Selling to jobseekers, or talking to yourself?

We see it all the time - companies get too caught up in their own corporate rhetoric and navel gazing, and they forget the purpose of the advertising effort - to attract candidates! To SELL them on why they should apply.

Look at job postings on any job board. Look in the careers section of the Globe & Mail, NY Times, Washington Post or any other solid newspaper with a career-minded readership. What do you see? Long copy about some company going on and on about how great they are, how they've grown so fast, how they're leaders in this, that and the other thing.... Not to sound cynical or jaded, but WHO CARES?

This is not to say that the ad or posting should be devoid of brand messages -an employer brand is essential. But it must be real and relevant.

Even worse are the companies that post full-blown job descriptions with a bunch of internal-speak, that causes a candidate to gloss over and move on. How many times have we seen job postings with one of the qualifications that require the candidate to "...be familiar with the policies and procedures of XYZ...?" How could they be familiar with policies of a company in which they've never worked?

Good candidates connect with the job, the opportunity, the chance to be stimulated, the work, the environment. A solid job posting or recruitment ad puts the candidate at the forefront and does a little - no, A LOT - of selling. What does the job entail? How will your efforts make a difference to the company, its customers, other employees? What are the 3 or 4 top qualities required to be successful in this role?

Recruiters, take the time to think about WHO you're trying to target and stop worrying about snappy slogans or catchphrases. Tell a good story about the job, think about the ideal match and lay out the reasons why your ideal candidate should consider the opportunity.

Then sit back and wait for your Inbox to fill up.

Why should they be thinking about working for you?

I spent almost 20 years helping companies advertise their jobs, communicate their work culture, and develop new and better ways to attract interest from people so that they apply, and eventually come work for these organizations. My expertise was also sought out by my clients to help them keep their people once they made the hiring decision, and once the employees decided to accept their offers of a job.

The nature of the business was HR Communications, also known as Recruitment Advertising. A natural extension of this was Retention Communications, as well as a host of other titles, terms and areas of services. Essentially, I was in the business of advertising companies to people - in newspapers and journals, on the web, on the radio, outdoor advertising, brochures and other collateral materials, trinkets and trash, events, on movie screens, in public washrooms - anyplace people were able to see the employment message!

I worked with my clients to develop the message, identify their audience, and then choosing the most targeted media to deliver the message to this audience.

And now, having departed the HR Communications/Recruitment Advertising company I founded and built, I am gaining a completely different perspective as a job seeker.

So with this unique perspective, I'd like to return to the original question - Why should they be thinking about working for you? (And in case you're not sure, They are the candidates; You is your company)

Employers often lack the perspective to effectively engage candidates - to get people excited about the prospect of coming to work for them. While very important, its not only about creating a slick ad or job posting with a catchy headline and snappy body copy. Nor is it enough to have a cool careers website, or job fair booth, or employment brochures.

It's about all of these, but there's more - it's holistic in nature - it's about the entire candidate experience.

Its about getting people to stop, look, listen ... and to continue listening. Its about laying the groundwork for a dialogue; a 2-way relationship where the employer has something to sell to the candidate, and to create an environment where the best candidates are interested in buying.

So now that I've laid the groundwork in my inaugural blog post - I'm going to throw in a To Be Continued.

In future posts, I will share my thoughts and observations on the good, the bad and the ugly of employment communications. I'll do this from an industry veteran's perspective, as well as through the lens of a jobseeker.

Hopefully I can stir up some dialogue; maybe I'll even be able to generate some interest from recruiters or employers and provide a useful tip, or cause them to do something a bit differently, resulting in them achieving greater success in their recruiting efforts.

Stay tuned, please come back, and tell your friends!

HJW