are clear about what your expectations are from them to avoid any misunderstandings or disagreements later on.