When a prospective job seeker clicks on your immigration ads to learn more about a potential job offering, you become that much closer to creating an applicant, and if all goes well, a potential future employee. However, it’s important to bring up the fact that this only happens if the job posting you’re using as a part of your immigration labor advertising is effective. If you fail to provide the right information and a compelling image of your job, you may be losing potential job applicants that could be an asset to your company. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at some of the key facets of a successful job listing.
The Basic Skills Section
One section of any immigration labor advertising that deserves extra focus and attention is the job description and skills section. This is important because it provides a general image of what the duties and responsibilities of your job is going to entail. Ideally, a job seeker should see these immigration ads and instantly understand what it takes to succeed in this role. Based on that, they can decide whether they are qualified or not to apply. But what elements should go in this section?
First, there’s the job description. Generally, this covers two main components: a basic overview of the role as well as the job’s general responsibilities. Generally, less is more in these sections, at least when it comes to work count, so you want to lay out the words as efficiently as possible to make sure it’s easy to understand and digest. Yes, you don’t want to neglect important information, but massive job descriptions will alienate more candidates who are struggling to process all that information as well.
One element that helps the job description function properly is the position overview. Generally written in a paragraph format, this is designed to give a job seeker a general vision of their day to day work. This allows you a chance to be more personal while still being professional, so don’t be afraid to address them directly to a job seeker than going for something impersonal like “the chosen candidate.” Remember, the goal of this part of the job description is to give your job seekers the chance to envision themselves in your chosen role. In addition, don’t be afraid to use descriptive words to liven up things a bit.
For example, for a sales job, something like “this position helps with customer service and sales” is pretty bland, but not inaccurate. “This position actively works to close sales and provide top-notch customer service” as an alternative just sounds more appealing, which is exactly the image you want to present with your workplace.
When you’ve given the basic impression of what your workplace will be like, you can start listing the basic job responsibilities. Rather than going with a paragraph format, you’re best served sticking to basic bullet points to ensure that job seekers are quickly able to scan things when looking through several job listings in a sitting. Again, simple word choices can account for a lot. By using a “to be” verb instead of a “ing” verb, you make each of the different duties sound more powerful, as well as more specific.
Ease of Reading
At this point, we’ve been focusing on the best ways to communicate essential information, but you also need to focus on creating job listings that are easy to read. The major reason for this is the fact that most job seekers, unless they are directly referred to you, are probably reading your listing in the context of a greater job search, where they may be looking at dozens, even hundreds of given listings in a given session. If a job listing is confusing or difficult to read, generally, people will skip your listing in favor of ones that are better constructed. But what exactly makes a job listing easy to read?
As a start, while you want things to be thorough, you want to avoid falling into the trap of the “laundry list” that many people end up doing when it comes to duties. If your job has a various set of duties, but a lot of them are similar to each other, trying to focus on summing them up. For example, typing, filing, data entry, meeting notes, and general office duties can all be filed under the general concept of administrative support. Most job seekers will have a general idea of what that entails, and if there are questions, these can be brought up during the interview phase.
The next thing that you need to lay out effectively is the required skill set for your job of choice. Generally, this includes factors like essential job skills, as well as experience and education. For example, you may need someone familiar with a given program, with some years of experience in the field and an advanced degree. To make this easier to understand, use a set of bullet points, potentially with explanations why these traits are needed.
Why is this second point important? Generally, most job listing makers realize that the “unicorn candidate” isn’t always going to be out there that meets every single one of their criteria. By explaining what you value more, you can have candidates that may be missing in one area that’s preferred, but can still do the job effectively. For example, if someone doesn’t have an advanced degree, only a bachelor’s, but brings the experience and skills to the table, you still want them to apply just in case.
Finally, an easy-to-read job listing takes the time to lay out the culture and organizational values of the company. Many people don’t treat cultural fit as a priority, but as many companies can tell you, the perfect candidate suddenly seems less-than-perfect if they can’t work or gel well with their leadership team and fellow employees. This is why it’s important to make sure company culture is in your job description. Be sure to explain things like your company values, mission, and vision statement. In addition, bringing up some of the common personality traits that your team members have can be useful in order to paint that more detailed picture.
