Any job posting can (and will) attract active job seekers, but only a very special listing will engage and sell the passive “A” level performers we all want to recruit. Why is that so? Because top talent is unlike any other talent. The best and brightest:
What follows are some tips to help ensure that your online recruitment advertising works with the top talent that isn’t looking for a job.
To get them to change devils
Effective job postings are not classified ads. They cannot be constructed as simple employment notices. If you want your posting to influence passive prospects, it must function as an electronic sales brochure-a listing that has enough selling power to convince people to do the one thing they most hate to do: change. That selling power comes from knowing what matters most to your prospective customers. What factors will overcome their natural lethargy and their fear of the unfamiliar (or barely familiar)? Recruiters cannot intuitively determine those factors, and hiring managers, despite what they might think, are almost always clueless. The only people who can tell you what matters most to an “A” level performer is another “A” level performer in the career field for which you are recruiting. That doesn’t mean you have to go out and canvass the workforce, but it does mean that you must do some research internally. The next time a hiring manager or employer client asks you to write a posting for a new opening, tell them that you’d like to speak with the top performers who are working in the same or a similar position right now. Then, ask those individuals what convinced them to say “Yes” to the organization’s offer and emphasize those points both in the title and throughout the body of your job posting.
To sell them hard and fast
The best talent is impatient and not easily impressed. They are contacted by recruiters all of the time; offers come to them, so going to a job board or an employer’s site to read a recruitment ad often makes them feel slightly out of place and even uncomfortable. To overcome that unease, a job posting must pack a lot of power into its first five lines. That’s all the space and time it has to connect with and capture the attention of the passive “A” level performer. If the first five lines can’t do that, it’s unlikely that prospects will read any further. What must the first five lines include? Four factors:
To present a career advancement opportunity
The best talent is just as concerned as the employer about an opening’s requirements and responsibilities. However, they see these factors from their unique perspective. To them, the issue isn’t what they would be responsible for, but rather:
Similarly, they don’t see the issue as what requirements they must fulfill, but rather:
An effective job posting, therefore, takes the same information that employers typically provide in their classified ads and expresses it in a way that connects it to the reader’s career concerns and aspirations. It changes the focus of the content from what the employer wants to what the job seeker (and “A’ level performer) wants to know.
To overcome their Boolean illiteracy
Most passive “A” level performers are inexperienced job seekers. They don’t spend much time searching through job databases. The risk is high, therefore, that they will quickly grow frustrated and miss many appropriate opportunities. To make sure they see your job posting, therefore, it’s important that you give each group of prospects specific directions to the appropriate ad’s location in a job database. How can you do that? Ironically, for passive job seekers, the most effective method is a print classified ad. This ad should have several parts:
Using a unique alphanumeric for each opening has two advantages: First, it eliminates all of the “A” level performer’s angst about searching a job database. They no longer have to think up keywords to find a position that’s of interest to them. Second, it eliminates all of the employer’s or recruiter’s competition in the database. When the job seeker enters the alphanumeric, only a single ad comes back … theirs.
There are no silver bullets when it comes to sourcing passive “A” level performers online, but the tips above will definitely make sure that they notice your opportunities.
Thanks for reading,
Peter
P.S. WEDDLE’s Newsletter grows only by word-of-mouth. So, please … tell a friend or colleague (or two) about the newsletter. We’d be very grateful, and they will be too.
This Issue’s Sponsor: Yahoo! HotJobs
This issue of WEDDLE’s newsletter is brought to you through the generous support of Yahoo! HotJobs.
Get the resource that helps you recruit smarter – the Guidebook to Online Recruiting. It’s yours FREE, courtesy of Yahoo! HotJobs.
The Guidebook to Online Recruiting can help you:
This comprehensive resource provides information a business needs to make recruiting more cost effective, targeted and efficient.
Click here to get your free Guidebook.
Section Two: Site News You Can Use
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina reported that medical and drug costs (and, by extension, the cost of a company’s healthcare insurance) are markedly higher for overweight and obese plan members. On average, normal weight individuals generate $130 in drug and medical costs per year, while overweight employees generate $149 and obese employees generate $168 per year. How can you help your employees and your company control such costs? Use the company’s intranet or internal corporate Web-site as a guilt-free resource center for awareness building and information on healthy diets, exercise and wellness programs, and lifestyle changes that will help employees help themselves. Then, promote the resource center to both employees and their family members in corporate communications, pay envelopes, and other media. Also, enlist the active support of corporate leaders so that they make it a part of your corporate culture by underscoring the message in the communications and modeling the behaviors of healthy living.
CareerJournal.com partnered with Eliyon Technologies to launch Executive Locator, a tool for locating potential contacts online. Recruiters can search for candidates by company name, location and a range of criteria. The fee for the service is $1 per contact with a minimum purchase of 30 contacts. Each individual’s profile includes their phone number, e-mail address, job title and company address. The database contains the profiles of businesspeople at 1.5 million companies.
Corzen announced that revenue growth at CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com and Yahoo! HotJobs outstripped newspaper classifieds by 3-to-1 in the third quarter of 2004. Does that mean you should abandon newspaper recruitment advertising? Absolutely not. First, recognize that the Law of Big Numbers is at work here. Despite its impressive growth, the recruitment advertising revenue generated by job boards is still barely one-fifth of that generated by newspapers. A 15.9% gain on $4+ billion of revenue (total newspaper classified advertising in 2004) is actually greater than the 47.4% growth in $1+ billion of revenue (total job board advertising in 2004). Second, and more importantly, both media have their advantages. As I explain in the Feature column above, the key to effective online recruitment advertising is to use both media in an integrated and mutually supportive way.
HEALTHeCAREERS introduced two new members of its network of healthcare sites: the American Academy of Dermatology and the College of American Pathologists. The Academy has a worldwide membership of 14,000 dermatologists, while the College has 16,000 physician members.
WEDDLE’s announced the release of its 2005 print catalog. If you’d like to receive a free copy, please e-mail your name, company name, title and postal mailing address to us at [email protected]. The catalog will probably ship in mid January and list all of our publications for the new year. These books will not appear in book stores until March or April, but you’ll be able to order them right away with the catalog. You’ll have special, advanced access to our 2005 Guide to Employment Web Sites, our 2005 Directory of Employment-Related Internet Sites, and our completely updated Guide to Association Web Sites, as well as to several exciting, new titles. If you want to get ahead of the pack, sign up for WEDDLE’s 2005 Catalog today! Sorry-the catalog can be mailed to U.S. addresses only.
Section Three: Site Profiles
Site Insite … how well do you know the Web’s 40,000+ job boards?
1. If your town needs to hire additional policemen and women, which of the following sites would handcuff your search?
2. If you’re searching for a new manager for your golf resort, which of the following sites would keep you on (and in) the green?
3. If you need volunteers to work in your nonprofit, social service organization, which of the following sites would provide a helping hand?
(answers below)
Site Spotlite … from the pages of WEDDLE’s 2005 Guides and Directories
ccJobsOnline.com
A WEDDLE’s 2005 User’s Choice Award Winner
Post full time jobs: Yes
Post part time, contract or consulting jobs: Yes – All
Distribution of jobs: National – USA
Fee to post a job: Les than $150/posting
Posting period: 120 days
Can posting be linked to your site: Yes
Resume database: Yes
Number of resumes: 500
Source of resumes: Direct from candidates
Top occupations among resumes: Community, Technical and Junior College Staff and Faculty
Other services for employers: Auto resume agent, Banner ads, Status reports on postings and banners
Answers to Site Insite
1. BestBadge.com, the site of a company that makes badges and other recognition products.
2. All but TigerJobs.com, the site of a job board serving the sales profession.
3. All of them.
This Issue’s Sponsor: Yahoo! HotJobs
This issue of WEDDLE’s newsletter is brought to you through the generous support of Yahoo! HotJobs.
Get the resource that helps you recruit smarter – the Guidebook to Online Recruiting. It’s yours FREE, courtesy of Yahoo! HotJobs.
The Guidebook to Online Recruiting can help you:
This comprehensive resource provides information a business needs to make recruiting more cost effective, targeted and efficient.
Click here to get your free Guidebook.