You’ve placed your advert for the vacancy you are recruiting for, the applications are flooding in and as you mull over resume after resume you are left feeling despondent. There’s no super stars jumping out at you, the calibre of talent is well below what you were hoping for from your next star recruit.
You are not alone. It’s a common complaint we hear from business owners, managers and internal recruiters. So what to do now? Do you move forward with interviewing and ultimately end up employing the best from a bad bunch, only to have to performance manage them out of your business further down the track (that’s a whole other blog in itself!) or do you go back to the drawing board and start again?
My advice: Go back to the drawing board and start again. It may seem like a time consuming and costly exercise to start again but trust me, the other option mentioned will end up being much more costly and time consuming in the long run.
So you are back at square one, here’s our top tips to make sure the best of the best are applying for your vacancy:
- Your job ad needs to be schmick. Sloppy ads will deter potential applicants. We expect applicants to submit resumes that are professionally presented and formatted, well structured, have excellent spelling and grammar and provide detailed information about their suitability. Make sure your job advert reflects these same expectations.
- Where are you advertising your vacancy? If you are only promoting your advert in the local newspaper and online job boards your recruitment is doomed. Think about your ideal applicant. Where are they working, living and socialising? Not all potential recruits are actively reading the newspaper employment section or surfing internet job boards. Your vacancy needs to be promoted in front of the best of the best and remember to think outside the square
- Including too little or too much information about the job. This will depend on the position you are recruiting for. Sometimes dot pointing the key responsibilities in the job advert will be enough and for other positions you’ll need to provide access to a position description. Make sure you understand exactly what skills, experience and attributes are essential and which ones you are prepared to negotiate on so you can include the right information in the advert.
- Include contact details so potential applicants can ask questions. The best talent generally wants to know more about what’s on offer before they invest their time in putting together an application. An email address or phone number is fine and remember the enquiry from a potential applicant is an absolutely crucial step in the pre-screening process – don’t waste that opportunity.
- WIIFM – Your job advert needs to include What’s In It For Me! Don’t just state what the job is doing, share with your potential applicants what is awesome about working for the company and why they would want to jump ship from where they are currently employed, and it doesn’t have to be about the money. Don’t make your job advert all about what you want.
Applying these simple and effective tips to your next recruitment will ensure you are on the right track to uncovering top talent in a talent short market.
