Writing Recruitment Ads That Generate Greater Response

We live in an Internet age, and consequently more recruiters are going online to advertise vacancies. But why is the Web proving such an effective channel? Well, expense for one. Internet advertising is comparatively low-cost than advertising through other media. It's up to a tenth of the price of print-based advertising, and generates over ten times the quantity of responses. Statistics show just how may people use the Web as their primary resource for finding jobs, and it's an overwhelming majority. Over 60% of the UK population has the Internet installed in their home, and those people must be surfing the Web to track down suitable jobs.

There are thousands of jobs out there at any one time, just waiting to be browsed by our Internet-savvy generation. These days, there's barely any need to bother with purchasing a magazine or newspaper every second day. You simply locate sites that are suitable for you needs, and get them to send to relevant job updates as and when they come in.

Still, it seems that recruitment agents haven't cottoned on to the seismic change that's taken place beneath this and every other business. Many are still putting large sums of money into a single print ad, when a far greater response could be generated by investing the same sum into an ad posted on a whole range of different websites. Perhaps there remains the misguided assumption that appearing in print somehow equates to a higher market profile.

Another key point in all of this is that the characteristics of advertising are quite different to those of print advertising. A different methodology is called for. Recruitment agents that place advertisements in an identical style as they would a print ad don't get the response they should. A strong argument for why this occurs is that candidates browsing online come across huge amounts of seemingly similar jobs in a very small window of time proportionate to the more measured process of looking through a newspaper to find a suitable vacancy. We're able to filter information easily on the Web, and can speedily create a basket of matching jobs.

Of course, creating advertisements is hardly the most stimulating of activities for agents, but as a result many jobs can appear somewhat dull in the reader's eyes - and no different to the next one. For instance, a standard posting might look similar to this:

Recruitment Agent
A longstanding client is seeking a graduate with a 2-year's relevant experience. Your experience will cover X, Y and Z, and you'll be capable of reaching such-and-such targets.

Notice that the headline reads no differently to any other headline for any other recruitment agent posting. Also notice that reading the job description is like reading a collection of prescriptions off a page of job requirements. Now take the following ad appearing on a page with a multitude of other written in the same way as the one above:

Recruitment like no other!

About The Author:
John Bult runs an internet jobs board for recruitment agencies in the UK where recruitment consultants can apply for new jobs.

Tags: RECRUITMENT CONSULTANTS, RECRUITMENT

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Title:	Writing Recruitment Ads That Generate Greater Response
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Writing Recruitment Ads That Generate Greater Response