The objective of the job ads is to attract the right candidates and encourage them to submit their resume. The job ad is just one way communication to the job seeker about what the company is looking for and why this may be the best career opportunity for them. Also the ad should discourage the job seekers who are not likely to be considered at all.
While working on a job opening, the most time consuming task in the process is to sort through the tons of job seeker resumes to find the few relevant matches. This can become more frustrating when your job advertisement is inaccurate or misleading.
The worst situation can arise when all the resumes you get are totally irrelevant for your job requirement.
How do you solve this problem?
You can’t blame the job seekers because they somehow thought that the job advertisement that you posted should be right for them.
Here are some tips to help you construct your job advertisement so that it targets only the right candidates.
- Use a job title that a job seeker is likely to search for; not the internal job title that you likely to use. Title is the attention grabber and entry point for the job seeker to read your full description.
- Don’t use generic words that can be misleading. If there is another word that you could use to be more specific, then choose that. Eg: Do not use “Software developer” instead “Java Developer with Unix background” this title will easily encourage the right candidate and discourage someone who are not having the relevant background.
- Always list the responsibilities of the job. A job advertisement that only lists the job title, location, pay rate and essential skills is usually ignored or misunderstood.
- Don’t use a lot of insider buzz words. Use the words that are commonly known to the candidates.
- Use bulleted list to list the roles of the jobs. Paragraphs can be boring and sometimes scary too.
This short and crisp list will guide the job seeker to match the job need and their experience.
- Remember that instead of you matching the job description to the resume, the candidate is doing the work for you. You can save lot of time.
- Mention clearly about the action that the job seeker needs to take to apply for your position.
- When you expect multiple skills, always mention whether you want a combination of those skills or giving them a choice.
- Be clear about which skills are mandatory and which ones are preferred.
- Include your company information and a brief introduction about it which will add more reliability to the advertisement.
- Explain clearly about the benefits of the job and the positive aspects.
- Make sure that your job advertisement complies with discrimination legislation and avoid any discriminatory description or job title.
- Discourage applications from candidates who are not qualified. It will help to reduce the number of irrelevant applicants.
- Mention specific things like whether or not it is a direct client requirement, if a certification is preferred and everything else that the job seeker would want to know.
- Address the emails personally with candidate’s name rather than just ‘Hi’ or ‘Dear candidate’.
- We strongly discourage mass mailing – every one does it, so you should be different
- Update your job posting daily, if it is active and you are still looking for response.
- Respond to every possible applicant, so that they are likely to apply to your future jobs with confidence that they may get response from you.
Job Description priority can flow as follows:
Job Title
Description in priority
- High level roll of the job
- Location of the position
- Minimum experience level (include if there is a flexibility)
- Proposed pay range
- Roles & Responsibilities
- Career growth opportunities
- About the company
- Why the candidate should apply
Remember that a job advertisement works similar to any advertisement for a product or a service. Your advertisement has to be targeted in all the possible ways. Apart from all the points that are listed, your common sense plays an important role as well.
When there is a lot of demand for candidates in a particular skill, a potential candidate will likely get many requirements to choose from. If you just post a job ad, sit back and relax, you may be disappointed because the competition is too much. So, spend your time in searching for resumes when you face such situations.
