There are now a variety of ways in which we communicate digitally with our candidates.
So it’s vital that we remember one, simple fact: most of the time, candidates are only looking for jobs. 75% of candidates that visit our site are only looking at job adverts
Not advice, case studies, or more about our business.
We also know our visitors are looking at job adverts from a number of other businesses at the same time.
It’s a competitive market in recruitment at the moment, demand is high so it’s imperative to have to be consistently good job ads.
Do you know how long candidates stay on our website job pages for?
Users leave the site in 10 seconds but . . .
Our users are staying longer on non-job related pages (client pages).
For the majority of users on the website, if they cannot find the information they want in 10 seconds they will completely leave the [Client’s] website.
We therefore need to change the way we write job adverts, and give the candidates a reason to read on.
Why,
Badly written job ads
Why,
Badly written job ads
The good news is we can change that.
Following some basic principles.
Size matters
Job adverts have to be short. This is not the place for waffle.
Nothing you write will be as short as it can be on the first draft. Read it back and remove anything that isn’t needed
Use short, simple words.
Avoid technical terms and acronyms (unless it’s relevant to the job) – everyone understands plain English.
There will be a character limit. How much will potential candidates actually see?
Begin with the most important information (what, where, when, how much, and why).
Only the first 150 characters of your job descriptions are shown in Google. Websites will vary.
The upper-left part of any webpage is where people most consistently look – so use this space for key information.
The upper-left part of any webpage is where people most consistently look – so use this space for key information.
Put all the important stuff ‘above the fold’ (the point at which you have to scroll).
Use bullet points for the text.
…after all this isn’t PowerPoint.
Make paragraphs short – 1 or 2 sentences, not 4 or 5.
Ensure your job title headline states the job title only. Avoid location, special characters or related terms – these will make it harder for candidates to find your job.
A great tool to use:
Have you used Google Adwords [Click for login details].
And measure
The Search Engines take into account the age of the content on websites. If a website has not been updated for some time, Google will reduce its ranking as they see the site as no longer relevant.
This means that it is very important to update your content regularly.
Also Google hates duplicate content, so when writing your job descriptions do not copy and paste, try and change it a little.
People are less likely to click on your job description if it looks like a duplicate.
Add a unique reference number and job title for each role as Google/ Indeed will not rank jobs which are duplicates.
Email addresses do not copy across correctly from Idibu when copy and pasted.
In the past SEO agencies paid a great deal of attention to the amount of times the keyword is mentioned within the website content.
These days you need to ensure the best user experience, so write short paragraphs, which are not duplicates, which tells the user what they need know and nothing else.
The keywords should come up naturally in the content and should flow freely.
Use variations of keywords – which will help the jobs rank for numerous keywords as opposed to just one.
Call-to-action
Provide a clear call-to-action at the bottom of the advert. That means directing the reader’s attention to an apply button – not relying on the button alone.
Experiment with calls-to-action in different places. Try them at the top and bottom.
One job at a time
Avoid posting multiple jobs within one advert.
A jobseeker wants information relating to a specific job – multiple jobs makes it harder to find what they need, and more likely for them to leave.
Don’t forget the ‘why’
It’s easy to get bogged down in the detail of what the job requires and involves. But candidates want to know why they should apply.
Tell them why – not just salary and location, but anything that’s different:
Is it an exciting client?
Will it boost their CV?
Does it allow them to work flexibly?
Be creative. If there isn’t a unique ‘why’, find something memorable. Are you looking for a lorry driver over Christmas? Or are you looking for Santa Claus?
A great tool to use:
Have you used Google Adwords [Click for login details].
Now for a quick quiz, recap. [ QUIZ NOT INCLUDED ]