So you’ve decided to hire – and after exhausting other avenues – an internal email to see if any other staff members can recommend anyone, a Facebook broadcast message, a LinkedIn update, and perhaps even a four-line ad in the local paper, still no luck.

It’s time to write an ad for an online job board and publish your vacancy for the world to see!

Where do you start?

Posting an advertisement on an online job board is a powerful, effective strategy and can attract quality candidates.

The internet has revolutionised the way candidates search and apply for roles. Without giving away my age, I can remember when résumés and cover letters would arrive via snail mail usually on a Tuesday morning, following an ad that had been dictated or faxed and then placed in the ‘Positions Vacant’ section of the weekend paper.

Today, 30% of all job applications are made from mobile devices, 24×7 – with many job hunters browsing and applying for jobs while traveling to work sitting on the train or bus. It’s so easy now – a push of a button and an active job seeker can apply for 10 jobs in 10 minutes before they even get to work!

How do you attract this new breed of job hunter?

What can you do to make candidates apply for your role?

What if you attract too many candidates and your email inbox has a melt down with 250 resumes? Never mind when you’re actually going to find the time to read through them all and sort them out!

It all starts with writing the right ad

Your written online job ad forms the basis of your recruitment campaign so it’s worth carefully planning your strategy.

To begin with, you need to know exactly what it is that you are looking for. Get specific – write down and summarise the essential criteria i.e. experience, education, technical skills and competencies.

Make the job real

Candidates want to know where the role is, the salary on offer, future career pathways, etc.

Good candidates are in high demand – they will often apply for several roles at once, so your job ad has to stand out:

• Use bullet points;
• Don’t have lengthy blocks of text – the ad needs to be pleasing to the eye and easy to read;
• You need to ‘sell’ your role – use the WIIFM theory (What’s in it for me!);
• Put yourself in the shoes of the candidate and list the unique selling points that you offer as an employer to attract and retain staff; and
• Close by having a ‘call to action’ – spell it out – ask the candidate to email their CV now, or to phone now to apply for your role.

Remember to choose your words carefully. Legislation prohibits discrimination in recruitment advertising.

Follow these tips and you should achieve quality applications coming through to you to subsequently telephone screen.

But writing a great online job ad is just one step in an often complicated recruitment process.