A client comes to us with a problem – they’ve spent a lot of money attracting candidates to a vacancy, used a range of channels and had a lot of traffic but so far no applications. It’s a well-paid position with a good company and they don’t understand what is going wrong.

This is a problem we’ve heard before and after some investigation the answer is almost always the same, the job advert.

A well-written advert will make a vacancy stand out; a candidate can immediately see what the job involves and who the company are. They are immediately excited about the prospect, happily click ‘Apply Now’ and away they go.

With a badly written advert the result can be rather different “What does the job involve? Who will I be working for? What does it all mean?!”

This experience will not only lead to a shortage of applicants but candidates avoiding your company in the future, telling family and friends and potentially complaining on Social Media. Negative brand image is very difficult to repair and much easier to avoid.

We have spoken to a large number of clients who haven’t recruited for a while and feel that the requirements have changed. Those who have previously had no involvement in writing job adverts are now solely responsible and this lack of experience is impacting on the effectiveness of their recruitment campaigns.

We recently did a survey of 500 job seekers in which we asked about job adverts and the application process:

• 81% of respondents said that they would be put off applying for a job if the advert was badly written.
• 67% said that at least 1 in 10 adverts were written badly.
• 8% of respondents felt that more than half of adverts were badly written.

This means that if your advert is written badly, as in the case of over three quarters of candidates then it might as well not be there. You are then left with only 19% (see stats above) of people who need to decide to either definitely apply, be qualified or be available should you decide to offer them the job; and remember that your vacancy will not be the only one they apply for

Are you confident you’ll find the right candidate?

Our survey show the top 5 most important pieces of information that attract candidates to a vacancy are:

• The Role itself
• Location
• Salary
• Career Progression
• Company Reputation

Do your adverts include this information?

Can candidates form an idea of what the job will involve and the type of company they will be working for?

We have seen a significant rise in the number of vacancies being advertised, this allows candidates to be a lot more selective over the roles that they apply for. It is essential that the important information is accessible and easy to find, if it is too difficult most candidates won’t bother.

Imagine you are trying to buy a car and an advert didn’t tell you the make, model or price.

Imagine if you were trying to buy a house and an advert didn’t tell you what area it was in.

This is your chance to sell your vacancy and company to the best possible candidate. It might be the first interaction a candidate has with your company and an opportunity to make them immediately excited about potentially working for you. . Take the time to ensure that your job advert is a true representation of the job and company and the right candidate will come.