How To Win Colleagues And Not Alienate People (For Employers)

We think it’s time to reframe how we think about job adverts. Your job advert is primarily marketing content and viewing it that way and adapting accordingly is the most effective way to win new superb colleagues. 

It’s an underacknowledged fact that the candidate needs to be convinced and enthused about the role first before they, in turn, move on to trying to convince you and on average candidates only read a job advert for 7 seconds before making a choice, so be prepared to think outside of the box. 

So, let’s say the worst happens, you post your role and get a lackluster response. Before you move to the mountains or begin a campaign of hate, let’s look at some small changes we can make. Channel some of that growth mindset that you will no doubt read about in your applications and seize this as an opportunity to improve your job advert.

Optimising your job advert

Job title

💡 63% of job seekers wouldn’t apply for a job if they didn’t understand the job title (Source: Applied)

Mission-driven organisations can get creative to sell their roles, and we’ve seen some brilliantly creative job titles on the board in recent months.

Customer Support > Employer Happiness Officer

Customer Support > Cabin Operations Manager

Business Development Manager > Mission Manager

Sales manager > Equity fundraising manager

Project Manager > Ideas Consultant

Events Manager > Party Planning Legend

Old job titles are tired and often vague and confusing. Appeal to who they want to be. 

While using words like ‘legend’ in your job title is far from a necessity, there’s a world of innovative and exciting titles between bartender and ‘Beverage Dissemination Artist.’ Encapsulate what you think is most exciting in your role and what your ideal candidate’s aspirations would be. 

One Escape employer recently had an incredible result on the job board after testing a new job title, receiving an 80% increase in views on a role in 7 days.

Headline

According to Elena, our Customer Happiness Officer, this is the MOST important part of your job advert, and she is never wrong (she’s my boss). 

This is the only sentence our jobseekers will see to decide whether or not to click on the full job spec. For most, it’s your only chance to grab their attention and stand out. The challenge is to try and get the tone of your brand, your mission and your role across in 2 sentences. It’s a big challenge so spend time on it, but you’re up to it. 

Mission and impact

Job hunting can be deeply demoralising, you’re competing against people’s fatigue, so a job advert with an inspiring mission is the best antidote. Be a salve to their boredom and they’ll thank you for it by applying. 

This is particularly important for the Escape community where applicants are looking to be inspired. We encourage organisations to open with their 'about us' and mission as it’s the best way to immediately inspire the candidate. Check out our mission-driven job ad template for a guide on how to do this.

Location

The biggie. According to research by Escape, 74% of people said location flexibility was their primary factor in deciding whether to apply for a role or not. Clarity is the most important thing, outline exactly what they can expect (hybrid, location-based, fully flexible). Consider also if there are time-zone constraints. In truth, a truly flexible office is always the most attractive to modern candidates.

Salary

Over the last decade, we've heard time and again that not advertising a salary is one of the top reasons that candidates don't apply for jobs. Jobs that don’t list salaries usually miss out on the best candidates. If this is difficult, advertising a salary range can at least provide candidates with an indication of what to expect. 

Benefits & Perks

Benefits packages are increasingly important today, where talented candidates have their pick of employers, and more keenly guard their quality of life. While you don’t need to go as far as Google and Facebook and build what are essentially gorgeous prisons, our candidates really buy into the insight that benefits provides, even noting small things like team get-togethers, fruity Fridays and working with a small but inspired team etc. If you have already outlined your benefits and perks in the job description, ask yourself:

• Is this a benefit or a legal requirement? (ie 28 days holiday including Bank holidays, statutory maternity leave, auto-enrolment pensions)
• Are the benefits I've listed clear and tangible? (ie if learning and development are listed as a benefit, how would an employee make use of this? Are there services they would have access to or budget allocated to them?)
• Are my hiring competitors offering their employees something that I'm not?

De-biasing your job advertisements

💡 Women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet 90% of the criteria, but men will apply when they meet 60%

In addition to selling your role, ensure you remove any bias or gendered language from your job role. Encouraging people to apply even if they don’t hit every criterion may invite more women to apply for example, alongside understanding the importance of highlighting benefits and flexible working arrangements. 

Best of luck!

Finally, we encourage you to have fun with your job advert. The more personality and enthusiasm you can get across to potential applicants, the more applications you will receive. Remember to treat your job advert like marketing content and we promise you’ll see results. Please get in touch with us at support@escapethecity.org if you have any questions.