As your business grows, you may need extra help and if you want to widen your talent pool and pick the best individuals, posting appealing job ads will be an excellent strategy. When it comes to recruitment, your job advertisement is your first chance to attract great people to your company. This will also be the first impression candidates have of your company. How to create the right job ad, though, is the question. Here are some do’s and don’ts in designing job ads.
As more people engage online even through their gadgets and handheld devices, they prefer seeking jobs from online pages rather than other media. Spending time and effort on your initial posting can be incredibly useful, saving you time and money in the long term. If you get it wrong, you might end up with many irrelevant candidates, or worse, none at all. According to the CV library, one in every five (20%) job seekers say they would be hesitant to apply to a position with an unclear job description. Therefore, it is important that you get it right and to reach full potentials of talents, there are some unwritten guidelines of do’s and don’ts on job ads that you should follow:
Getting the job title properly is clearly a significant aspect of creating a job ad. Making catchy titles is useful, as long as they properly explain the task. Do not use a clickbait job title that just attracts readers to the website but has nothing to do with the real job being offered. Remember that job seekers will use keywords when doing their search, and if your job title does not match, it may be more difficult for them to discover your job ads. You can include more information about the job title on the job description if necessary. Make it significantly informative while using a few effective relevant keywords.
Your job ad is a chance to introduce your company to prospective employees. You should use this part to highlight appealing aspects of your company, such as reputation, business sustainability, and projections. Nobody wants to apply in a company that looks illegitimate, so provide a complete description in the job ad with information such as the location, contact details, career path, and promotion opportunity. It will be a waste to have a solid business, but you fail to showcase it to potential top candidates.
A detailed explanation of the job informs the candidate about what the work demands and whether their skills match the requirements. Briefly describe the job you would like your new talent to do. It is strongly advised to keep it concise yet to the point so that people can comprehend it easily. Divide these points into even bullet points to make it simpler and easier to understand for candidates. Avoid including too much technical information in the job description; you can save that for the job interview. A detailed list of responsibilities and tasks can help to recruit the ideal candidate for the role by providing an accurate description of what they can expect. This can boost employee work satisfaction and guarantee the company finds qualified candidates to fill open positions.
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The next thing to put in your job ads are criteria you want your applicants to have. The criteria themselves will be determined by the role’s level. If you want someone with certain experience, here is your chance to emphasize it. For example, if you need an experienced back-end engineer Specify whether your candidate needs qualifications and make it clear whether these qualifications are mandatory to be considered for the job (must-have) or only preferable (nice-to-have). Avoid listing too many requirements as regards qualifications and experiences that will scare people away.
Clarity on location and hours is particularly beneficial for remote job roles that require flexible working hours. When considering and applying for a job, candidates should consider the location, working hours, and anticipated travel or relocation. If the working hours and location are clearly specified, they can directly decide if they are appropriate for them and might save time during the interview or offer stage if this information is made available when they apply.
With money being such an important factor in any candidate’s decision-making process, it is surprising that only 22% of employees provide pay information in their job description. By providing pay information, applicants may determine whether the remuneration is appropriate for their lifestyle and obligations. Because it is something that candidates are concerned about, it may be worthwhile to include at least a pay range, if you still cannot include the exact salary. To make the offer sound more appealing, include other benefits that your company will offer to the prospective hire, such as incentives or allowance, health insurance, or lunch. Don’t lie about the quoted sum that will be offered inclusive or exclusive of perks, when negotiating salary. Quote right for the talent to perform and stay.
Make sure that you state the application method and process clearly for applications to be considered. If there is any specific site to apply or links on a job portal, put it on your job ad. Put your company’s emails, contacts, and address along with the closing deadline for applications. This will be useful if they want to inquire more about the job.
Simplicity is the best policy when designing job layouts. You certainly do not want your job ad to be a wall of words as this can make it difficult to read and will most likely discourage candidates from even trying. To create a clean and concise structure, use smaller paragraphs and bullet points to break it up. Adopt this principle for your job ads and it will attract more people. Use simple fonts that are familiar to people and easy to understand. Job seekers have a tendency to skim content from one job ad to another, hence you need to make your job ads easy to read and understand quickly. Don’t use difficult graphic design and fonts that will confuse the reader to interpret the requirements right.
Your hiring process begins with your job advertisement, and if you do it incorrectly, you potentially hurt your reputation. Learning how to write an effective job ad will help you enhance the recruitment process and discover the top applicants for job openings. Taking the effort to optimize your job ad from the beginning will save you time and money, as well as boost your talent pool. Good luck!
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