We were fortunate to have Steven Smith from ApplicantPro as our featured keynote speaker at our recent Global Conference. Steve’s presentation, The Hiring Tree: Laws of Applicant Attraction, was loaded with practice advice to help recruiters have more success with their job postings. Here are a few of the key takeaways Steve shared:
- Job boards are search engines, so you have to write your job postings accordingly. Don’t get cute with job titles – say what you mean and be efficient with your characters. Remember that job seekers are going to be searching and they’re going to use normal job titles, not your client’s fluffed-up marketing title. Include the level (entry-level, senior, etc.) and include the industry when possible.
- Consider writing multiple versions of your job postings. When you post a job, it will only likely be visible for about three weeks. After that, it keeps getting shoved farther down the list of search results. Many aggregators won’t allow you to simply update an old job; they’ll require *at least* an updated date. Save yourself some hassle and create multiple versions right off the bat; then you can easily swap them in/out and also do some a/b testing at the same time.
- Speaking of multiple versions, be careful about how many preferences you list in a single posting. Too many preferences will turn away good candidates. An example Steve shared was for a ‘preference’ for a Spanish-speaking (multilingual) candidate; it might not required, but it’s desirable. A preference like this can alienate good candidates who only speak English as well as good candidates who are multilingual, because it’s not clear who should apply. A better strategy is to create two postings – one for English-speaking candidates and a second for Spanish-speaking/multilingual candidates.
- Consider only including the MINIMUM requirements – again, listing too many can backfire if good candidates don’t apply because they don’t have *everything* listed.
- Include the following: schedule, pay, benefits. Remember to define the WHY: why a candidate would want the job, why the company is a great place to work. Candidates have identified these as their top priorities when looking for a new role; give them what they want!
Remember: Impress the algorithm FIRST. If you don’t, your ideal candidates will likely never see your posting. Once you have done that, focus on simplicity, avoid too many preferences/qualifications, and give candidates what they want to see. This is the best way to obtain more applications for your job postings.