Don’t Let Your Job Ad Fail You

Puzzled over why you have only been getting unsuitable job candidates, if any candidates at all? Don’t let your job ads fail you!

So you think that half the recruitment battle is won once your job ad gets published. It’s easy right? Just sit back, relax and wait for the resumes to pour forth.

Wrong. The truth cannot be further than that! More often than not, problems found in the recruitment battlefield is of job ads being left unanswered or applications being received from all the wrong candidates.

Keep these considerations in mind the next time you are crafting your job ads:

Be Specific

It can be off-putting for applicants when you list too many criteria in your job ads, leaving them both confused and whelmed by the amount of responsibilities required of them. This would lead to a limited number of applications, if corresponding applicants meet your expectations at all. Remember with preciseness what you are looking for, and let ideal candidates’ background, experience, quality or qualifications convey themselves in the job ad.

Bad ad: “Hiring someone to join our team to take care of admin duties, marketing agenda, sales calls and daily stock-taking. Diploma, degree and ‘O’ level holders are welcome to apply”.

Good ad: “Hiring a HR executive to plan and implement human resource plans and procedures for all company personnel. Candidates must possess a degree in Human Resource Management”.

What’s this Job About, Really?

While some companies list too many requirements, others may do just the opposite and list too little. Being vague may bring you many more hopefuls applying for the job, because the lack of clarity will lead applicants to make assumptions that they are suitable for the position. This will result in many unqualified and unsuitable candidates knocking on your interview door.

As such, it is important to strike a balance between too much information in the job ad and too little that offer any substance and clarity.

Bad ad: “Hiring a marketing executive to market our products”.

Good ad: “We are a Pharmaceutical company hiring a marketing manager to oversee marketing, advertising and marketing events plans. Experience in pharmaceutical sales or marketing preferred”.

Distasteful Ads

Some ads are badly worded, and we are not referring to its incorporation of abusive language. A recruitment ad says a lot about your company and its culture – and why would anyone want to work for someone who condones racism or sexism? There are many ways to be clever, and sprucing up your job ad for a secretary position with an image of a scantily-clad woman hunched over a typewriter simply reflects bad taste. In addition, try to be empathetic in your job description too.

Bad ad: “Hiring a sales executive for our fast-expanding company. Chinese-speaking candidates only”.

Good ad: “Hiring a sales executive for our fast-expanding company. Open to everyone with the gift of a glib tongue!”.

Try new platforms

Human beings are creatures of habit, making us all a largely predictable bunch. It is thus understandable for employers to use the same recruiting platform over and over if said platform has yielded results.

But for an even better outcome, employers must try out multiple recruiting methods including social media recruitment or through a professional recruiter that will help them source for the right talent.

Don’t: Solely stick to your preferred and most comfortable medium of hiring. If you have been purchasing print ads on the recruitment section of a newspaper, consider better and faster results by going online.

Do: Explore various channels of job distribution, such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

So before you click “publish” on your draft job ad, have look at it again or have your co-workers run through it. It’s always good to have a different, third-party perspective!