Marketing is an indispensable practice for any business, no matter how big or how small. While there are many skilled and experienced individuals in this field, there’s a difference between finding a strong marketer and finding the right one for your business – the one that understands your company’s needs as well as your audience. Follow along as I walk you through the process I recommend.
It’s Time to Attract Powerful Marketers to Your Business
1. Explain the Hiring Process
The application is a very important point in the hiring process, and for a potential candidate this is one of the last steps. But for the recruiter, it is the first thing they need to consider. Once you’ve got the hiring process all set up, make sure to inform your candidates about how it works. (Here’s a good example: Dollar General application.) Use this opportunity to explain your selection criteria as well. Providing potential candidates with complete information will boost your credibility and also help them understand what your business culture is all about.
Before submitting an online application, job seekers should have the option of reading through the submission to check for (and correct) anything that is inaccurate or unclear.
2. Don’t Oversell It
Remember: you are trying to attract marketers. And you’re not just interested in any kind of marketer, you want the best of the best. The people you are looking for know every trick in the book, so don’t risk trying to use their tactics in your favor because it’s not going to work.
Marketers will spot meaningless buzzwords and overhyped perks immediately. And while you may actually be offering a host of interesting opportunities and benefits, overselling them is going to look bad.
However, being too sober about the whole thing can also be off-putting. Ideally, you’ll want to find a middle ground between the two. Still, if you find it difficult to reach that perfect balance between friendly and professional, it’s better to lean towards professional and formal rather than friendly. Why? Because friendly will often lead to an overenthusiastic post about an opening that makes the applicant wonder why there’s even an opening in the first place, if the job is so much fun. Nobody’s falling for it, and your potential marketers might even feel slighted that you assume they would.
Here’s an example of how not to start your job posting: “Do you tweet, share, and post to social media in your sleep?” The rest of the job description may be quite specific and clear about the actual tasks the candidate must fulfill, but that opening phrase sounds a bit daunting. Does the job actually require your marketer to work non-stop and on-call for 24 hours a day? If this is the type of grueling hardship the job posting advertises, it may well put some people off!
Yet you definitely do not want your job posting to be utterly dry either, so you could go for something a bit more down to earth, such as: “We are seeking a savvy wordsmith to join our blogging team.” This example says something specific about the person you’re looking for without being over the top.
3. Frame Your Opening Right
That being said, you don’t have to just present a dictionary-style definition of the job you’re offering. When writing the actual job posting to pull in the right marketer, it’s important to think like a marketer. In this case, however, it is not about how a marketer would write the ad, but about how a marketer would feel about this job.
The person in charge of crafting the posting must first put themselves in a marketer’s shoes, then imagine what a day of work would look like for this position. What would candidates be interested in? What skills would they need to possess, and what might they dislike? The posting writer must consider this question: Why do these candidates love doing what they do? Expressing these insights will show your candidates that you empathize with them and that you have a genuine concern for them to feel right at home at your company.
A complete, balanced posting will show candidates that you are well aware that the job can sometimes be boring or frustrating, and that you also know they are passionate about what they do, and you respect that.
Not all of the people who read the posting will fit the profile you are after. But those who do will resonate with that message and will be more likely to give it a try. The culmination of this process is selecting the right kind of marketer out of the tens or hundreds who see the posting.
4. Be Clear About What You’re Looking For
A good-looking job posting is sure to attract a lot of great marketers, but it can also attract enthusiastic people who will just not fit the position. To avoid having to comb through dozens of job applications that don’t fit the bill, you must be very clear about the profile of your ideal candidate.
Crafting this profile is really just as important as the posting itself. Apart from the strictly work-related skills you need to consider – such as relevant experience, education and portfolio – there are also things that relate indirectly to work that can be just as important. Consider what type of person would fit in with your corporate culture. What would they have to do? What kind of person should they be? Easy-going and fun-loving with a hip, creative approach, or more traditional, buttoned-down and formal?
In crafting the posting, present the experience and requirements as a list of bullet points. This is a good example of this type of list:
- BA/BS degree or equivalent working experience
- Past experience producing content specifically for the web, as well as channel-specific knowledge (blog, SlideShare, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
- Past experience building audiences either online or offline
- Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite (particularly Photoshop and InDesign)
Each requirement is clearly described and the bullet points draw in the eye of the reader. It’s also worth noting that in this particular posting nothing is described as a plus. When it comes to using particular software (especially those in the Adobe Creative Suite), many employers described proficiency with these programs as a “plus” which can leave marketers wondering whether the job actually includes working on design elements, or if other people are in charge of design, where they would only be called on to make minor adjustments as needed, or give feedback and tips.
5. Attract The Right Candidate
When you think about creating this profile, don’t make the mistake of looking for a unicorn. Don’t worry, this isn’t cryptozoology – in the HR field, a unicorn is a candidate possessing every positive quality imaginable and basically zero negative traits. In short, a person that doesn’t really exist.
Once you build your profile, you can tailor all postings to speak to the type of person you are seeking. Of course there will be some spammy candidates, those who tend to apply to any posting that’s even remotely related to their interests. But by and large, you are indeed more likely to attract the right kind of candidate if you clearly express what type of candidate is right. You accomplish this both directly and indirectly through your choice of tone and wording.
When creating this posting also consider whether or not your company is willing to allow marketers to work remotely. Many job seekers appreciate the empowerment this kind of work schedule offers them. And marketing is one of the fields that actually lends itself well to remote work or project-based assignments.
Additionally, state clearly in your posting whether you are looking for a collaborator or a full-time employee. It may seem obvious to you, but do spell out which type of employment you are offering.
Use these tips as a guideline when you are creating that job posting that will attract the great marketers that you want – and need! It’s all about clearly expressing what you want to see in a candidate. Do this, and you will bring in the people you need.
What steps do you take when writing out a job posting? What worked? What hasn’t? Let’s discuss.
