Your Job Adverts Are Terrible
Sorry to have to tell you this, but your job adverts are probably awful. Most companies’ are. Typically, I see “adverts” that comprise of a dull-as-dishwater list of responsibilities, some self-important boasting about why you should be lucky to work for the company (all from their point of view, with little consideration for what potential candidates might care about), then a list of unreasonable demands — two PhDs, an MBA and 10 years experience for a job as research associate or business analyst. OK, I’m exaggerating, but it’s not far from the truth.
Oh, and then there’s my favourite part — some kind of disclaimer that states unsuccessful applicants won’t be contacted. Basically, don’t call us, we’ll call you.
When I look through job ads (which I do from time to time, I’m a bit sad like that), 80–90% of them follow this structure. And even in a market where plenty of people are available, we commonly hear from clients that they’re struggling to attract the right candidates. Is it any wonder, though, when this is the approach they’re taking?
It’s no longer enough to simply announce that you’re hiring and expect amazing people to be grateful and beat a path to your door. The balance of power has shifted, and talented professionals have options. You have to attract them, engage them, and get them to take action — this is really what an advert of any kind is for.
So if you want to hire brilliant people, write better job adverts. Start by understanding that there’s a difference between a job description and an advert. A job description is an outline of the role that creates clarity between employer and employee, and usually lists criteria for someone to be considered for the role so that hiring managers know what to look for. An advert is a piece of marketing designed to capture attention, generate interest and encourage action. These are very different outcomes, so need different approaches.
Focus your advert on what’s in it for a potential candidate, from their point of view. If you want more detail on this, come and read my blog on What Biotech Candidates Really Want — the long and short of it, though, is to answer the question, how would working in this role, for our company, improve the career or even the life of a potential candidate? What’s attractive about the role itself, the company, the culture, the progression and development, the logistics and working arrangements or the package, from a candidate’s perspective. Talk about those things.
In Biotech, it’s common for companies to focus too much on their science, and although that’s obviously an important factor when hiring scientists, you should try to balance it with giving people an insight into what it’s really like to work for your company on a day-to-day basis.
A classic advertising technique is to write in the second person — it’s been said many times that “you” is the most powerful word in marketing. If your advert speaks directly to the person you’re trying to attract, that will help them to picture themselves in the role. Most job posts are focused entirely on the company, however, and so miss this opportunity. A good barometer of which perspective you’re writing from is to count up the number of times you use the words “you”, “your” and “yours” and compare that to the amount of times you see “we”, “our” and “ours”. Typically, the ratio is about 1:9 in favour of self-focused pronouns — try to tip this balance and you’ll force yourself to write from the candidate’s perspective, immediately making your ads more effective.
Including requirements in your job advertisements is important, but don’t overdo it. Removing them entirely reduces response rates, because high-quality candidates want to know that they’re broadly qualified for a position before applying for it, but too many requirements has the same effect. Research shows that once you get beyond four criteria, each additional one reduces response rates by around 10% — so keep this part of your copy to a minimum.
The key consideration at this point is that you’re trying to attract people, not filter them. There’s an assumption that including more requirements will deter irrelevant candidates. If you’ve done much recruiting, you’ll know that this isn’t usually the case — the unqualified applicants still apply, but the people who are deterred are typically high-quality individuals who may just fall short on a couple of points. Given that there are very few perfect candidates in the market at any one time, you still want to see these people — there could be some gems there.
Finally, please drop the “don’t call us, we’ll call you” ending. It’s pure arrogance to refuse to respond to unsuccessful applications, and it’s also terrible for your employer brand. Write up a template rejection email and set aside some time each week to at least respond to those you don’t progress with. It’s just rude not to — many of your applicants will be people who are desperately trying to find a new job and being met with a wall of silence. It’s incredibly discouraging, and you can both stand out and alleviate their frustration with a simple response.
And you never know — they’re not right for you now, but they might be in a couple of years. Or, they might know the perfect person for your role, and refer you if you treat them well. It’s a very small world.
Take a little more time with your job adverts and it’ll make a huge difference to how readily you’re able to attract candidates. It’s well worth the effort.
