Too often employers miss out on quality candidates due to poor job advertising. In order for employers to overcome this ongoing issue and improve their workforce, action must be taken in order to obtain a higher level candidate.
One of the most common errors that employers make is recycling old job posts. An important factor to remember is that job roles develop and change all the time, so offering a position with last year’s job description could lead to under-qualified candidates applying for the role. It is crucial that you include the most relevant information, such as the job title, a brief description of your company, qualifications required, an informative job description, and the location of where the candidate would be working, in order to attract the quality candidates that you desire.
It is crucial employers are thorough in job advertisements; however they should not reach more than half an A4 page. Having a long-winded and extensive job description can be off-putting to the reader, so structuring your paragraphs in bullet points can be an effective way to captivate quality candidates.
Although it is imperative for employers to advertise a vacancy as much as possible, the hiring process can become much more time consuming than usual if employers are advertising a job in all the wrong places. Therefore, employers are encouraged to go down the route of working with recruitment agencies and avoid using job boards. Many recruitment agencies will specialise in providing candidates that are best suited to your company needs and industry. They become the middle man, in the sense that, you will not be bombarded with responses to your job advert from underqualified and unsuited candidates.
However, some may find the expense of going down the route of using a recruitment agency is simply not an option. Therefore, asking for a cover letter in your job advertisement will discourage ill-suited candidates. Cover letters can provide useful clues as to the character, education level and communication style of an individual, this allows you to filter out unsuitable candidates at a much quicker pace than going through just CV’s alone.
Most importantly, employers must remember that job adverts are very different to job descriptions. So the aim of writing a job advert is not to tell candidates what they would achieve on a day-to-day basis, but rather to emphasise why a qualified individual should be applying for the role.