I love job ads. I just found a study on them that I feel silly for missing. Sorry! It shows that speaking to a candidate’s needs in a job ad gets you 13.6% more applicants than focusing on the skills your job requires. In other words, focusing on THEM beats focusing on YOU. Not only… Read more »
Posts Tagged:Job Descriptions
A List of 20 Awesome Employee Benefits
Did you know that 608,000+ people per month do a Google search on this type of phrase: “[name of employer] benefits”? (Assurant, Walmart, Costco are the top 3 by the way). Candidates want to know the list of perks and benefits that big (and small) companies are offering. Did you also know that each benefit… Read more »
5 Key Steps Of Your “Digital” Candidate Experience
When you think candidate experience, I bet you think “post-apply” process like interviews and follow-ups. But what about the “digital” or “pre-apply” candidate experience? Here are 5 steps of your “digital” or “pre-apply” candidate experience and the purpose they serve: 1. Company Career Page Company career pages should be focused on attracting and engaging…. Read more »
7 Reasons “Why” Candidates Should Work for You
The most important question a candidate has is: “Why should I work for you?” The operative word is “why”. That’s why it’s surprising that the 4 most common sections of a job description focus almost entirely on answering the question “What?” Examples: Overview/Summary of Job — Most JDs use this to say “what” the position… Read more »
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Candidate Needs (for Job Ads)
I’m reading a great new book about winning political fights — it’s called The Fixer by Bradley Tusk. It reminded me of a powerful marketing tool (“self-interest”) to win over candidates through job ads. What’s a job candidate’s top self-interest? You could do worse than to use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. I’ve transposed the normal Maslow… Read more »
How to Write Job Descriptions to Attract Millennials
Recruiting millennials is critical. Millennials (born 1982-2003) will make up 1 of 3 adults in America by 2020 and 75 percent of the workforce by 2025, according to the Brookings Report (see “How Millennials Could Upend Wall Street And Corporate America”). Veronica Wright, a CEO at ResumesCentre talked about hiring millennials recently: “The energy and… Read more »
Boost Your “Digital” Candidate Experience with Job Page Overlays
What is a Job Page Overlay? A job page overlay (or job wrapper) is a design layer you put over your applicant tracking system to generate new job pages. This makes your pages more engaging and attractive to candidates. You get a higher time on page and apply rate. Why Use a Job Page Overlay… Read more »
Top 15 Problems TA Pros Have with Job Descriptions
I wrote recently about The Top 10 Problems TA Leaders Tell Me About. Job Descriptions was the #1 category. Note: Check out our free Job Descriptions Guide — it tells you everything we know about JDs, job ads and the like! This week I’m sharing the specific problems within job descriptions that TA leaders reach… Read more »
The Top 10 Problems TA Leaders Tell Me About
My job is awesome. I chat with talent acquisition leaders most of the day, and then I work with the Ongig team to create software to (hopefully) solve those problems! About a year ago, I started a spreadsheet of the problems TA leaders shared with me. I decided to now share them with you —… Read more »
Why I Write my Job Postings at the 8th Grade Reading Level (or Lower!)
The goal of a job posting is simple. It’s to capture the right candidate’s attention with truthful content to help them decide whether to apply. Note: Check out our free Job Descriptions Guide — it tells you everything we know about writing job descriptions! What if I told you I could improve the effectiveness of your… Read more »
Is Now the Time to Hire a “Chief Job Description Officer” ?
There’s one thing that every growing employer has in common: job descriptions. And they have lots of problems/projects related to job descriptions. Talent acquisition leaders ask me/Ongig for help: adding video and pics to their job descriptions; adding recruiting widgets (LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Google Maps, etc.) to their job descriptions; rewriting their JDs to be more outward-facing;… Read more »
22 Ideas to Make You a More Proactive Recruiter
Many of you gave a ton of love to our 5 Ways to Be a More Proactive Recruiter article. It was written by my good friend Jason Webster, an expert on proactive recruiting strategy. I decided you might want a sequel! And congrats! Since you’re reading this I know you are already a more proactive recruiter… Read more »
10 Examples of the Best Job Ads in 2018
Job ads are becoming more creative and dynamic. Employers are giving more robust content on job descriptions rather than just listing requirements and qualifications. Here are some features we’re seeing in job ads that were hardly used just a few years ago (all of these features are possible through Ongig’s Branded Candidate Experience Software) :… Read more »
The 8 Key Stakeholders in a Job Description Rewriting Project
A head of Talent Acquisition asked me the other day: “Who are the key stakeholders that need to be involved when rewriting job descriptions?” Here’s a quick-and-dirty list that might help you: 1)The Head of TA The head of TA should typically oversee this. If you’re lucky enough to have a head of recruitment marketing… Read more »
10 Tips for Writing Effective Job Descriptions
A few tips from my 20+ years of writing job descriptions: Note: Check out our free Job Descriptions Guide — it tells you everything we know about JDs, job ads and the like! Put First Things First The most important rule of the first sentence of a job description (or anything you write) is to get… Read more »
