Recruiting the right staff is not as easy as you may think!

Most of the big decisions we make today begin with an online search whether we’re booking a holiday, buying a house or looking for a date. Each, of these industries have their own specific search engines, which are  used over generic search engines such as google or yahoo. For a holiday, for example, we go to TripAdvisor, for houses it’s Rightmove, for dating it’s match or similar. This is no different for jobs. Search data for google shows a decrease in searches for jobs and more searches for the name of the job-specific search engine they would like to visit and the increase in mobile use means that the majority of this is done online.

According to a recent survey by indeed.com 78% look for a job online at least once a month, and 94% at least once a year. This means that an extremely high percentage of people are actively searching for a job. We all know that good candidates are hired quickly, so how can you reach them?

Firstly, it is important to master the ‘science’ of writing a search friendly job title. The title needs to include key words that people will be searching for and not include too much internal technical jargon.

Once you have the title, you must master the ‘art’ of writing a job description. The recommended character count is 700-2000, this will hold the readers interest. The job description must therefore be relevant and again, match what job-seekers are searching for. Be transparent about the salary – this should be at the top of your job advert. Try to think from the perspective of a potential job applicant. As Bill Gates once said ‘Content is King’.

Thirdly, many job seekers are looking to work for a company who they can relate to in some way, they want to know they will fit in. Do you have strong social values or ethical practices you want to shout about? Similarly, what benefits do you offer your employees? Good job seekers want to know how it will be to work for you and what the atmosphere and culture is like within your organisation. Consider growing your brand as an employer – some sites offer employees the chance to review their past and current employer online.

Finally, The application process needs to be simple. It needs to work on a mobile device and should’t be over-complicated. A candidate wants to be able to upload their CV and not have to enter the information all over again in a separate form. The average time taken to apply for a job is just 8.9 minutes so don’t ask for too much initially.

This article was written and researched by Abigail Stiles, Business Administration Apprentice.

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