Keys to job board success

Many employers are still failing to use job boards effectively, so why are Hays proving so successful in their online recruitment advertising? Hays’ success rate of their online recruitment advertising is over 90%, which, lets be fair, is worth advertising! So why are Hays so successful?

A survey done shows some important aspects of online recruitment advertising.

Clear Job Title
This was the one thing that all job boards thought was very important for employers to get right. A clear job title allows candidates to find your job. Candidates look for job by using popular job titles.

Good Copy
Again, most job boards considered writing good job advertising to be very important and it's where we got the most feedback from them. The most common complaint from job boards was that too many employers think of job posting as simply a matter of cutting and pasting a job description onto a job board. It's not. It's job advertising, not job descriptioning. You are selling something. So don't describe it - sell it!

Specific Job Location
Location is another element of a job ad that job boarder consider very important. If someone lives in Birmingham, they will search for "jobs in Birmingham." Unfortunately, candidates don't search for "nationwide jobs".

Apply Online Option
There are few things more frustrating for job boards than poor application processes by employers. Too many employers ask candidates to apply on their website but then don't direct candidates to the correct place or job on their own website. Candidates will simply not go searching for your job — especially since they have found it already. The web is all about making things easier.

Specific Salary
Nine times out of ten, when a job ad is failing on a job board it's because there is no salary on it. There may be many reasons for not including a salary on a job ad (negotiation positioning or internal politics) but whatever the reason it's a bad idea. Candidates nearly always search by salary. Candidates don't ever search for "competitive salary." Having a salary allows candidates to find the job and at the same time determine the level of the job and screen themselves in or out of the application. You will also get more relevant candidates applying for your job.

Include a Logo
This is such an important aspect of a job ad that is too often overlooked by employers. Many of the jobs on job boards are recruitment agency 'jobs' and when candidates apply for these 'jobs' they discover that the 'job' has 'just this moment been filled.' In reality, of course, there was probably no job at all and a recruitment consultant was simply trying to pull in CVs. It's a sad and unfortunate practice. Candidates like logos, therefore, because logos let them know quickly that the job is from a 'real' company (i.e. not a recruitment agency). A real job from a real employer is very attractive to candidates.

Career Opportunities
Job boards say that it is important to outline the career opportunities of the job. Candidates like to know where the job is going. If you are looking for someone to grow and develop with your company, let them know. If you are planning the development of your team, let them know. It is interesting to note that Hays carry out a number of surveys of candidates who have applied for a roles, and in almost every instance that I can remember candidates list “Career Progression” as the most important factor in their job search.

What other factors do you think are as important in our online advertising? Do you particularly agree with any of these factors? Any particular successes you have found from these?

It is interesting that at Hays Digital & Creative have been promoting so many of these important factors for a long time! Key things such as good key words for searches, specific details, job title, a client-branded logo, location and of course advertising online! It seems that these are some of the reasons for Hays Digital & Creative’s extremely high success rates!