3 Reasons Your Job Postings Don’t Work
Now, hear me out – there could be way more than 3 reasons why your postings are not working (spelling errors much?), but these are all too often overlooked and very easily fixed.
- It’s not targeted, and quite frankly it’s boring.
This sounds harsh, but job postings need to be able to sell to your ideal candidate. This is your opportunity to grab their attention and then sell why your organization and this role is the one they should apply for. Right now, good candidates have a lot of choices so the first step is to get them to notice you. Best way to do that?
#1 – Know who you are targeting! Do some research and figure out who that is and what is important to them.
#2 – Use your research. Is your targeted candidate someone who values growth? Highlight that in a real way in your posting (X company has grown by X amount in the last 2 years and we are projected to continue…)
#3 – Highlight your company culture – and no I do not mean stating that you have cold brew on tap.
- You have too many ‘qualifications’.
I get it. You’ve got client meetings and emails to respond to, the absolute last thing that you have time for is digging through unqualified resumes – but here is the thing: no matter how many qualifications you put, you are always going to have folks that apply that are in no way qualified for the role that you are hiring for. So why bother trying to screen them out? Instead, use this as an opportunity to continue to sell your organization and your culture.
Now, I am not advocating for erasing requirements from your job posting. If you are looking for someone that needs to have knowledge of InDesign, then that needs to be there – it’s the bullet points that are completely dedicated to seeking someone who is “detail oriented” I’m saying to toss. Everyone believes themselves to be detail oriented, but having in-depth knowledge of InDesign is something a candidate can either say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to.
Keep it to 3-5 key items max.
- You’re using Gender Coded language.
Folks, we talked about this. I won’t go into extreme detail here (if you’re interested you can head here to learn a bit more), but here is what you need to remember:
GENDER NEUTRAL LANGUAGE = MORE APPLICANTS