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RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING - GETTING THE BEST RESULTS 

The highest priority of any vacancy advert or recruitment advertising campaign is to attract high calibre, relevant applications.  

With competition for skilled legal costs professionals at a high, the importance of recruitment advertising cannot be overemphasised, whether you are a Proprietor/Director of a small business or a Human Resources Manager for a large company.  

The majority of advertisements from employers and recruitment agencies are written with little thought for the applicants they are trying to attract.   This results in, on the one hand, ineffective use of advertising budget, and on the other, job seekers wary of applying to poor quality adverts.  

Positive benefits will be gained from good quality advertisements which 'Stand out from the Crowd'.  

The first step is to identify the skills and profile of the individual required to fill a vacancy.   A comprehensive job specification must be produced.   Lastly, the vacancy advert should be designed.   This process avoids the misconception that a job specification has a dual purpose, and can also be used as an advertisement.    

In all cases this practice should be avoided.   With advertising space is normally at a premium and costly, it is important to note that the job specification and vacancy advert serve different purposes.  

The vacancy advert must grab the readers’ attention, be succinct, engaging & informative, and above all encourage the reader to apply.    

The job specification, should be sent to any applicant and must provide a more detailed and thorough understanding of the role.  

In such a niche industry it is important to identify the most suitable media for communicating the vacancy advert to its desired audience.  

Consider those resources, both paper based and online, that are aimed at the particular group of job hunters you are seeking to attract.   Niche resources deliver fewer but more targeted applications.  

Before you start writing your job advert or recruitment campaign, take a look through relevant newspapers, magazines or online job boards that advertise legal costs vacancies and ask yourself ‘if I was looking, would I apply to this advert?’  

It should then be possible to write something that will ‘Stand out from the Crowd’.  

Things to remember when writing a vacancy advert or recruitment campaign include:  

- Grab the readers’ attention.

- Establish relevance in the readers mind.

- Communicate quickly and clearly the key aspects of the company, environment, role, prospects, location, remuneration and benefits.

- Create desire to pursue exciting opportunity.

- Provide clear instructions on response process. 

Employers - the most successful advertising media will enable you to brand your vacancy advert or recruitment campaign with your corporate logo.  

A vacancy advert or recruitment campaign is an opportunity to sell your firm and communicate the benefits of working for the company.   Do not waste this opportunity – costs professionals have more options available now than ever before – does your job really ‘Stand out from the Crowd?’  

Once you have written your advert ask yourself again – ‘if I was looking, would I apply to this advert?’

__________  

October 2006 saw the introduction of significant changes to discrimination legislation, with particular reference to discrimination on the basis of Age.  

Everyone who writes vacancy adverts or recruitment campaigns has a responsibility to be aware and abide by legislation that can impact on the recruitment process including; The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations Act, The Race Relations Act, The Sex Discrimination Acts (and the Equal Pay Act) and The Disability Discrimination Act.  

In our next article we will aim to cover some of the more common mistakes found in recruitment campaigns and vacancy adverts.  

Author: David Sparkes

Published in: ALCD Journal (Association of Law Costs Draftsmen)

Dated: December 2006

The opinions and views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.   The author accepts no liability for error, omission or misstatement contained within the article.

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