What’s in an Ad
By Dave Griffin, tmp.worldwide
I am not a copywriter, I have never been a copywriter and, by publishing this article, I know that nobody will ever offer me a job as a copywriter. My first action after writing this piece was to send it to two copywriters for their comments. This isn’t about writing and designing recruitment ads, rather it is intended as a basic guide to the do’s and don’ts that 20 years of reading, checking and, when nobody was looking, writing recruitment ads has led to.
The mythical “perfect” ad
By common agreement it is impossible to start an article on writing job ads without first quoting Ernest Shackleton’s masterpiece of understatement which may, or may not, have appeared in the London Times in late 1913:
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.”
In 20 years of working in recruitment advertising I think this ad has been quoted to me at least once a year as the ultimate job ad so you can imagine my surprise when my recent web search popped up with the news that this ad never appeared. It appears that a number of men (they are always men!) have worked their way through the microfilm copies of the Times and can find no trace of this ad ever running. Further searching of the web has revealed that this ad may have been created many years after Shackleton and his “Men” were back in warmer climes by someone trying to sell a book on how to write copy!
It might be a job but you are still selling So the first basic “do” of recruitment advertising is to remember that selling someone a new job is a lot tougher than Selling them a can of beans or a new pair of shoes. You are trying to persuade someone to leave their comfort zone and most of us are pretty risk-averse to begin with. How many people do you know who moan about the job they have had for many years yet the moment someone criticises the organisation they work for they will reel off the reasons why it is a great place to work.
Whether writing an ad yourself, or briefing someone else, try and take a step back and consider what the key selling point of this role is. Ask yourself how you would persuade a good friend to take this job. I recently asked a prospective new client what differentiated their organisation from their competitors and they supplied a list of three or four key points - none of which were in the ad that they had placed that very week!
The easiest starting point is to run through a few key pieces of information and note them down: objective of the ad, background to the role (why are we recruiting), the unique selling points, the benefits (not just remuneration but what do you get out of this role?), the likely qualifications required and finally, vitally, how you will communicate with respondents.
Objective of the ad
I know the objective of the ad is to recruit someone but it will do this by giving them information. All the research I have ever seen says candidates want to know three key pieces of information: job title, salary, location. I’ll take a closer look at these later but really the objective of the ad is to generate response, getting suitable qualified candidates to apply to work with your organisation. Allegedly the ideal recruitment ad generates just the one, perfect candidate but in reality recruiters like to choose from a small number of good candidates. So the objective of the ad is to generate a number of suitably qualified applicants who are keen to work for your organisation. The trick to getting a manageable number of suitably qualified candidates is in self-selection - encouraging the most suitable candidates to apply and deterring the rest.
Job Title
I know this may be a bit obvious but I have just grabbed a copy of a major newspaper recruitment section and can confirm that “Temporary, Wholetime, & Part-Time Clerical Officer Grade III” is not a job title. Normally the job title stands alone at the top of the ad so don’t bury it behind details of the hours to be worked or length of contract.
Always ask yourself if the job title actually means anything externally. In one of my first jobs I was constantly running ads for a Phlebotomist for a local hospital and nobody ever applied. Of course they didn’t, nobody knew what a Phlebotomist did! The simple answer was that a Phlebotomist draws blood from patients for testing and is the type of role where suitable candidates are initially trained on the job. We started running ads with no job title but a headline around working with people, rewarding career with patient contact etc. End of problem.
Salary
Regardless of the issues advertising a salary may cause there is no doubt that this is the single biggest factor in the self-selection process. Advertise a salary outside of the range that a reader is expecting and they will decide, for themselves, that this role is either too senior or too junior. If your organisation doesn’t advertise salaries as a matter of policy that is one thing but there is little point hiding the salary if it is not good enough - you’ll simply end up processing response that is, in the end, inappropriate.
If the salary scale is a bit complicated you may be better off indicating an expected salary range. Let me give you an example, I have an ad on my desk which I cut out of a national newspaper a few weeks ago. It shows a salary in a very peculiar fashion:
€112,000 x 7 = €143,000. Now my maths is not great but that doesn’t make sense. Further more the salary is less if you are a “pre-1995 entrant”. I assume that this all relates to increments on a salary scale and almost certainly there is a reduced salary if you are already a member of their final salary pension scheme but it would have been so much easier saying salary c. €140,000.
Location
Fairly obvious but making someone search through the ad to see where the role is based can certainly effect response so why not make it nice and clear to begin with.
Background to the organisation, department, team
A little bit of background goes a long way. But who are you talking to, and what do they need to know? A Chief Executive, for example, will appreciate information about size, demographics, strategy and objectives which will not be appropriate to, say, a Junior Clerical Officer. This latter might prefer to know something about the work of the team he/she will be working for, and what the working environment is like - e.g. friendly, supportive, busy etc etc. All this serves to give the job a context - and a personality.
The job itself
Will the person know what the job is - in which case, there’s little point in telling them again - or will they be in the dark, eagerly awaiting an explanation from you? If it’s the former, try telling them things they don’t know about the job. Let’s face facts a nurse knows what a nurse does but will candidates know why your particular organisation is special? There’s no need to give a blow by blow account. Just pick up on a few of the essential characteristics. Paint a broadbrush picture, rather than try to write ‘War and Peace’. You’re supposed to be making the ad interesting.
The person specification
This is perhaps the single most important part of the job. It’s where you can open things out, or close them down - depending on whether you expect a huge response, or hardly any. If it’s the former, go into detail about exactly the skills and experience you need. Aim for the very best person you can. On the other hand, if there are likely to be a few replies only, why limit yourself even further? Put in the essentials, but leave it as open as possible.
The benefits
Traditionally, this paragraph has all that stuff about competitive salaries, luncheon vouchers, free car parking etc. But remember those other benefits too - like training, career potential etc etc. These are the icing on the cake. Don’t leave them out of the recipe.
Response details
There’s just one rule: make it as easy as possible to respond.
Online or Traditional press
Most of the points raised have been learned through placing ads in the press. However they all hold equally true for ads on the web. Typically most jobs advertised on the web will involve posting a job spec to a site in its entirety but more and more of the sites offer a “display” ad option, more like the ad you see in the press, where a bit of careful writing will pay dividends. Of course the great thing about the web is that you can put in more information and not worry about the cost.
Effective copywriting isn’t about writing.
It’s about thinking, and conveying information in an interesting and appropriate way. It’s about making sure the people you want to read the ad, do so. It’s about telling them things they need to know, not what they already know. It’s about getting the right people to apply, for the right reasons. It’s far better to have a badly written advert with the right information, than a beautifully crafted piece of literature with the wrong information. There’s no formula for getting at the right information. You can only get there by thinking.
Published in: HR& Recruitment Ireland, March 2008