Using Your USP When Writing Job Ads To Attract Great Employees
Using Your USP When Writing Job Ads To Attract Great Employees
Gone are the days when you would say “Bookkeeper, Brisbane” and then list off the basic duties you expect and expect a flood of applications. These days it is a two way street – what the candidate is expected to do and what you can do for the candidate.
This is where marketing and human resources come together.
Marketing and Human Resources have more in common that most people realize. At present most industries are finding it really tough to get applicants for vacant positions, let alone a good quality of applicant. I have heard many businesses moaning that they haven’t had a single application to an ad – and yet some businesses are snowed under with applications. What’s the difference?
The smart business knows that in a candidate poor market you have to sell the benefits of working for your company BEFORE the candidate will consider applying for a job with you.
You need to sell candidates on the idea that you are a great place for them to invest their time and share their talents. You need to attract attention to your business and find a way to tempt candidates to send in their application to you. You can also use this as a chance to extend your brand in the marketplace – after all generally you are paying for an ad so why not use the chance to sell your brand at the same time.
This is where your USP or unique selling proposition comes in.
What is unique about your business – what makes you special and stand out from the other businesses in the industry? Chances are that your USP that attracts customers will also attract staff (if used the right way).
Let's make this practical – say your USP is that you provide exceptional service, an experience every time a customer does business with you. How do you provide exceptional service and a quality experience to your staff? What do you do that shows you care about and value your staff (and no - just saying that you do won’t cut it). Tell some stories in your ads. For example – “Would you like your boss to make YOU coffee every the morning?” or “We are happy to roster you around school sports days, speech days and reading group. We believe your family is important too!”
Is your USP that you serve a particular niche market – you are the only left handed widget maker in Australia. So – your recruitment ads need to show how you value people who are different and out of the ordinary, people who love to specialize in one thing in depth rather than a lot of things in general.
If your USP is that you think outside the square – well your ad for staff needs to stand out and be different. “Round pegs wanted”, “Bathroom philosophers required”. Do you get the idea?
Be really clear about the sort of people that will make your USP come alive and then write your ad in a way that it is like a big neon sign saying “Hey you – over here. I have just the right job to make you happy”. Of course, you may have another challenge if the way you treat your staff is not in line with your USP – but that is a whole other article.
If you are clear on who you are, what you are looking for and how you can benefit candidates then you are more likely to get the right candidates applying for your jobs.
The bottom line is in the present recruitment market, jobs are plentiful and great applicants few and far between. Put your marketing skills to good use – and attract the best candidates out there.
Using Your USP When Writing Job Ads To Attract Great Employees - To learn more about this author, visit Ingrid Cliff's Website.
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When you are looking to recruit staff, what many companies forget is in a candidate poor market you need to sell the reasons in your job ads why someone would choose to work for you.
Gone are the days when you would say “Bookkeeper, Brisbane” and then list off the basic duties you expect and expect a flood of applications. These days it is a two way street – what the candidate is expected to do and what you can do for the candidate.
This is where marketing and human resources come together.
Marketing and Human Resources have more in common that most people realize. At present most industries are finding it really tough to get applicants for vacant positions, let alone a good quality of applicant. I have heard many businesses moaning that they haven’t had a single application to an ad – and yet some businesses are snowed under with applications. What’s the difference?
The smart business knows that in a candidate poor market you have to sell the benefits of working for your company BEFORE the candidate will consider applying for a job with you.
You need to sell candidates on the idea that you are a great place for them to invest their time and share their talents. You need to attract attention to your business and find a way to tempt candidates to send in their application to you. You can also use this as a chance to extend your brand in the marketplace – after all generally you are paying for an ad so why not use the chance to sell your brand at the same time.
This is where your USP or unique selling proposition comes in.
What is unique about your business – what makes you special and stand out from the other businesses in the industry? Chances are that your USP that attracts customers will also attract staff (if used the right way).
Let's make this practical – say your USP is that you provide exceptional service, an experience every time a customer does business with you. How do you provide exceptional service and a quality experience to your staff? What do you do that shows you care about and value your staff (and no - just saying that you do won’t cut it). Tell some stories in your ads. For example – “Would you like your boss to make YOU coffee every the morning?” or “We are happy to roster you around school sports days, speech days and reading group. We believe your family is important too!”
Is your USP that you serve a particular niche market – you are the only left handed widget maker in Australia. So – your recruitment ads need to show how you value people who are different and out of the ordinary, people who love to specialize in one thing in depth rather than a lot of things in general.
If your USP is that you think outside the square – well your ad for staff needs to stand out and be different. “Round pegs wanted”, “Bathroom philosophers required”. Do you get the idea?
Be really clear about the sort of people that will make your USP come alive and then write your ad in a way that it is like a big neon sign saying “Hey you – over here. I have just the right job to make you happy”. Of course, you may have another challenge if the way you treat your staff is not in line with your USP – but that is a whole other article.
If you are clear on who you are, what you are looking for and how you can benefit candidates then you are more likely to get the right candidates applying for your jobs.
The bottom line is in the present recruitment market, jobs are plentiful and great applicants few and far between. Put your marketing skills to good use – and attract the best candidates out there.
Using Your USP When Writing Job Ads To Attract Great Employees - To learn more about this author, visit Ingrid Cliff's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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