Placing job adverts effectively is something of a science and it’s certainly a skill. It involves understanding your audience and knowing where it hangs out. Recruiters have to reach the right people, with the right information, at the right time, via the most relevant platform.And there are plenty of platforms to consider. From Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to more obscure channels like Whatsapp and Snapchat, the list of options for sourcing candidates from job ads is growing.
So, with all of these potential avenues for reaching candidates to pick from, where do you start? And how do you determine the best place to advertise job adverts?
Knowing your audience is the best place to start. By getting to know your target demographic you can quickly identify where they congregate, what magazines and newspapers they read, and what social channels they prefer to use.
Similarly, understanding the industry that you’re advertising for aids your ability to reach the best candidates with relevant information. This, alongside your audience research, will make your job ads far more effective as your efforts will be tailored towards your ideal candidate.
Another useful strategy to consider is your competitor's job adverts and where they were posted. This sort of market research could help you to identity avenues that you may not have considered before. It will also help in terms of discounting platforms that your competitors have not had success with.
Market research that shows, for example, that several ad agencies have found interns via Whatsapp, Snapchat, and Tinder could lead to a creative approach in placing your job ads.
Placing job adverts effectively doesn’t matter if the content isn’t excellent. The way that a job advert is written is the first step in screening candidates, so make it count.
A well written job ad can attract better candidates, whilst discouraging weaker ones. It can reduce applications that waste time, and it can increase the efficiency of your recruitment process. Plus, a good advert will reflect and promote the brand and reputation of the company that has the vacancy so it’s important to get it right.
If you research keywords effectively, things that candidates are likely to type into search engines when looking for a job, you can make it far easier for your advert to be found by relevant candidates.
This approach will likely involve some trial and error and a healthy amount of research. But it will lead to a more considered and internet friendly job advert.
In terms of understanding the best source for your job adverts, it’s important to collect and monitor data. Things like the amount of views the advert has, the level of interaction it received, and the volume of candidate applications that come from each source will make it easier to see what’s worked and what hasn’t.
A good ATS will make this job simpler. It will help you to analyse the data and understand the best places to promote job adverts on. Of course this will be contextualised by the industry and the target audience too, but data is the key to successfully placing job adverts and determining the most effective source of candidates for a given vacancy.
Recruiters have little control over the candidates who apply for a job vacancy, meaning that they will receive unsuitable CVs. So, effectively analysing data and writing excellent job ads will lead to a better return in terms of the quality of applicants, and save recruiters time and effort when it comes to screening those candidates too.
Placing job adverts in front of the right candidate is a big task, and it’s important to make sure that your efforts are well spent. Start by focussing on the places where your candidates hang out. Data is your best ally to identify where those are.