Most of the time when we post jobs, we throw out a broad net and end up scooping up the bottom-feeders. Instead, we need the right bait (i.e. a clear, enticing job posting) to attract the right fish from the candidate pool.

The way to do this is to know what type of “fish” you want and tailor your job posting to that exact candidate.

1) ADVERTISE: Choose your title carefully. Most job ads start with a bland, generic title that attracts bland, generic responses – and a lot of them.

You need to balance being clear enough so that people know what you’re looking for (and so searches can find your ad) with being clever enough to stand out.

• Customer Service Rep (clear but boring)
• Director of First Impressions (clever but not clear)
• Customer Service Specialist or Customer Experience Agent (clever and clear)

2) CUSTOMIZE: Stand Out from the crowd. You need to make sure your company culture is represented in the ad. If you are innovative and hip, but have a boring generic ad, that isn’t going to attract the type of person you want. There are a few things you can do to convey your culture:

• Direct job seekers to your blog or website (if it is updated regularly) so they can get a sense of the type of culture you have.
• Ask what books the job applicant has read that have impacted them personally or professionally. Better yet, ask them if they have read books that define your culture. (Ex: Crucial Conversations, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, etc.)
• Use humor if that is a part of who you are!

3) POLARIZE: Don’t be afraid to scare them off. The problem with most job ads (and interviews) is that we try to give the applicant’s the “warm fuzzies” for the job when that is NOT what they are going to experience once they are actually on the job.

The best job ads are polarizing – they REPEL the wrong people and ATTRACT the right people!

If dogged determination is needed to be successful in this job – tell them. If it’s a “sink or swim” job without a lot of hand-holding, better they know now.

The funny thing is, for every 10 people that would be turned off by these aspects of a job, there is that ONE perfect candidate just waiting for a position like this.

Here is an example of a job ad written for a client who was looking for a Business Manager who would take over for the retiring owners:

Looking for a dynamic (but not slick), confident (but not arrogant), educated (but no MBA required) and experienced (but not set-in-their-ways) person to take over the day-to-day operations of a family owned, thriving service based business. You will oversee Operations, Service, Sales and Finance and balance big picture strategic thinking with tactical execution. Balance taking charge with answering to and working with the owners. Finally, balance leading the admin and service staff and holding them accountable without causing a mutiny. Previous business ownership would be great but be prepared to answer why previous business closed or was sold. Full background, reference checks and behavioral assessments will be conducted so if you’re an open book, we’d love to hear from you.

4) INCENTIVIZE: Make them work for it. Somewhere in your job ad, require the candidate do something specific and out of the ordinary.

If attention to detail is crucial for this job, ask them to include a specific word in the subject line of the email they send. (Boy, does this make it easy to weed out the “skimmers.”)

One client of ours used this idea of a “tripwire” and requested that candidates for their Customer Service position reference a specific phrase in their job ad when responding. Here’s her result:

Hi Nancy – I am so glad that you encouraged us to use the tripwire in the job ad. It has allowed us to move quickly from 65 responses (still coming in) down to 18 viable candidates. I just sent the round two actions to those 18.

I sent out the “thank you for your time” reject response to the others and, after much consideration, added a line that said “Those whom are advancing in the search process, as requested, referenced the words ‘Director of First Impressions’ in their response.”

Wouldn’t you know it, one rejected candidate just called here and yelled, literally yelled, at our Office Manager that she had “…All of the qualifications for the job and shouldn’t have been rejected because she didn’t reference that line!” Not only did she clearly not manage the details, but she was also rude and obnoxious.

I AM LOVING THIS JOB SEARCH!!!
~ Johanna Ames, President, Ames Linen Service, Cortland, NY

How is that for a success story?

~ Nancy Roberts
The DISC Wizard