Get Ready to Fill Your Recruiting Funnel…
Never underestimate the power of a well-written job ad. An ad that explains succinctly why a job is an amazing opportunity, what it entails, and why the company is a great place to work can be the key to attracting candidates that are a great fit. A badly written ad—or worse, a job description posing as an ad—can attract the wrong candidate or fail to attract any qualified candidates at all.
Snazzy job ads go beyond typical job listings by including a wow factor that gets ideal candidates excited enough to contact the company. The persona we talked about earlier in the chapter must be artfully translated into the ad so that when that fabulous candidate reads it he or she feels that it was created expressly for them and they’re compelled to check out the opportunity.
These ads should evoke an emotional reaction. They should make the reader want to learn more. They speak to a candidate’s motivation for wanting a specific position in a specific kind of company. They are honest and clear about what the company does and what the job entails. They are written in plain language. When writing a snazzy job ad, the key question to ask is, “When my ideal candidate reads it, how will she feel?”
John is a hiring manager at HdL Companies, the California company we just discussed. When John contacted us in late summer 2020, HdL had just six weeks to hire and train 21 customer service representatives before the start of their busy season, when companies can begin to renew annual business licenses. None of the usual places where John posted job ads were working. The firm was down to a trickle of responses, and most were from applicants who didn’t have the right qualifications.
We tackled the problem by interviewing three of HdL’s best customer service reps.
Based on what we learned, we identified four personas with backgrounds that would make them ideal candidates. The personas were: ex–retail workers looking for an office job; inbound call-center specialists; people looking for an entry-level position; and individuals with excellent web search or collections skills. We also identified the keywords to include in the ads so they would pop up in job board search results. We made sure the ads were written in a way that appealed to people who were civic minded, an attribute that might make them want to join a company that worked with local governments.
When we checked with John three weeks later, he said the ad aimed at people looking for their first office job “pulled like mad.” Two others yielded a good number of candidates, and one didn’t work. Even better, he was surprised and pleased with the high caliber of the candidates compared to those who’d responded to the company’s previous ads. He filled all 21 positions despite the time crunch and started their training right on time. The new hires performed well during the seasonal rush, with fewer customer complaints than in the past. “Our ability to staff up on time made a dramatic difference,” John says.
Snazzy job ads help fill the recruiting funnel.
But they only need to go so far. Job ads don’t need to cover every detail. That can be addressed during the interview. If people apply who aren’t qualified, you can always choose not to pursue them. That may mean plowing through more resumes, but that’s part of the process. The only purpose of the job ad is to bring candidates to you.
Once you’ve posted your ad, and applications start pouring in, sort them based on how they fit the criteria you’ve established for the job. Move fast. Applications with most or many of the attributes you’ve defined can go into a “yes” pile. Those with some attributes go into a “maybe” pile. Discard the rest. Move the “yes” group through the initial steps of the hiring process quickly as someone else may be poised to snap them up. For the very best candidates, follow up directly with a phone call or an in-person interview. An email could be too slow!
