With the current skills shortage looking set to continue for 2008 it has never been more important to write an advert that comes up in as many searches as possible and then keeps the candidate interested enough to apply. Here are some tips to get the most out of your adverts:
- Include a salary – If you don’t include a salary your job won’t come up in any searches. You have the option to hide the salary of your job so it will be included in searches but won’t actually be displayed.
- Name the employer – We appreciate this isn’t always possible but if you can name the employer do so. Candidates are often hesitant to apply for a job where the company isn’t stated and a prestigious company can be a huge incentive to apply.
- Fill in all the fields – This will help your ad comes up in more searches.
- Include location – You won’t miss out on candidates by being specific, you’ll come up higher in the search results. Vacancies get a far better response when you include a specific location rather than something vague like ‘nationwide’ or ‘South-East England’.
- Keep job titles simple – You might think an unusual job title will make your role stand out but the likelihood is that nobody will ever find it. Including information like location and sector in the job title will place your ad lower down on our search results.
- Highlight benefits – These could make your job stand out from the crowd. Even if it’s as simple as a friendly working environment or free parking. Flexible working hours or potential to work abroad are also a big selling factor for a lot of our candidates.
- Include as much information as possible – The ideal job ad will include: information about the company; specific duties of the role; required qualifications and experience. Give the candidates as much information as possible so they can make an informed decision about whether they’re suitable for the role. Generic adverts don’t get a good response as candidates don’t believe they are real. Listing technical skills and specific software e.g. Hyperion can help your search results position and allows the candidate to gauge if they’re at the right level.
- Think about presentation – Bullet point any lists to make them easy to scan. Keep paragraphs short so that candidates aren’t faced with a large block of text to plough through.
And it’s as simple as that. Stick to these points when you’re putting together the text for your roles and you should find your job receives more views and applications than ever before!