Businesses struggle to hire as vacancies rise dramatically
Now that legal lockdown restrictions have eased and summer is behind us, more and more businesses have slowly started to return to life and, as a result, job vacancies are rocketing.
Yet while companies are creating and advertising new jobs, they are struggling to fill them. Don’t believe us? Just ask the Institute for Employment Studies. The leading independent centre for research and evidence-based consultancy has released new data showing that while there are now over one million jobs available in the UK, conversely the availability of workers has hit a 24-year low despite the ending of the UK furlough scheme – which is believed to have supported around 11.5 million jobs since it was introduced in 2020 – on September 30, 2021, and with it a wave of redundancies.
All of which clearly demonstrates that traditional recruitment is not working. So how can your company convince prospective candidates that you are the right employer for them and that the job you offer is a good choice? Answer: Through your Job Ad.
If your organisation is in desperate need of talent to survive, we have some practical advice for creating catchy and attractive Job Ads.
1. Optimise your Job Ads
Recruitment has never been more competitive than now. If you want your Job Ad to appear and get increased visibility in search engine results – and let’s face it, in today’s internet-dependent world that’s all of us – it needs to be keyword rich. Be sure to integrate words or phrases commonly used by job seekers in your industry into the job title and description for best SEO practice. A Job Ad is 90 percent science, 10 percent human intervention.
2. State the salary
Employers often use adjectives like ‘competitive’ and phrases such as “depending on experience” instead of revealing the salary on offer in their Ad. Big mistake. Always advertise the compensation/benefits because the pay is a major factor in whether a candidate takes a job – or even applies in the first place. A Glassdoor study showed that salary (67 percent) is the top factor job seekers look for in Ads while a LinkedIn survey revealed that the overwhelming majority of respondents (61 percent) said compensation was the most important part of the Job Ad.
3. Length matters
The ideal optimised Job Ad shouldn’t exceed 2,000 characters and is supposed to give potential candidates a feel and flavour for the position – rather than being an exhaustive list. Alas, too many organisations to mention have failed to get the memo and opt to detail every single responsibility and requirement. No one wants to read a 15 page Job Ad full of impossible skill wishlists. Write a job ad worth reading.
4. Make the candidate want to be part of your company
Give them information about your company’s culture, values, Covid-19 safety protocols, and the initiatives and strategies you have taken to reduce unconscious bias – be it sex, race, disability, gender affirmation, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, religion, and belief, sexual orientation and age.
Be clear that your organisation is an inclusive and collaborative one through the language you use in your Job Ad (think gender-neutral terms and words that show you welcome applications from people with disabilities or impairments and are a flexible employer who is open to remote working, flexible hours, hybrid work, etc.)
By the end of your Ad, the applicant should already be excited at the prospect of working for you.
Give a clear call to action for how candidates apply
Ensure the application process is simple. If it seems overly complicated, applicants will be deterred from even applying. The message? Make it obvious how candidates should apply for the vacancy.
Proofread
Make sure you proofread – your Ad needs to be free from spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes – or ask an expert (us!) to do this. Never forget that a Job Ad is the first point of contact between your company and potential candidates. It’s the first impression and first impressions count.
Daunted by the prospect of writing the perfect Job Ad? We don’t blame you. It’s a crucial yet challenging task and the fact of the matter is that most businesses just don’t have the required internal capability and experience to write a fully optimised Job Ad to recruit the right candidates.
If you’re struggling to write an unbiased, optimised Job Ad that will encourage a diverse pool of highly qualified candidates to apply, get in touch with Get-Optimal today.
We’re recruitment content marketing specialists and we’re here to help! Working and collaborating with Get-Optimal is about taking control, not giving up control. Make the change, and make the change today.
As the late, great Steve Jobs famously said: “Hiring the best is your most important task.”
Daniel Fellows
CEO
Get-Optimal.com
Businesses struggle to hire as vacancies rise dramatically
Now that legal lockdown restrictions have eased and summer is behind us, more and more businesses have slowly started to return to life and, as a result, job vacancies are rocketing.
Yet while companies are creating and advertising new jobs, they are struggling to fill them. Don’t believe us? Just ask the Institute for Employment Studies. The leading independent centre for research and evidence-based consultancy has released new data showing that while there are now over one million jobs available in the UK, conversely the availability of workers has hit a 24-year low despite the ending of the UK furlough scheme – which is believed to have supported around 11.5 million jobs since it was introduced in 2020 – on September 30, 2021, and with it a wave of redundancies.
All of which clearly demonstrates that traditional recruitment is not working. So how can your company convince prospective candidates that you are the right employer for them and that the job you offer is a good choice? Answer: Through your Job Ad.
If your organisation is in desperate need of talent to survive, we have some practical advice for creating catchy and attractive Job Ads.
1. Optimise your Job Ads
Recruitment has never been more competitive than now. If you want your Job Ad to appear and get increased visibility in search engine results – and let’s face it, in today’s internet-dependent world that’s all of us – it needs to be keyword rich. Be sure to integrate words or phrases commonly used by job seekers in your industry into the job title and description for best SEO practice. A Job Ad is 90 percent science, 10 percent human intervention.
2. State the salary
Employers often use adjectives like ‘competitive’ and phrases such as “depending on experience” instead of revealing the salary on offer in their Ad. Big mistake. Always advertise the compensation/benefits because the pay is a major factor in whether a candidate takes a job – or even applies in the first place. A Glassdoor study showed that salary (67 percent) is the top factor job seekers look for in Ads while a LinkedIn survey revealed that the overwhelming majority of respondents (61 percent) said compensation was the most important part of the Job Ad.
3. Length matters
The ideal optimised Job Ad shouldn’t exceed 2,000 characters and is supposed to give potential candidates a feel and flavour for the position – rather than being an exhaustive list. Alas, too many organisations to mention have failed to get the memo and opt to detail every single responsibility and requirement. No one wants to read a 15 page Job Ad full of impossible skill wishlists. Write a job ad worth reading.
4. Make the candidate want to be part of your company
Give them information about your company’s culture, values, Covid-19 safety protocols, and the initiatives and strategies you have taken to reduce unconscious bias – be it sex, race, disability, gender affirmation, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, religion, and belief, sexual orientation and age.
Be clear that your organisation is an inclusive and collaborative one through the language you use in your Job Ad (think gender-neutral terms and words that show you welcome applications from people with disabilities or impairments and are a flexible employer who is open to remote working, flexible hours, hybrid work, etc.)
By the end of your Ad, the applicant should already be excited at the prospect of working for you.
Give a clear call to action for how candidates apply
Ensure the application process is simple. If it seems overly complicated, applicants will be deterred from even applying. The message? Make it obvious how candidates should apply for the vacancy.
Proofread
Make sure you proofread – your Ad needs to be free from spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes – or ask an expert (us!) to do this. Never forget that a Job Ad is the first point of contact between your company and potential candidates. It’s the first impression and first impressions count.
Daunted by the prospect of writing the perfect Job Ad? We don’t blame you. It’s a crucial yet challenging task and the fact of the matter is that most businesses just don’t have the required internal capability and experience to write a fully optimised Job Ad to recruit the right candidates.
If you’re struggling to write an unbiased, optimised Job Ad that will encourage a diverse pool of highly qualified candidates to apply, get in touch with Get-Optimal today.
We’re recruitment content marketing specialists and we’re here to help! Working and collaborating with Get-Optimal is about taking control, not giving up control. Make the change, and make the change today.
As the late, great Steve Jobs famously said: “Hiring the best is your most important task.”
Daniel Fellows
CEO
Get-Optimal.com
