Recruitment - Advertising and Promotion

Job vacancies do not communicate themselves. They must be communicated to that group of people who may be interested in applying for the job and making a good contribution to the performance of it.

A manager with little or no experience of recruitment advertising may only have a vague idea of where advertise. However it may also be that he/she knows more about the trade papers/ journals than the specialist recruitment adviser. There may be a trade association or even a "word-of-mouth" network. A specialist employment agency should offer such expertise.

Sources of Candidates

We might

• keep and sift again through previous applications
• internal advertising - draw on the nascent talent within your own organisation. Are you nurturing this talent enough?
• advertise externally through the press or local radio
• put a card up in the local newsagents or put a jobs page on the WWW. Put a poster up in the workplace (if seen by the public).
• use employment agencies and job centres
• use a head-hunter (recruitment consultant who keeps a book on capable people and who buys them lunch from time to time for a confidential chat that "may be beneficial to your future"). Be careful in 18 months time the head-hunter may be ringing up that recruit you secured via their services to persuade them that another job move may be profitable.
• networking - build up your own list of who is a potential future employee and recruit via the old boys/girls network. Note the profiles of people contributing to professional journals and bring them into the network
• ask current employees to nominate people they can recommend (offer them a signing on fee!)
• built up links with educational institutions - schools, colleges, universities. We might treat applicants from these establishments more favourably. We may sent them copies of internal vacancy notifications. We may attend employment fairs (do the milk-round).
• respond to unsolicited letters and CVs
• don't recruit at all - out-source the job or export it to another country!

Different vacancies require different methods. It is pointless advertising in a national newspaper for part-time staff. The catchment too large, part-timers live locally and use the local paper or apply on spec or via word of mouth.

There is a danger in using only one method of external recruitment - reduces scope for others to apply and be discriminatory if the method excludes or disproportionately reduces the number of applicants in a particular group.

Whatever methods are used the imperatives will be to:

• keep costs of recruitment as low as possible. Put recruitment costs into perspective. What will be the costs of the person once in post (include salary, overheads, costs of training etc? What contribution to profit/savings will that person make?
• the vacancy and process of filling it offers an opportunity to present the organisation to a wider audience through press advertising. This may indicate success and expansion. It may tell of instability - people leaving. Placing an advertisement gives information to competitors. If confidentiality is required - use a recruitment agrency without carrying the company name.

Recruitment advertising

This may be straight-forward if it is

• a general post and you know the local tabloid press
• merely a matter of placement with your local or specialist recruitment agency with whom you have an established service relaationship
• a specialist job and job holders/seekers always scan a particular trade magazine or professional journal.

However recruitment may need to be national or international. Perhaps people of the calibre you are looking for are few and scattered. National recruitment is expensive and international more so. An advert in a national newsparer may cost several £hundreds and anyway which day of the week should you put it in? The Independent runs computing on a Monday, marketing and media on a Wednesday and education on a Thursday etc.

The type of staff you are looking for may not read the national press. A London recruiter might not know the local "freebie press" in the midlands or north-east. Perhaps the target group are not avid news or trades paper readers at all!

Recruitment advertising agencies

For such reasons even personnel departments use a specialist recruitment advertising agency rather than doing it all themselves. Use of a recruitment agency - even just for advertising is an example of outsourcing. Agency staff should offer a value for money placement services which may include:

• expertise on the most appropriate press for the vacancy and date/section for placement
• up-to-date information on advertising tariffs and specials e.g. repeat advertisements. They will be able to price a campaign for you and through negotiation obtain the best deal.
• consultancy services on the analysis of jobs, the targeting of particular areas of the country/world and copywriting and artwork services for adverts

You pay the agency rather than the newspaper/journal. They may take their profit from discounts offered by media companies because they buy so much space. They also charge for extra "value added" services such as:

• creating good advertising copy takes time and a high level of skill with written communications and compositional sense
• a knowledge of where potential recruits are in the market and the most effective media
• the campaign may involve radio or Internet/WWW advertising or even head-hunting services

Recruitment and sensitivity

The advertising programme may be a sensitive issue (departmental communications and interests, existing staff sensitivities, information to rivals and customers) and an appreciation of public relations may be involved. Composing and placing the copy is a manager's concern if

• he/she is the client who is paying for it out of a departmental budget The process must fit a timetable and run to plan. A failed recruitment effort can cost several thousands of ¥ and has to be run again at similar cost.
• The manager has to give information to the person composing and placing the advert. The manager should read the advertising copy before it is placed. Is the wording correct? Has anything been left out, misrepresented or mispelt?

Timing

The time scale for engaging a new member of staff may be so short that the manager may not wish to miss the next media deadline. Such everyday problems are real and can be urgent. Rushing leads to mistakes.

A vacancy that arises just before the Christmas period may not be advertised until after the holiday. It may be three weeks at least before candidates are seen. The selected candidate may not be available to start work for another month or more. Meanwhile you still have a vacancy.

The line-manager as their own recruitment officer

If personnel services are out-sourced, the line-manager with a vacancy is his/her own HRM manager. He/she may

• pick up the phone, Email or invite in their outsourced 'expert'.
• refer to the company handbook (on the Company Intranet) for advice on composing and placing job ads. This may give essential requirements for designing adverts and contact details for the company's regular advertising and/or recruitment agency.
• Draft advertising copy may still have to be agreed by the MD. or senior manager responsible for recruitment (but who, no longer, has any specialist recruitment staff).

Basics of advertising

We see many poor job advertisements. Some rules of thumb:

• Before writing the copy be fully aware of the job and candidate requirements. If the job is complex, a job description and personnel specification will help especially if the copywriter is at a distance. For the line-manager, job clarification helps with the creative effort required to compose the advertisement.
• Be informative about the target skills and experience required. Vague applications waste everyone's time. Provide sufficient information for unsuitable candidates to de-select themselves and yet stimulate good candidates to inquire.
• Explanation requires words and the size of the advert will set a word limit. Choose key words. Get rid of redundant words such as "Applications are invited from" - it is surelt evident that it is a job advert!
• Job titles should be explanatory. Prime candidates who you want to tease out of their preseent jobs should be able to recognise and relate to it.
• Indicate the salary range - why on earth leave it out? What have you got to hide? Might you upset your existing staff because you are not paying them equitably? Together with the job title this is vital information for the potentially good candidate.
• Indicate the location and, if the job involves much travelling or assignments at a distance, then say so.
• Add key phrases indicating the key results/responsibilities that make the job interesting or challenging indicative of the experience and ability that will be needed. How does the salary compare against the demands of the job?
• Indicate essential/desireable past learning attainments/qualifications. Whe you present interesting and challenging aspects of the job, don't exaggerate the qualifications, experience and qualities you want. Good candidates may be put off.
• Are the attributes and qualifications expected of candidates really necessary for the job? Remember the dangers of unfairly discriminating against some candidates because invalid criteria for selection are adopted
• check and double-check the name, address, telephone number, fax, EMail addresses etc for accuracy. You will look a fool if ¥thousands are spent and you receive no replies because of a wrong telephone number. It was your responsibility to check the copy - you are accountable. The advertising agency will gladly place your advert again and send a further invoice!

• ensure that the font size of text in the advert is sufficient to read.

• look at the layout of the copy as a whole. Is it well balanced or fussy and cluttered, just plain NAFF? Are fonts and font sizes used to good effect? Is the eye drawn to key information? Is there too much? Will it become lost in a sea of other competing adverts in the Sunday Times jobs page?

• present the job and its interesting aspects honestly. The advert's content may indicate subsequent contractual obligations so ensure it is correct about terms and conditions of employment.
• project the best face of the company as a good place to work. Is it? What would be the effect if you present the company as it really is?

  Joiner wanted.

  Good pay (if we have enough spare cash at the end of the week). Must be able to cope with a workshop full of embittered employees (Arsenal supporters) who have given up on a bunch of limp managers who would sooner blame others for the misfortunes of the company rather than their own nepotism. (PS the boss's son runs the workshop!)

• Good candidates already in jobs need to be motivated to apply. They currently have security. A move involves transfering from the devil you know to the devil you don't know. The best candidates know they are be much in demand.

  An advert projects the firm's image to candidates and the general public, customers, suppliers and rivals, and also to existing staff.

• company guidelines on job advertisements composed by divisional or district managers will define requirements in respect of the company logo, style, required clauses etc.
• if it is company policy to add a closing date for applications - give it. the "book" says do it, so do it. This is also the case with the equal opportunities statement.
• might you be communicating discriminatory practices via your advertising copy?. It is unlawful to publish an advertisement whichcan be understood as intending to discriminate against someone on grounds of disability, sex or race. However the practice of inserting a blanket equal opportunities statement is of dubious value other than to indicate general intent. If a vacancy is linked to a particular equal opportunity programme then text of the advertisement should reflect this

Basic Items

1. job title
2. name of the employer
3. a logo may assist in catching the eye
4. rewards - information about the pay/salary range and other benefits
5. where will the job be located. Does the job involve any travelling?
6. outline what the job involves and staff relationships. A good descriptive job title and the salary alone communicates much information to target candidates looking for this type of job. Selected key words or phrases - projects, programmes and prospects - that indicate key aspects/challenges of the job will enhance the message content
7. An outline of the type of organisation, products/sector, size and job related policy items are important for more senior professional posts. The firm may decide not to declare its name - keeping recruitment information from existing staff or its rivals. It may be recruiting via an agency who will advise candidates appropriately of their client's details.
8. Minimum experience, skills and qualities required
9. Instructions for reply including method and closing date
10. To declare commitment to equal opportunities, many now include the routinised, bland phrase (which should be redundant anyway).

    "We are an equal opportunities employer" or "We endeavour to be an equal opportunities employer".

---

Assignment 1

Create a scrap book of 10-15 job advertisements found in various newspapers/journals. Evaluate each of the adverts in term.

• why was the newspaper appropriate to the job
• which of the basic items are covered?
• Why may have some items been left out.
• Evaluate the good and bad points of each advertisement. Consider
  • content
  • style/tone
  • layout

• Which adverts may breach rules on discrimination?
• Recommend ways in which each could be improved.

Use the following example layout for the exercise.

Job 1 etc	Good points	Improvements needed
	statement of qualifications required is clear.	not 'sold' as an attractive place to work.
	closing date given.	no description of what the job involves.
	logo and address/phone	no benefits package mentioned.

---

Assignment 2

SUPERSHOP

SUPERSHOP is setting the pace in retailing - Britain's fastest growing business sector. The company is investing non-stop to make shopping a better experience for its customers and to create more opportunities for staff. New stores and superstores - with masses of partking space - are being opened every week. Inside them are new products and ideas. And behind the scenes there's first class management training and staff development to back up these exciting evelopments.

As a new graduate about the enter the job market, would these descriptions inspire you to inquire after a job vacancy with this organisation? If not, why not?

---

Assignment 3

What recruitment methods are used in your organisation for

• unskilled jobs
• skilled jobs
• administrative
• sales
• professional
• managerial jobs.

---

---

BOLA is developed and maintained by Chris Jarvis