Languages
Pages
Legal
How to write powerful online job copy that attracts the best talent worldwide
Jeremy Pointer Global Business Development Director
About jobs.ac.uk Launched 15 years ago by University of Warwick
7,100 customers worldwide including 875+ universities
554,222 PhD qualified jobseekers
Jobseekers from 225 regions worldwide
10 times more effective than other recruitment
media combined for academic and research appointments
1,385,555 unique users per month (ABC audited)
Who are we?
UK 1,208,082
Australia 19,398
N.America /Caribbean
37,410
Europe 175,965
Africa 19,398
S.America
4,157
M.East 11,084
Asia 88,676
Unique users by location
We have a truly global audience
What is the biggest recruitment challenge for universities?
Source: jobs.ac.uk Recruiter Survey May 2013
Can online job copy help?
A well-constructed job ad acts like a funnel:
• Attracting a wide audience
• Promotes your brand and reputation
• Discourages weaker candidates (setting the standard)
• Reducing recruitment costs (direct and indirect)
• Increasing process efficiency
Relevant
Exciting
Different
Memorable
Concise
Clear
Informative
What makes an effective advert?
Who are you targeting?
Language | Expression | Motivation
What you say depends on who you’re talking to
So make sure your advert connects with your audience through:
The best place to start defining your audience!
Use it to determine
• 3 most important essential requirements
• 3 most important desirable requirements that might differentiate a candidate
Use the person specification
They need to be meaningful attributes that will differentiate and that you can measure
“excellent international
publication record”
“ international reputation in
his/her field”
“hold a PhD (or be near to completion), or the
equivalent in academic/professional
qualifications and experience”
“Health and Safety qualification
(such as NEBOSH)”
“PhD in Biology”
“articulate communicator”
Remember
Remember: Make it hard for jobseekers to say no!
A good advert will include:
• Descriptive job title
• Short ‘punchy’ introduction to your university
• The job role - the opportunity!
• The job requirements - profile of the ideal candidate
• Salary and benefits
• Clear, simple call to action
Advert checklist
A bad advert will include:
• Too much technical detail about the role
• Too much technical jargon
• Too many ‘unnecessary’ words
• Uninspiring descriptions of the role
• Too much emphasis on the job
• Not enough emphasis on the ideal candidate
Advert checklist
Descriptive job title
Concise job role
Job requirements
Short intro
Benefits
Call to action
Warwick Q-Step Manager
Assistant Phlebotomist
Adjuncts
Is the job title meaningful outside of your organisation?
Manager - Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies
Nurse
part-time faculty
3:00 avg. minutes per visit
7 avg. jobs viewed per visit
26 avg. time spent per advert (seconds)
4,000+ jobs advertised daily on jobs.ac.uk
Attention span is short on the web
Relevant
Exciting
Different
Memorable
Concise
Clear
Informative
What makes an effective advert?
Be clear, be concise
• Emphasise what is key
• De-emphasise what is secondary
• Eliminate what is unimportant!
• Avoid buzz words, acronyms or technical jargon
• Break text up and avoid words that add ‘padding’
• Use short paragraphs and bulleted lists for easy reading
• Sub headings to separate university introduction, job duties and candidate specifications etc
• Highlight important points in bold
• Don’t just copy and paste job descriptions!
• Never assume the jobseeker knows
Tips to make your job advert sharper!
But don’t be too concise!
Would this make you want to apply?
• job boards work on a keyword relevancy basis when matching job vacancies with jobseeker searches
• Gender discrimination
• Racial discrimination
• Age discrimination
• Disability discrimination
Be careful of superlatives that might be seen as discriminatory e.g.
• Early career
• Energetic
• Young team
• Must have 5 years experience
Be legally compliant
Relevant
Exciting
Different
Memorable
Concise
Clear
Informative
What makes an effective advert?
You need to stand out
• Emphasis your brand
• Reflect the personality and ethos
• What’s different from others?
• Why should jobseekers choose your University?
So what's your story?
Be bold
Be interactive
Be different
Be clever
Summary
Target your audience 1
Think about the structure 2
Clarify your message 3
Optimise with keywords 4
Think creatively! 5
Top Related