There are only two areas of recruitment that really matter
They're the two areas where most (if not all) of the hard work is done. Candidate Attraction and Candidate Assessment.
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Insights, tips, and updates from Mitch
Is your job post all about you and what you want?
Are you repeatedly reminding the reader that they're looking at a job posting by using phrases like "...in this role.."?
There are only two types of advert.
In general, they are either one of these; 1. Creative ads 2. Direct-Response ads A creative ad uses things like metaphors, humour or sensationalism to get…
Are you just adding sprinkles to your job descriptions?
Some of you may have seen me disdainfully describe many job postings as little more than "a copy and paste of the job description sprinkled with…
"Before you were a recruiter, you were a human being"
This is a phrase we used often on our live onsite training courses. And we’d continue with; "And you need to write in a way that appeals to other human…
"Job ads don't work."
I hear this a lot from recruiters. Yet it doesn’t seem to stop most of them posting lots of job ads.
A job ad is more than a job on your careers page.
For a few years now I've been trying to encourage recruiters to redefine how they see job adverts and job descriptions.
Are you downplaying the features in your job ads?
One of the things I’ve learnt from doing over 350 coaching sessions with recruiters is they don’t do enough with their job features.
Do your recruitment adverts stand out or blend in?
Here are some of the common descriptions used in 614,670 jobs advertised on Indeed. Team player, team-player or teamplayer 148,580 (over 24% of all ads)…
The simplest way to open a job ad
If you’re really stuck, then just go basic and make the opening line something like: “Here’s why I think you might love this job”.
How language influences results in recruitment and job advertising
How language influences results in recruitment and job advertising Here are two ads for a Production Manager.
How long should a job advert be?
I often get asked how long a job ad should be and there is no easy answer to this a lot of it will depend on the type of candidate audience you’re writing…
Fewer unsuitable applications start with your first 150 words
If you’re like most hiring managers, you dread those times when your department throws-up a job vacancy that needs to be filled.
Why a job ad shouldn’t open with the company
I’ve just been reading an article that explains how to write the “perfect recruitment ad”. Gotta love that “perfect” thing, eh?
Klee Shays
Around 75% of all job postings describe the job as “fantastic” or an “exciting opportunity”. Curiously, only about 10% of all job postings tell the reader…
Recruiters – are you Towards or Away?
Recruiters (like everyone else) tend to write to match their own psychological preference. But people are different. It’s part of the joy of being human.
Recruitment ads and the Dunning-Kruger effect
In 1999, researchers David Dunning and Justin Kruger found that people with limited competence overestimate their abilities at a particular task or in a…
Don't bury the lede.
Q. What’s a lede? A. The lede is the introductory section in journalism. It’s intended to entice the reader to read the full story.
Recruitment copywriters, write like a human.
Have you ever used any of these words in a job ad? Incumbent Applicant Candidate Role Position Opportunity Vacancy If so, please stop.
Recruitment copywriting - does tone of voice matter?
When talking about tone of voice, Innocent Drinks is often held up as a paragon of virtue. That is until it comes to their recruitment copywriting and job…
When you say “job description” do you really mean “job advert”?
Many people who work in HR and Recruitment seem to think a job advert and a job description are somehow interchangeable.
The one question to answer before you write a job ad
This video is a snippet of a webinar where I answer questions about recruitment copywriting. Here’s what I said: Make it about the candidate.
Too many applications? Your job post isn't helping.
Are you getting hundreds of applications to your job posts? Sometimes thousands? The biggest reason is probably the market.
What does a Purple Squirrel really look like?
In case you don’t know, here’s a definition of the term “Purple Squirrel”, according to urbandictionary.com: “For all practical purposes, there is no such…
Not all jobs sell themselves.
Here’s an informal (and I should add, convivial) conversation I once had in a pub with the owner of a recruitment agency; Me: “What are you in the…
The “Nice to Haves”.
On many job postings, straight after an often impossibly long ‘Required Experience’ list, you’ll often see another list of ‘Nice to Haves’.
I’ve got your job post SEO right here.
This is a job post. More specifically, it’s a job post for a Business Development Manager written to be as SEO friendly as possible…
How talent might be reading your job ads, emails and LinkedIn messages.
Ask any agency recruiter and they’ll probably tell you that they believe they’re better at finding the best candidates than most hiring companies –…
How do I get someone to read my job ads?
I sometimes see job ads where the recruiter is at least trying to sell the job. But sometimes it just looks plain ugly. More on this at the end.
Do passive candidates read job adverts?
Before writing this, I crowdsourced the opinions of anyone who cared to express one. I was surprised by the results.
Are we buying or selling?
I saw a job posting today for a Full Stack Developer. Those kinds of jobs aren’t easy to fill, are they? Anyway…
The anatomy of a typical job ad
Judging by all the job ads and status updates we see, it would be easy to assume that recruiters, HR and hiring managers have no basic understanding of…
The best job description is the one that gets read
There are two types of “best job description”. One type of “best job description” is a piece of content that clearly and unambiguously lays out all of the…
Job description vs job advert: the same job written both ways
One of the things that frustrates me about my industry is its proclivity to conflate these two pieces of content.
"Competitive Salary" and other ways to tell people they don't matter.
No business sector treats its target customers with as much public disrespect as the recruitment sector. Not the private behaviour - the public marketing.
A placement is an O-ring job.
An O-ring is a small rubber seal that sits between two parts and is compressed to stop anything leaking through the join. Bear with me.
They worked it out 2,400 years ago.
In 350 BC, a Greek philosopher wrote what is still, arguably, the most complete guide to persuasion ever produced.
What’s one outreach message really worth? It's more than you think.
Here I try to explain creativity in recruitment advertising using cold hard cash.