How to Get the Best Response to Your Online Job Adverts
Are you getting good responses to your job adverts?
If not, there are many reasons why they may not be generating the candidates you would like to recruit. And it’s not necessarily anything to do with where and when you place your adverts. A particular challenge as we head into Spring of 2022 is the availability of candidates with the right qualities as its currently a very candidate-driven job market, which is going to continue for the foreseeable future.
The best techniques for writing effective job ads are the same as for other forms of advertising. The job is your product; the readers of the job advert are your potential customers. The aim of the ad is to attract interest, communicate quickly and clearly the essential (appealing and relevant) points, and to provide a clear call to action.
We’ve put together these tips so you can more easily attract the right type of candidates to apply for your vacancies.
It’s all in the planning
Think about your recruitment process and have it in place ahead of any advertising so you can easily manage the responses in a way that suits your available resource. Consider:
Do you want to provide an application form, or for candidates to send a CV?
Do you want candidates to contact you for more information, and if so how, by phone or email?
Do you want to provide a link to a full job description, and where will you host the information?
Make sure your advert very clear states what you want applicants to do next, and where they can find more information.
Consider an Applicant Tracking System as this can really help automate and reduce the time to manage applications.
What should a good advert include?
A well-balanced online job ad needs to contain a number of elements:
Briefly describe the company and its position in the marketplace.
Mention key features of the role and the skills and qualities needed to succeed in it.
Always include a location, geographical region.
Always include a salary – even if you cannot quote a specific rate – include a salary range.
How to get the best level of applicants
A good question to ask before you put the advert together is “What would the ideal candidate be looking for and what does this role offer?” Link the two and you have a great proposition.
Include incentives for candidates to want to apply, such as:
An opportunity to acquire more skills
Excellent management potential
World-class training and career development
The importance of the role to the success of the department and company
Maybe the job offers the best salary package in the market, if it does – promote this.
Structure of a good job advert
It is absolutely vital to get the structure of the advert right. It’s the opening paragraph (or maybe the first 2) that are key, so this is where you need to make a few references to the job title and the main skills required. This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many people miss this.
Once the opening paragraph is done, you can then go on to describe the company, more about the role, the key features and the skills/qualities needed. This should be followed up with by the benefits and clear application instructions.
Optimising your ad in this way will also bring it higher up in the list of search results on job boards if you choose to place your adverts on this cost-effective advertising platform. It’s particularly important if the role is quite a common one, where there is a danger of being relegated to the second page of results within a matter of hours.
Make the most of the job title
The job title line should include the job title, location, salary (if available) whether it is perm or contract, and any specific sector or main skill/discipline – or if a role needs to be filled urgently. The job summary is the text that is searched for Google rankings.
SAP SCM APO Business Analyst – Remote Working– Permanent – Up to 60K
Principal Statistical Programmers | London | Contract | Urgent
Database Marketing Analyst – London – £30-35k – SQL Web Campaigns
The importance of your intro paragraph
The intro or summary may be the only section of your job advert that appears in search results so it is absolutely key that it attracts the candidates you want to apply.
Some good examples of intro paragraphs:
We are a fast-growing, multinational pharmaceutical company dedicated to the production and commercialisation of leading generic drugs and with several plants worldwide, seeking a Global Regulatory Affairs Head to join our new and strategic Biotech Unit in Madrid.
We are a leading, fully integrated marketing agency seeking a Solutions Engineer to make a significant impact within our rapidly expanding company. You will be a member of the technical resource pool working on various projects providing implementation of marketing tools and databases, as well as working within small teams and alongside very experienced systems professionals in a supportive friendly environment.
As a leading, digital agency we now require an experienced, talented and self-motivated Net Developer to join us. You will need to be highly experienced in building web applications and websites using Microsoft .NET. Ideally, you would already be experienced in developing CMS-driven solutions, but, if necessary, we will provide full training. You will play a lead technical role on projects primarily based on the leading .NET CMS, EPiServer, as well as other .NET products and systems integration.
As a growing IT Consultancy, we are now seeking to add an additional 2nd line Support Analyst to the team to support our large client base across technologies. This is an excellent opportunity for a support analyst who’s looking to move into a consultancy role and work for a Microsoft Certified company.
We are an award-winning marketing agency looking to add a BI Designer/Administrator to our team. This is a fantastic opportunity to manage and develop business intelligence solutions for high profile clients. Based in London, you will work within the data team to design, build and manage multiple data warehousing solutions and multiple SQL.
We are a high-profile eCommerce retailer based in London looking to add an enthusiastic Marketing Analyst to the team to work within a client-facing role, hands-on with the data and deliver analysis that will help to grow our customer base. This is an excellent opportunity to use/gain SAS experience.
This is an exciting opportunity for a SAS Technical Architect to work with some of the best ETL and SAS technical architects and developers and gain exposure to many different global household names and brands. Working within a dynamic architecture team in London, you will be tasked with translating functional specifications and requirements into the design, development and testing of enhancements to the data solution architecture.
How long should an advert be?
Fact: people spend far less time reading online adverts than they would in a newspaper or magazine so keep it short. Include just enough information to really grab interest and encourage the reader to find out more – so they click to read the full ad and apply.
Around 300-400 words should be enough to sell the job clearly and simply.
Use of Language
Candidates form an impression of your company from the language you use in your adverts. This includes both style and tone.
Hold a conversation and immediately engage the reader
It’s always better to talk to candidates, so use the second person rather than the third, for example: “You will be…” rather than “The job holder will be…”
Use a short positive description to promote the company they could be joining, for example:
An international pharmaceutical company currently expanding in the UK are offering an excellent opportunity to join their growing team as a Senior Medical Advisor focusing in the respiratory area and supporting a new launch.
A leading retail bank requires a new Head of Decision Science to manage their rapidly expanding team.
Alternatively start the advert with a question:
Would you like to work for a leading pharma company, whose products are at the forefront of…
Would you like to work with a renowned financial organisation, and be part of developing the market’s leading ……
Try not to describe aspects of the role as “Duties” or “Responsibilities”. “Key features” sounds more progressive.
Your choice of words should really promote the company and the opportunity. Don’t overdo it though as this loses credibility and just looks false.
If you use job boards then a covering letter should be a requirement so you can ask them to describe what qualities, skills etc make them most suitable for the role. Of course, if you advertise on your own website – you can still request a covering letter. Whatever format advertising you choose, this is a good way of getting to know a bit more about the individual than the more fact-based CV or application form.
Use Plain English
Ask yourself “Would I understand what this job is all about if I didn’t already work for the company?”
Whatever you do, don’t just use your job description as your job advert. A job description is not designed to promote the benefits of your company or to sell the opportunities the role offers.
Job descriptions generally contain far too much information, long lists of bullet points and will probably be full of terms and phrases that only existing employees would properly understand.
For those applicants you find of interest, you can then provide the job description as part of your follow-up to their application.
Maintain the Pace
Use short, punchy sentences. This keeps the advert flowing and keeps the candidate interested. If your sentences go on too long, the good points lose their impact!
Make sure your advert gets seen
So, you’ve written a fantastic job advert, perfect length, which sells the company, sells the opportunity and gives quality candidates every reason why they should apply for the role.
There is another aspect to consider too. If a candidate uses a Google or similar search – you also want to ensure that your job ads are ranked highly in the results so keywords are crucial!
Use of Keywords
Almost all online search results are determined by keywords. Most job seekers will use the job title to do a Google search. Many will go to a specific job board that caters for their skills and qualifications, whilst others may stick with generalist sites. In all cases, they will enter keywords that most commonly describe their role such as an obvious job title and/or the classic skills the role would need, such as a specific qualification.
So, it’s important to use your keywords throughout your job advert
Lastly, start to think like your applicants!
When you’ve written your advert, imagine that you are in the candidate’s shoes, read it back and ask yourself some questions:
Has it has grabbed your interest?
Does the company come across as welcoming?
Does it share your values?
Do you understand what the role is about?
Are you being sold something that you really want?
We hope this guide will inspire you to review your job adverts so they attract the candidates
you really want to apply in the ongoing war for talent.
We are always happy to advise on ways to improve your recruitment process or we can even manage it on your behalf.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of the suggestions in this article and how to implement them, please get in touch.