A job advertisement is still a very important tool for recruiting today. However, a lot has changed in the “online age” and the associated opportunities to find out about companies and offers.
For example, most applicants will visit the company website after reading the job advertisement and find out about the potential future employer in the relevant evaluation portals. Provided, of course, that the job advertisement has aroused the candidate’s interest in the first place. For the success of the candidate search, it is crucial that the company’s website contains an appealing and meaningful career page. If the company presents itself as an attractive employer here, this is an important first step in the development of an employer brand, the so-called “employer branding”. The potential applicant can be informed for the first time about the special advantages of the company as an employer by means of the job advertisement in connection with the website. Ideally, the applicant then begins to identify with the potential employer before the interview. Successful employer branding pays off. Anyone who wants to win over future specialists and managers as employees today uses the modern methods of marketing in the field of branding.
The placement of the ad
This raises the question of which media should be used to advertise the position. This depends mainly on two factors. What status is associated with this position and which target group should be addressed? If a position is advertised at the highest level, it can be useful to place an advertisement in a prominent position in one of the renowned daily newspapers. In this way, the company signals the value of the position and at the same time addresses an audience with a lot of professional and life experience. In the search for young experts, the Internet serves as an optimal placement exchange. Career pages offer the advantage that the company can present itself in a unique way in terms of employer branding. Through the use of links, this applies equally to external and internal pages. Accordingly, many media channels can be used at the same time. The ad itself is then less detailed because a lot of information is already anticipated in the general part of the respective company’s internal online platform.
Important information and design – Advertising
First of all, three essential pieces of information are at the center of the advertisement: Which company would like to fill a vacant position? How does this employer present itself and what position is it? Innovative employers work here with special eye-catchers. Whether graphics, logos or photos – here the design and the selection of the design first invites you to take a closer look at the advertisement. If the information about the company is pleasing and the position could be interesting for the applicant, curiosity is aroused. This is about advertising on one’s own behalf.
The job in detail
If this first step is successful, the reader deals with the concrete information on the areas of responsibility, the requirement profile, the working conditions and the remuneration. The more precisely the area of activity is described, the better the applicant can refer to it in his cover letter and prepare it for the interview. Activities should be prioritised where possible or should include an indication of the appropriate weighting.
The requirement profile specifies the applicant’s professional requirements and professional experience, which form the basis for carrying out the job. Furthermore, the profile contains valuable information on the respective interaction conditions. Are communication skills and a willingness to deal with conflict required as competences or rather diligence and perseverance? In order to address the optimal applicant, a lot of tact is required at this point. A specialist who has excellent expert knowledge, but does not like to work in a team, can turn out to be a particularly wrong choice in retrospect. It is therefore a good idea to seriously filter these competencies and not to formulate them as empty phrases. In addition, it should be clearly formulated whether this job requires increased travel and what language skills the applicant should have.
Working conditions and remuneration options in particular differ greatly from each other today. How can the job be designed? Is the company organized in a family-friendly way, can some of the work be done in the home office? Is the talent of the potential job holder individually promoted so that he can count on participation in regular further education and training for his personal and professional development? Are special material resources or bonus regulations already mentioned? There is a lot of leeway here and the company should verify exactly which offers it can use to address which type of applicant.
Contact
Of course, it should be clearly written how and in what form the applicant should submit his documents. As a rule, the documents are now sent as PDFs, but large companies often set up online portals in which the documents are stored in order to process them further from there. If it is desirable for the applicant to contact the HR managers in advance, a contact person with the appropriate contact details should be named.
Result
There are a few things to consider before a very good job ad can be placed. The more precise the preparatory work, the more successful the recruiting process can begin in the search for a suitable candidate.
How much energy do you put into your job advertisements? What do you think is important? We look forward to your comments!
Image source: Fotolia.com, Photographer: stockWERK
