One of my very favorite business books is Influence by Dr. Robert Cialdini. He outlines 6 driving factors to persuade people to say “yes”. If you can recruit using these 6 persuasion shortcuts, you’ll get more “yes’s” and you’ll get them sooner. 1) Reciprocity The more you give someone, the more obliged they want to… Read more »
Us consumers are now very used to a “one-click world.” Shouldn’t we treat candidates the same? As consumers, we go on Amazon and do a “one-click check-out”. We go to Google, type a word or phrase…and voila…we get great results. I wake up and click my iPhone and ask for the weather. Heck, my father-in-law… Read more »
Many of us are talking about gender-neutral job descriptions these days. But how about gender-neutral job TITLES? Gender-biased job titles are so prevalent that Ongig now offers a job title bias checker in our Text Analyzer software. After all, if you show gender bias in the job title, a candidate might not even read the rest of… Read more »
Most job descriptions are text-only and static. We all know that. So, how do you make a job description dynamic? Here are 8 ideas: 1) Branding (Header/Footer & Color Scheme) You might start with the simplest move: adding your branding. The branding items to include on your job descriptions include your: Header and footer (I’d… Read more »
You have to do better than a “copy-and-paste” of an old job description to write a job description that stands out and engages the best talent. Many of you still use job descriptions written by someone with little to no marketing skills. Or perhaps copy-and-paste the JD from an unknown source. Let me give you… Read more »
Real estate powerhouse Colliers International has a new “Power of Be” employee value proposition in its job descriptions. The opening 2 sentences of some of their latest U.S. job posting includes 3 words about what the candidate has the potential/power to “BE”. E.g., “Be the expert” “Be a team player” “Be ambitious” Check out the… Read more »
A few tips from my 20+ years of writing job descriptions: Note: If you’re lazy like me, a lot of the principles below are built into software such as these: The Top 6 Augmented Writing Tools for Job Descriptions. For more tips on writing job descriptions, check out How to Write a Job Description — Best Practices & Examples. Put First… Read more »
We see lots of employer branding examples out there but this one seems simple, cheap and super-effective. It comes courtesy of engineering and construction leader CDM Smith. It’s a simple employee photo contest: They asked employees to submit their best photos related to “what we do.” Employees sent in 300+ entries They added a select… Read more »
Do you have this problem? You’ve got a solid-looking company career site page like this: The “Hotel Lobby Theory” …yet your job description pages look something more like this JD below. My friend Eric Osterman (Recruitment Marketing Manager at CenturyLink calls it the “Hotel Lobby Theory” — the lobby needs to look pretty but if… Read more »
How would you like 70%+ more quality candidates surfing around your career site? If yes, you’re going to want to read on! On Oct. 12th, As I strode over from the old-fashioned MGM Grand hotel (where I was staying) to the tony Venetian Resort on the Vegas Strip, I was more than a bit nervous…. Read more »
You can see 3 nice job description features below from new hospital organization U.S. Acute Solutions: 1. A picture of every office (hospital) This is an easy feature that every hospital group should consider since candidates want to picture where they work (and most hospitals have a quality picture of their location). The same applies… Read more »
Some candidates are worth the time. A Talent Acquisition leader at a Fortune 500 company told me the other day that their team has to make 17 touches to recruit passive candidates. What a great stat to track! By “touches” she is referring to 17 outreach activities (she was excluding screening calls and interviews) it takes to… Read more »
Editorial Update: In 2020, Google sunsetted/canceled its Google Hire ATS. Google recently released a new ATS and when Google releases anything new, it’s worth a close look. Afterall, they arguably have the most software engineering horsepower of any company on the planet — and the cash reserves to keep at it. Before we dive into why… Read more »
Words matter…especially in job descriptions. Update: Since writing this article, our team here at Ongig launched a new version of our Text Analyzer software for writing job descriptions. For more tips on writing job descriptions, check out How to Write a Job Description — Best Practices & Examples. Here are 7 mistakes to avoid when writing YOUR job description: 1)… Read more »
If you’ve won an employer of choice award, that is a clear example of “social proof” to your candidates. We recommend you use it on every one of your job description pages. Note: Social Proof is one of the 6 proven principles of influence/persuasion from one of my favorite business books Influence by Robert Cialdini,… Read more »
