Mirror, mirror
Recruitment reflected, pt 7
Irrespective of whether you are looking for work, or advertising for a vacancy, one of the biggest challenges is getting others to see you in the way you know you are.
Often this starts with documentation that shows a slice of what it represents, but rarely shows ‘what’s in it for us’ to the reader.
Wouldn’t you say that many CVs hide good candidates?
Sometimes you know you may be missing out, but if others are good enough it’s an acceptable sacrifice not to investigate further.
Who has the time when you have 100 CVs to review?
If someone can’t write an adequate CV, they probably aren’t a brilliant candidate.
How’s your CV? How’s your LinkedIn profile?
What do they say about you?
I’ve pasted below part of a Jobseeker advice post on how to represent themselves more relevantly.
‘Think about your last role. Imagine you've been promoted and been tasked to find your replacement.
You are only allowed 30 minutes to find them, and are limited to only using LinkedIn:
- search on suitable job titles and skills. This might be your own job title, equivalent ones, or key words that you know will flag up the right kind of candidate (does your own profile have these?)
- get a shortlist of 3-6 likely candidates. That's the number of qualified candidates you might expect at 1st stage interview in a well run process
- choose your favourite candidate only from their LinkedIn profile. This hopefully doesn't happen in real life, but then this isn't a real recruitment exercise
Successful appointment!
Now ask yourself this:
- what made you click on their profile?
- what appeals to you about them?’
The remainder of the post advises how to apply the findings in their own content.
By putting themselves in a hiring manager’s shoes they can identify ways in which to sell themselves better.
Of course, you can do the same as a hiring manager.
And you can assume your vacancy is viewed in the same way you might a volume of CVs.
If you’re recruiting for a Job Title, put yourselves in the shoes of a Job Title.
Where will they look for work?
Go to LinkedIn jobs, CV Library, Reed, Indeed, Totaljobs etc, and search on Job Title.
Filter by area and salary.
What are the results like? How many are there?
Read through a few examples - would you apply, if you were a discerning job seeker and didn’t need any old job?
If you can find an appealingly written example of a Job Title, what was it that stood out?
Was it the dry list of responsibilities?
Was it that the advert was about the reader and not the company?
Did it say ‘you’ more than ‘we’?
Now compare and contrast critically with your own advert.
How can you improve it? How can you show equivalent information to this ideal advert, to make your vacancy stand out?
Don’t copy word for word - instead, apply the ideas you gain to your unique context.
Even if you don’t work on improving your adverts, understanding what you’re competing against is healthy.
Particularly if you find your salary or notable benefits are below what they should be.
Do the same with your careers page and your competitors’.
What ideas can you emulate to make yours stand out more?
Put yourself in your candidates’ shoes, and give them what they need to make a positive decision.
Then if you need to look for work at any point, you can write for your readers in your CV too.
It’s about you, not me.
Regards,
Greg
P.s While you are here, if you like the idea of improving how you recruit, lack capacity or need better candidates, and are curious how I can help, these are my services:
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