During the apply process, the dynamic of control in the hiring process takes a dramatic shift from employers to candidates.  Candidates are the ones that control whether they move on at each step of the apply process from viewing a job to ultimately becoming an applicant.

How successful you are at fostering a good candidate experience can have a significant impact on the results you receive in terms of candidates actually finishing the apply process.  One of the first things to focus on in your apply process is your recruitment marketing messaging.  Making sure that your content is intriguing, well layed out and compelling to candidates is one of the first and most important things to iron out when trying to improve your overall applicant results.

While I've gone over what I think a good job ad should include, let's take a look at what you need to focus on communicating when you write up your job ads and create messaging on your career site.

Here are three things you must do in your messaging to be successful:

Educate: First and foremost, you need to accurately describe your opportunity is and what you are looking for in a candidate.  For some companies, this is also an opportunity to describe your company and what they do.

The biggest thing here is to make sure your job messaging makes sense and answers the questions that candidates have.

Sell: Once a candidate understands what the opportunity is, it's time to sell them on the position (or generically on working for your company).  You can do this in a number of ways.  Give them reasons why your company is a leader in their field, tell them about the advanced training and skills they will build, introduce them to employees that have done great things or talk about your great benefits and perks.

Find what makes your company and employment opportunities special and make sure to include that in your messaging.

Screen: This may seem a little counter-intuitive but your messaging is also a great way to screen out non-qualified candidates.  By including the key qualifications, you can provide candidates with a baseline for what is needed.  This will hopefully screen out the "right" candidates in the process.

The key is to identify the few needed skills and qualifications that will matter in the position and not get bogged down in a laundry list of requirements.

If you can educate, sell and screen in your apply process, you will ultimately be able to see results in your applicant flow and the quality of the applicants you receive.  The key is to improve your messaging and measure it with recruitment metrics.  With constant iteration, you will be able to make your messaging that much more effective.