How to Write a Want Ad
(March 21, 2006)
With all of the additional press and material in the Recruiting space, you'd think more attention would get paid to the fundamentals. How's this:
- Less than 17% of online job seekers read word-by-word.
- You have less than 2 seconds to capture the mind's eye of your ad reader.
- A headline with five words or less is where the viewer decides whether to continue or move on.
- If your job headline does not lead to a benefit or take longer than 3 seconds to "show the money" in your digital ad; guess what? You lose.
This and more is available in am article on writing job postings:
Interactive firms are finding their incoming orders increasing and are revving up their hiring engines to take advantage of the overwhelming demand for Human Capital (talent) that have come with the Internet advertising boom.
The search for qualified talent in digital media jobs is quickly going white-hot. After a lengthy drought in opportunity, interactive talents are finding themselves in a world demanding their special skills: DHTML, PhotoShop, Flash, HTML, Java, and search engine algorithms, to name a few highly desirable
guru level experiences that are highly desirable today. Media buyers and every digital skill set under the sun are in an ever increasing spiral of demand. Your problem is exacerbated by the demographics. Fact: the talent pool is getting smaller and will continue to shrink. So, what do you do?
Realize first that you have less than 2 seconds to capture the mind's eye of your ad reader. The first quarter- to-half-second, the human eye scans colors and shapes and in the next 1.5 seconds drinks the bold type and entire first line. A headline with five words or less is where the viewer decides
whether to continue or move on. If your job headline does not lead to a benefit or take longer than 3 seconds to "show the money" in your digital ad; guess what? You lose. The vast majority scan a job posts headline and pick up only the bold or italicized copy and dollar signs. Less than 17% of online job
seekers read word-by-word. Your ad does not mention specific money or benefits? You lose a great number of your qualified readers in the blink of an eye. (Adotas)
What's surprising is that the article appears in an online advertising magazine, not in a Recruiting source. We're starting to wonder whether or not all of the new material available for Recruiters is beginning to obscure the basics. You'd think that every Recruiter would know the ideas
covered on the aforementioned piece. Unfortunately, it's news.
With the recent influx of 90K new Recruiters, there's a staggering shortage of training and outreach. Remember the Fast Company article about "Why HR is Hated"? This article signals a full scale end-run. It teaches
non-recruiters in Marketing and advertising how to do the Recruiting job.
John Sumser