So, you’ve got your recruitment requirement, you’ve spent ages selecting which job board(s) you’re going to post your vacancy on, and now it’s time to write your advert. “No problem, I’ll just copy the position spec, post it up there and wait for CVs to land in my inbox…Right?” WRONG!
When writing job adverts it’s vital to remember that your advert is generally your first and only chance of attracting the top talent you’re looking for.
Think, about it…..there are 1000′s of jobs posted online on 1000′s of boards every single day. Imagine a huge classifieds section in the newspaper, or a giant shop window in a post office crammed full of those little A6 sized flick cards with small averts written in them. How are you going to make sure your advert stands out from the rest?
Well, to help you along the way, here are my top tips to help you to write an effective job ad.
How Do Job Sites Work?
Job seekers don’t search through every job on a job board. They actively search the site using keywords to find only the positions they are interested in. For example, a job seeker might search using the keywords “Digital Account Manager, Ecommerce, London”. The job board’s search engine will then find all the job ads that contain these keywords and return them in a Search Results list. Adverts that contain all the keywords will be at the top of the list, with those matching fewer keywords coming next.
Choose Right Keywords for Your Job Ad
The right keywords are essential if your advert is going to get the right level of exposure. So, how do you go about choosing the right ones? Well, it’s reasonably straightforward if you try to think like a job seeker, try to think of the words and terms that they might use when looking for a vacancy like yours.
Keywords will tend to be focused around a number of areas such as job title, location, industry sector and skill category being the most common. You should also consider including other potential keywords to do with professional qualifications, programming languages, software packages, languages etc.
Job Title
Try to adopt commonly used job titles. If your vacancy is for someone to manage a social media team and content production team within an agency, call it a “Social Media Manager” A job seeker looking for that kind of role will more likely search for “Social Media Manager” rather than “Content Production Team Lead” or Social Media and Content Production Manager” or whatever the internal term used in your company. Choosing straightforward, easily recognisable job titles will get more relevant people looking at your advert.
Location
It may sound obvious, but to help ensure that people looking for Social Media Manager jobs in London find your Social Media Manager job in London, put “London” in the description and/or in the location/ city field.
Based on my own experience you’ll get more people looking at your advert if you’re precise about the location.
Some Employers like to put “nationwide” or “not specified” in their adverts because they have lots of vacancies across lots of locations. Unfortunately, many job seekers may view such a listing with some scepticism as non-specific locations are sometimes used by non-reputable recruitment agencies advertising fake roles in an effort to attract CVs.
Industry
When posting your advert you often have the option of selecting a number of Industry categories. Be sure to refer to one or more of these in your advert as this will enhance the keyword strength and ensure that a job board’s search engine finds and ranks your advert highly. Being specific about an industry sector will also allow more relevant and suitably skilled candidates to find your job.
Function / Category
Similar to Industry, when you post your advert you can often select a number of categories or function areas the position falls into. Again, you should make reference to this in your advert as job seekers tend to be quite specific about the ‘type’ of role they are looking for and what kind of category they believe they belong to.
Include Qualifications, Skills etc.
In many professions qualifications are very important. In project management for example there is PRINCE2, ITIL and Six Sigma, in creative and design sectors, it can be specific software packages. Does your job advert require specific qualifications? Be sure to add them.
Make sure your message is LOUD and CLEAR!!
The job advert should tell the job seeker exactly what they will be expected to do, what duties and responsibilities they will have and the reporting lines. Be clear and structured so that everything is easy to follow and logical. Be clear about any special skills or requirements, qualifications, skills, aptitudes and any previous work experience necessary to do the job. Outline the challenges of the job but also what the job may lead to.
Keep your ad concise. Long job ads are generally off-putting. Aim for an absolute maximum job description of 300 words. In reality, you should be able to cover everything in far less and use bullet points for the important points.
Oh, and remember to tell candidates how to apply!
Above all…. Remember it’s an ADVERT!!!!!
This is your chance to be creative, to be a bit different, and to have a little bit of fun. Remember there’s a big difference between someone finding your job ad and actually applying for it.
You have to SELL your job to the job seeker. You’re looking for candidates and CVs which ‘Stand out from the crowd’ so you have to make your advert stand out too. Tell people how great the opportunity is. And sell your company too. Candidates choose a company as much as they choose the job. If you are a successful, growing business, with huge potential in an exciting market then say so.
The biggest mistake to make when writing a job advert is to simply “cut and paste” a job description into the advert. A Job Description is the formal document describing the role and is something that should be ‘attached’ so that job seekers can refer to it later.
Your Job Advert is your opportunity to attract a Job Seeker’s attention, to entice them to find out more and to convince them to apply. So be brave, be creative and give it a go!
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_S_Butwilowski