“Quite frankly, your job advert is frightful.” she said.

You’ll hear every day at the moment about #thegreatresignation# and how it’s such a #hotmarket. Too true. It is a busy market. Engineers are in shorter supply than ever I have seen in the last decade and it’s almost always been ‘short’ so that’s saying something.

Attracting and retaining human beings

As an employer, this means that attracting and retaining human beings who work for you will be harder than ever. If you’re attracting them, job advertisements need to be smartly written and appealing. Whether you’re posting a job advert on Seek or your own website or whether you’re reaching out to someone on LinkedIn, you’re still advertising your company. The same applies – make it appeal.

The candidate you want to hire is highly unlikely to be sitting at home scrolling their media feed and waiting for your advert. It is more likely they will have been contacted three times by recruiters already this week and under pressure from their current employer to design, deliver the very same projects you bid on six months ago. Your contact needs to be punchy.

How are you going to use words to attract that candidate to call or contact you and apply for a job at your company?

Here’s a few ideas:

• Add a salary. Is salary everything? Certainly not but it does help give an indication that a. you’re serious and have thought about the role and b. the level of experience you’re looking for is suitable for the candidate reading the advert. Adding a salary bracket is a contentious topic and there’s advantages and disadvantages but in general, I’d advise that adding on makes sense in the engineering sector. After all, engineering professionals like figures.
• Tell your potential hire why they should join you in the first paragraph. What’s in it for them? Speak it. If you don’t know, have a think about it before you write. You want an engineer with 5 years’ experience to design a road. Why would that person join you?
• Don’t waffle on about company facts and figures or international offices. Instead, tell them what they will achieve by working for you. Appeal to their ‘why’.
• Don’t be prescriptive. You really don’t need to add that you’re looking for someone who has ‘Excellent Communications Skills’. Are you going to turn down a 5 year 12D Designer because they can’t write an email with 100% accurate grammar right now?  

Sell your role, sell your company. A job advert is not a position description, don’t make it in to one.

For guidance or advice on hiring right now or an appraisal of market conditions in the land development, transport or buildings sectors, feel free to call us any time, or contact us here.