By Mel Kleiman, President, Humetrics
Back in the day, print media recruitment advertising was a pretty-pricey proposition. You paid by the word, you paid extra for color, you paid for position. No wonder most ads were short and to the point.
If you’re writing that same kind of ad for today’s Internet recruiting (via your website, job boards, social media), it’s highly unlikely the people you most want to attract will respond.
Today, there is no limiting word count and the ads that get the best responses:
- Sell them on the sizzle (spell out all the great reasons why the reader would love to have the job).
- Include a detailed job description, not of what your basic needs are (types 40 wpm, 2 yrs. experience), but one that spells out what the ideal candidate is like (loves to learn new things, unfailingly reliable, loves a challenge).
The more specific you can be, the more likely it is you’ll get what you want rather than settling for what you need.