Hiring is a complex process, but optimizing it is surprisingly simple. Before posting your job listings online, consider asking yourself “Is this job ad grabbing the attention of applicants?” as well as “Is this job ad gaining the right exposure online?”
Placement is crucial to finding the right candidates, and using the right actions words will drive response. Ad development requires diligent keyword research and an understanding of your competition.
Here are some things you need to know about hiring optimization for job boards.
Understanding Your Competition
Take the time to research your competition. Find out what they are doing to generate attention with their job listings. Read over their job listings to identify the terms they are using — including the job titles. Compelling information for a job listing is found within the first sentence or two. Target those keywords and start naturally integrating them into your job listings to see an improvement in the visibility of your ads.
To create an ad that clearly targets the right market, you need to know the research keywords associated with your target pool. Active job seekers will use search engines to find jobs. Search engines work primarily through keywords. To have effective advertising you need to first have effective keywords. Choose keywords related to the job description and title, as well as the city and state in which the company is located. Including location is particularly important because it allows individuals searching locally to be funneled to your ad, as well as people from out of state hoping to find employment in your specific area.
Understanding and incorporating industry slang in your job ads will help you target the right audience. Industry terms are designed to target people with an experienced skill set. For example, using “journeyman” is a broad term, narrowing it down to Journeyman Lineman or Journeyman Pipe Layer will allow you to target the people that are qualified for the job.
Writing With Action Words
To ensure an effective job description, remove the “boring words.” A job description filled with text about “qualified applicants must demonstrate the following …” will not excite an applicant as much as, for example, “we want individuals with the ability to think outside the box and ready to take risks.” Using action words make it more likely for a reader to become eager about your job opportunity. Having an engaging description brings together a larger pool of applicants.
Take a look at this job opportunity that received over despite possessing a title reading “The Toughest Job In The World.” The job description featured no pay and 135 hours of unlimited work each week:
Director of Operations
- Standing up almost all the time
- Constantly exerting yourself
- Working from 135 to unlimited hours per week
- Degrees in medicine, finance and culinary arts necessary
- No vacations
- The work load goes up on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and other holidays
- No time to sleep
- Salary = $0
After reading the job listing, it might sound surprising that anyone applied at all. Yet, this job listing received over 2.7 million impressions and 24 people actually applied. The interviews were conducted via webcam, and the individuals were surprised to learn the job was the role of a mother. So what did the company do right as they listed this job opportunity? For one, it used the primary keyword “Director of Operations” in the title to target a specific group of people. Then the job description was clearly defined as to what requirements the applicants must meet. Lastly it was able to get so many hits, through correct placement on job boards and through paid search, that chances of application increased drastically.
Focusing on Optimization
A critical role in the amount of exposure an ad will receive comes through its positioning on job boards. Use a primary keyword in the job title. Always. Also include a unique variation to your title to catch the attention of your target audience. For example, if you want to hire someone to be a delivery driver, you need to add a larger description to the keyword. Instead of posting an ad with the title “Need Delivery Drivers” consider something more creative such as, “Speedy Delivery Drivers Needed for Pizza Store” or “Safe Delivery Drivers Needed to Transport Pizzas.”
Differentiate your company by embedding images in the job listing. Each image needs to have a title tag, alt tag, and a description with relevant keywords and information. This will boost the visibility of the ad, and will increase rankings with the search engines. Secondary keywords can be used to further drive traffic to your ad. Keywords in header tags help with organic search results; thus, having more keywords to feature increases traffic (leading to views, leading to responses). Secondary keywords should be placed in the first paragraph, preferably in the first sentence.
Create job listings that include specific keywords targeted to your audience. To find these keywords, you should research job boards to tune into the perspective of your target audience, finding the words they’re searching for. If you want to find the best people to build your company, then starting implementing these tips today.