Ah…hiring. Most of us have a love/hate relationship with it.
We love onboarding fantastic new employees who help our businesses grow and lighten the workload. But we also hate the laborious process and risks involved with potentially making the wrong hire and ruining a work culture we have created over years.
Developing a robust and comprehensive hiring process can help mitigate the risks, speed up the hiring process and help you find the perfect candidate to bring into your team. In this article, we explore a crucial part of the process - job ads - and how you can create one that will deliver the desired results.
What is a Job Ad?
You can think of a job ad as an announcement. It is usually a short(ish) piece of text that helps you announce to the world that you are looking to employ someone to help you achieve a certain goal.
Typically, a job ad will include key details such as:
Your company name
The job title
Some information on the job role
…although a great job ad will include much more (we go into this in a later section).
Job ads can be found in multiple locations, from the ‘careers’ page on a company website to social media pages and even job boards such as Monster and Indeed.
Why Do Job Ads Matter?
At their most basic level, creating a job ds is easy. Just come up with a job title and write a couple of lines about the role and responsibilities.
It will take you 10 minutes at the most…and you’re good to go.
Although this is true to an extent, there are a few reasons why you should take more time and consideration over your job ads.
Firstly, you must remember that this is an advert…
“An advertisement, [...] is generally considered a public communication that promotes a product, service, brand or event. To some the definition can be even broader than that, extending to any paid communication designed to inform or influence.”
You don’t need to be a marketing genius to know that an uninspiring job title and a few unenthusiastic sentences will struggle to ‘inform or influence’ anyone.
A great ad is all about selling the reader on your company and the role. You want to get people excited about the potential to work for you - otherwise, why would they bother applying at all?
Even though a knockout job ad will take more time to create, it is likely to save you considerable time in the long run. When you invest time into detailing exactly who and what you are looking for it will help attract only those who are suitably qualified, experienced and well-suited to the role. This will limit wasted time reviewing countless CVs and conducting countless interviews.
“Ok…so great job ads are crucial to hiring success. But how do I create them?”
…I’m glad you asked.
How to Write an Effective Job Ad
Nail The Job Title
To most hiring managers and business owners, a job title is just a technicality. But to the person it belongs to it can mean a lot. So, getting your job title right can mean the difference between attracting great applicants and having to pick from a bad bunch.
Getting the job title right relies on thinking about it from three key perspectives:
The holder - it is fitting to the title holder's position, experience, skills, responsibilities and aspirations?
Customers - if it is an externally facing role, does it tell the customer exactly what the individual does for them?
Internal - does it place the holder in the right position within the business?
Provide a Job Description
“A bit of this, a bit of that” - An extract from the worst job description ever.
You need to be specific in your job description:
What exactly will the day-to-day look like for the individual?
What will they be responsible for?
Which resource will they have access to?
Your aim should be to really sell the role - whilst being entirely honest. This combination will help you attract the right candidates.
Sell The Company
Employees need to buy into your company to really contribute positively to what you are trying to achieve.
Use some space in your job ad to sell the company. Explain your vision and mission. Highlight why you are better than others on the market. Detail why your employees love working for you.
Include a Salary Range
“It’s about the role, not the salary” - said the hiring manager that doesn’t have to pay any bills, rent, support a family or want a social life.
Sure, it would be great if we could make all our life decisions based on our passion for a role, but the reality is - salary matters. It is a waste of everyone's time to expect candidates to apply for a role only to discover after multiple interviews that the salary won’t cover their expenses.
So…include a salary range in your job ads.
Salary honesty will help you attract the right level of expertise into your role. A lack of salary transparency sends strong signals to candidates that ‘this job doesn’t pay very well’.
Outline Other Benefits
Let’s say it again…just in case it didn’t land the first time SALARY MATTERS.
…but it isn’t everything.
Outline other benefits of working for your business in your job ads. This can be a great way to make an otherwise average salary look fantastic. Especially if those benefits can drastically lower living costs or improve living standards.
This may include:
Pension contributions
Bonus schemes
Work-from-home policies
Time off for charity work
Travel to work schemes/support
Social benefits
Anything else that makes working for you a great option
Highlight Future Prospects
Another aspect of a great job ad which can drastically impact its appeal is the inclusion of consideration for the candidate's future. This could include progression opportunities, funding for further education or mentorship schemes.
Create a Great Job Ad: Summary
So, there is it - your guide to creating a knockout job ad. It is clear that a small investment in creating better job ads can help you save time in hiring and ensure that the very best candidates apply for the role.