Jobhop Jobhop's blog : Better Job Descriptions To Hook Passive Candidates

Could a better job description hook the elusive, passive candidate?

How many times do you hear employers go on about how they would like to attract passive candidates, you know, those job seekers who aren’t looking for a job? What do these employers do when they fill a job? They create a boring job description from a template that’s probably ten years old which lists a whole lot of things required by the employer and not much else. Do you think the “passive candidate” who’s quite happy working somewhere else will see it? The answer is probably no because no-one will share it, but say they did see it, would they read past the first line? Probably not, because they’re not looking to move and the job description hasn’t stirred anything up in them.

When any employer wants to attract a passive candidate they have to do some things to emotionally connect with them and get them to consider a job hop.

Those “things” are in your social recruiting strategy, and one of those things is to create better job descriptions, so delete the template and start again.

This is what you’re going to do:

Speak in a language the candidate understands

If you’re trying to attract tech candidates talk tech, funnily enough, they love tech. The same goes for IT candidates, web developers, gamers, programmers, social media managers, designers, accountants and more. If an HR person talks in HR language to attract a web designer, guess what, they won’t understand you’re talking to them.

Put the candidate first

Instead of starting off with everything that you require from the candidate, flip it. Start off with everything you’ll do for them, the benefits, training, perks, environment, etc Then follow it with why it’s great to work there, then finish it with what will be required of them. You have to get the candidate hooked and chomping at the bit to work there first, then follow that with what they need to have to get through the door.

Add media

Remember the passive candidate isn’t looking for a new job, but saying that the passive candidate is always curious to find out if they’re in the right job. In fact, a whopping 65% of employees look at job opportunities every month, to compare with their job. Your job vacancy has to jump out at them and to do that you have to use media. Include plenty of pictures and videos of what it’s like to work there, the company culture, the perks, the location, make sure it’s all there, and it’s enticing. Even if they don’t apply this time you’ve planted a seed.

Make sure it’s shareable

Your passive candidate might come across the job because it’s been shared with them from one of their friends or connections, but they won’t if it’s not shareable. You have to make it as easy for someone to share the job description, include social media icons and add email in case someone would prefer to share it via that instead. On the subject of sharing, the more visual the job description is, the better the chance is of it getting shared. People take in visuals quicker than lots of text, and they instantly decide whether it should be shared, text, on the other hand, takes a lot of reading and leaves time for people to change their minds.

Go against the grain

Think about all the other employers out there who are also thinking that they too want to employ the same passive candidate that you’re after; you have to stand out. To beat your competitor to the best talent, you cannot afford to keep doing the same things, and sending out the same boring job descriptions. Go against the grain, do it differently because if you don’t and you keep doing what you’ve been doing you’ll just get the same results!

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