HAVING TROUBLE WRITING HELP WANTED ADS?

One of my clients, a chiropractor, recently decided it was time to hire an Administrative Assistant for his growing business. When it came time to announce the job, I asked him to send me the ad first so we could review what he’d come up with. Here’s what the ad said:

So, will this ad work? Yes it did because he got responses, in fact he got over 100 responses.

Did he get the right responses?

He could hire many of the applicants who are capable of typing medical reports and so on, but there's nothing about this ad that speaks to the personality of his company or his ideal candidate. Therefore, he’s going to have to waste time and resources reading resumes and interviewing people to find the right employee. This means spending unnecessary money, and that means a hit to his bottom line.

Now, anyone who’s ever written a job description for the purpose of hiring a new employee knows that it’s no piece of cake. Even if you think you have the job function properly outlined, it can be challenging to get it right. We suggest to all of our clients that once you’ve made the decision to hire, take your time. Finding the right people is the most important expenditure you can make, when including the time and money it takes to recruit the right people.

Use a Marketing Approach

We encourage our client’s to approach recruiting as another aspect of marketing and lead generation. This is due to the fact that finding the right employees for your company is like finding the right customers, the same principles apply to the recruiting process. You’ve got a product you want to sell (employment in your company) and you need to generate “leads” (applicants) that you can eventually convert into “customers” (new employees).

First, consider these items:

• What is the product you are selling? In other words, what is the idea behind your business? We like to call it “the game worth playing.” What makes your product (the business) unique? What sets you apart from the competition in the eyes of potential employees?
• What are the specifics of the job? Define the results you want the position to deliver and responsibilities expected of the position. 
• Who is the customer for this product? Who is the ideal candidate for this position? What personality traits will the right person have to fit into the company culture? You need to identify the perfect person for the job so that when they walk through the door, you’re ready. 
• What personality are you looking for? Someone who is gregarious or introverted? Do you need somebody capable of multi-tasking or somebody with laser-like focus?
• Where are the customers (geographically)? Is this a telecommuting position? Is this an onsite position? What’s the acceptable radius for an onsite employee?
• What message will attract them? If you’ve defined everything above, you should be able to determine what message will attract the ideal person you’re looking for.
• What channel will best reach them? Where you place your ad will make a huge difference. Is it appropriate for Craig’s List, Careerbuilder.com, the newspaper, or LinkedIn? Again, your research into the ideal customer should inform where you can reach them best.

One of the ways to differentiate your recruitment ad is to have the ad carry the promise of emotional gratification. By giving your ads some emotional appeal, you will attract better candidates because not only will they be technically qualified, but they will likely be nice people that desire to work with nice people! 

My client placed a new ad with something like this, and found his 'perfect' employee.