Although, the Internet has made recruiting a bit easier. It has also resulted in sloppier advertising. The number of job advertisements I read with incompatible requirements and terrible wording is quite amazing! Maybe, at the time when the human resources manager had to give the text to a magazine or newspaper editor for inclusion as an advert, more care had to be taken to write texts which actually made sense!
Yet, on the Internet, more than anywhere else, your advertisement will be "buried" amongst thousands of other, similar, job offers. Therefore, it has to stand out for candidates to say "that is the job for me"! It has to do that without exaggerations and without creating unrealistic expectations in the potential candidates!
Here are a few points that might guide you to write an appropriate jobs advertisement on the Internet.
1. Select the appropriate site to place your advertisement.
Posting one, or several jobs, on a site has to be done with some strategy. You cannot just post on any site. Recruiters and Professionals will look at sites related to their profession or their skill level. There are some sites that give an overview of professional sites, though we found most of them not very informative. The person posting has to have a real understanding about where in the commercial-industrial hierarchy the offered job is located and then select the appropriate site. Over time, a human resource manager should be able to build up a list of appropriate sites for his job vacancies.
2. The Job and Company Description
The job description is not only about the job, but should also include some information about the type of organization a candidate is joining. The title of the job should be attractive to the potential candidate, but also descriptive so that the applicant immediately knows what the employer is looking for. That way the applicant knows, whether he/she can fill the offered position. If you are looking for an administrative assistant, you might phrase that as "Require a dynamic talented Administrative Assistant with initiative". Provide specific details of such as the skills requirement, the job location and for lower level jobs, the working hours. If you offer "flexitime" state that clearly, because for many employees it is an attractive feature.
For some applicants it is important whether they work in a "well established family owned business", a "large international corporation". or "a young and fast growing company".
3. Political Correctness
In the U.S.A., and to a lesser extent in the UK, Canada and Australia, "Political Correctness" is paramount. Be careful about the wording of your text to avoid any unintentional racist remarks or denigration of a specific social group. When you hire internationally, make sure that your text reflects the country or geographic area where you intent to hire. The rules there might be different from your home country. In many places you can specify without any problem "Looking for young dynamic, well educated Engineer between the ages of 30 and 45". You will not be able to write that in the USA because it would be seen as age discrimination.
4. Key Words
Because people will search for advertisements on the Internet with a search engine, selecting key words that give a short description of what you are looking for are essential, if you want your job vacancy to be found. The key words have to be correctly placed and must have a certain density to be recognised and found by the search engines.
5. Compensation and Fringe Benefits
Financial remuneration is an important aspect of the job search and the hiring process. Only in a few countries are actual amount shown in adverts. Sometimes a range is provided. Spelling out what else comes with the basic salary, the fringe benefits, paid vacation, children's school fees, paid further education and similar non salary items are usually important elements of the overall compensation. Similarly,the future development of the overall compensation package can be alluded to.
The final piece of advice is to structure your Internet advertising campaign for one of several jobs carefully, so that your search will be successful.
