ARE YOUR JOB ADS
ANNOYING?
No Salary Information
I know, not the salary thing
again!!! It’s a tricky situation. One
hiring manager commented:
“I wish I was able to include salary as part of the description,
however, it’s HR that determines that nondisclosure not the person tasked with
recruiting. What happens is that people who are under and overqualified apply,
which makes more work for the Hiring Manager/Recruiter who is screening the
applicants. Not exactly a win-win situation.”
Not a win-win situation at all! If you can’t give a
salary range, at least indicate what level of experience is required, e.g.
“entry level”, “2-3 years experience in a similar role”. Be absolutely specific
about exactly what the candidate needs to have achieved to date and what they
would be expected to achieve in this role to help them infer roughly what kind
of compensation to expect.
Too Long and Demanding
The volume of candidates on the
market is always immense, but the volume of candidates with the horticulture skills
and experience you’re looking for is – well, anything but immense. Sure, you
don’t want to encourage unqualified candidates to apply; but you don’t want to
run this risk either:
“A precise job description should be a key to find an
appropriate employee, but sometimes the job specs look like a “wish list” and a
desired candidate looks like a non-existing superhuman. Thus a job description
has a reverse effect – not to attract potential workers, but to scare them
away.”
Before publishing any ad, review each requirement and
ask: would it be an absolute deal-breaker if, in lieu of a stronger candidate,
the applicant didn’t have this? If the answer is no, cut it out and save the
question for the interview to avoid losing out on good candidates.
Spelling and Grammatical Errors
“More and more I’m finding typos. As a job seeker, I’d have to wonder if
I want to work for a company that can’t even take the time to read what it’s
putting out there for everyone to see. As a recruiter, I’d be totally
embarrassed if a job seeker pointed out a spelling error.”
Clichés are another common frustration:
“I dislike long narratives or bullet-points calling out
obvious traits, i.e. “good communication skills,” “highly motivated” and so
forth. I mean, doesn’t every candidate think he possesses those intangible
characteristics? And besides, how do you measure it?”
The most skilled candidates have their pick of
opportunities and will discriminate if they see typos as unprofessional or
clichés as lazy.