Job Adverts have long been the number 1 recruitment marketing strategy used to attract candidates to jobs.

However, it is no secret that the demand for people and the quantity of job adverts has increased, whilst applications per job ad have decreased post pandemic, forcing employers and recruiters to get creative with their recruitment tactics.

Despite there being a slight increase in candidate applications and decrease in job vacancies over the last few months, job vacancies are 107.4% higher than they were in February 2020, prior to the start of the pandemic (Australian Bureau of Statistics), reflecting the high level of vacancies and labour shortages across the economy.

What this means is you need to make sure that your job ads aren’t getting lost in the sea of others and they stand out with the right content.

How Candidate Behaviour has changed what you need from your job adverts

In order to understand how to use job adverts to your advantage with the shift in candidate behaviour, we first need to understand how candidate behaviour has actually changed.

Job-seekers have become a lot more savvy & selective in terms of their research about the roles and companies they are thinking about applying for as well as wanting to know more information.

This means that there are not as many ‘active’ candidates (candidates who are actively applying for new jobs) applying for roles, however, there has been a dramatic increase in ‘passive’ candidates (candidates not applying, but open to opportunities), who are scrolling through job boards and seeing if anything stands out to them. This means that your advert has to shine and involve a little more effort & creativity.

What Candidates Are Now Looking For In Your Job Adverts

What is in it for the them?

People are not interested anymore in job adverts that just have a list of responsibilities and must-have experience as this is solely for the employer’s benefit, not the candidate’s. People want to know how they are benefiting in their role and how this compares to other jobs.

This can include taking into consideration things like:

• Salary package e.g salary packaging or bonus structures
• Flexible working
• Career growth
• Training & support / mentorship

Remember, this is your chance at advertising your employer value proposition to put you ahead in the competition for talent, so make sure you take this opportunity to include what the candidate can expect in terms of what is in it for them.

Paint a Picture

Think about your job advert as a window to your company and the role at hand.

This is the chance to paint a picture of what it is like in the role, team and company so that the reader can get an understanding of their potential day to day and can imagine themselves in the role and organisation.

Will this person work in a close-knit team of 4? Write it in the advert! Is their Manager an accomplished individual who has worked their way up in the company? Let it be known!

Getting these small details down will be the deciding factor between your ideal candidate applying or not applying for the role.

Understand the Candidate Persona

We discussed earlier the increase in passive candidates and how your job advert needs to stand out to them.

This means that job adverts must be written using your ideal and passive candidate persona.

First of all, let’s understand what a persona is:

‘Personas are fictional, generalized characters that encompass the various needs, goals, and observed behaviour patterns among your customers.’ Hubspot 2021

In Recruitment terms, this means that before you even write the advert, you have to understand:

1. Who your ideal candidate is

2. How this job will make the passive candidate’s life better

Once you have understood these two factors, it is then vital to embed them in the job advert.

Is your ideal candidate someone who would be able to step up from a junior role and have access to world class training and mentorship to grow their career and skills? Make sure this is clear!

Use Multi-Media

The use of multi-media will put you ahead of the game in your adverts.

Online videos make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017 (Cisco).

If you are able to include a video in your job advert, then it is an amazing recruitment marketing tool to allow your potential candidate to get to know their future team better! People feel more connected & engaged when they can see and hear someone describing the culture to them rather than reading it.

A Clear Advert Structure

Last but not least, a simple, but effective guideline for your recruiting marketing when writing job adverts is to make sure the structure is clear and is easy to understand so that you are making sure your great content is actually seen!

This involves headings and generally should include:

• Job Title
• Salary range or amount
• Location
• About the Company
• About the Role
• Culture/Team
• Responsibilities
• Skills & Experience
• Benefits

As you can see, there are some key factors that can elevate your job advert from getting lost in the crowd, to standing out to engage and attract your ideal candidate.