Whether you are a for profit or a non-profit, finding the right people and getting them into the right roles directly impacts how well your organization runs. This is especially important for smaller organizations where the contribution of each team member has a greater impact on organizational outcomes.
There are four steps to appealing to the right audience and attracting the perfect fit for your team:
Craft Your Opportunity
Find Your Audience
Make “Apply Now” Easy
Be Responsive
Step 1: Craft Your Opportunity
We have a lot more shoved in our faces today than ever before. As a result we look for the main point to quickly tell us if what we’re reading is relevant to us and whether we want to continue. So when crafting your opportunity you want to make sure the key pieces your audience is looking for are clearly displayed.
I’m sure it’s no surprise that the top 3 things looked for in a job ad are compensation, qualifications and job description. This was the case prior to COVID-19, and is likely to be the case after COVID. However, taking COVID into consideration, safety and the ability to work remotely are also some of the top keywords being looked for right now.
When crafting your opportunity in our current environment, if the position is remote this is one of the first things you want to tell people. There are some amazing candidates out there who are only looking for remote work and if you can provide that flexibility then make that clear up front.
The job description should be provided next. You want to tell people about the job. The description, more than the list of qualifications, helps readers decide whether, or not, they can do the job. It also helps them determine if they want to do the job. When it comes to fit, desire to do the job is as important as ability.
In the job description, include 3-5 of the most common activities of the role. Is the person leading team meetings? Will they be expected to check and respond to social media engagements or run reports and analyze the data? Provide an idea of what the ideal candidate needs to be absolutely comfortable with doing consistently. If you have room without getting too wordy, include things that show company culture and set the tone. Such as, promotes a culture of inclusion, fosters team pride, encourages professional development, helps clients love our products.
Next provide your list of requirements. First start with a list of all of the things you want your new hire to have. Then rank them in order of priority. The top items on that list are your requirements. The rest are nice to have and should be labeled as such. When you include the nice to haves in your requirements list you are telling excellent candidates that you don’t want them. By separating the two, you ensure that your candidates understand your priorities and whether they can do the job satisfactorily. You also let them know what skills they will need to learn quickly but don’t necessarily need to have mastered on day one.
There is some debate as to whether you should include compensation in your ad. This is something that candidates would prefer, because it helps them rule out the jobs that don’t pay enough. However, there is more to compensation than salary. If your monetary compensation is competitive, provide a range. Starting at what you would prefer to pay and extending to the high end of what you would be comfortable paying a new team member. If the monetary compensation is not competitive but other benefits like skills training, flexible hours, paid time off, health, vision, dental, on-site child care or a gym membership make up for it, then don’t include the specific numbers, but do include that compensation is competitive and be prepared to discuss compensation as a package and not just as a salary during the interview.
Step 2: Find Your Audience
Now that you have the key parts for your message you have to get it in front of the correct audience. Typically, small businesses and non-profits don’t have hundreds of dollars to pay for jobs advertisements. Frequently, word of mouth is the best way to find your candidates. So you want to look to your website, social media and free services to post your job ad.
Your website should have the full job description with the method(s) for applying. This is the best place to provide all information about your organization and should provide clear links to allow potential candidates to get to know more about you, who you are, what you do and why they should care.
With anything social media, place is important. If you are hiring, LinkedIn should be the first place you post your job ad. And yes, your business or non-profit should have a LinkedIn business page. You can simply create a “we’re hiring” post on the company page, include an image and a link to your website. You do not need to pay for a LinkedIn job ad. Facebook, Twitter and instagram are also good places to put your information though we would suggest simplifying your message, tailoring it to the platform and pointing interested candidates to your website for the full jobs ad.
