Business

Daily Buzz: Recruit Skilled Workers With a Good Job Description

How organizations present job opportunities to candidates makes a difference. Also: Engaging virtual audiences.

Having trouble recruiting the right candidates? You might be going wrong from the very beginning of the process: writing the job description.

“When it’s time to recruit, hire, and onboard, the most common approaches are routine and rote, prone to misjudgment and error,” says Whitney Johnson in Harvard Business Review.

Instead of a copy-and-paste approach to recruiting, take the time to personalize the job description to fit the current needs of your organization.

“If you think the job you’re hiring for hasn’t changed in the last five years—or even in the past year—then it’s probably just about the only thing in your organization that hasn’t,” Johnson says.

With that in mind, carefully consider the language and tone of your description. For one, don’t use limiting language: Gender-biased language, even when it’s implicit (like “rock star” or “ninja” and “nurturing” or “loyal”), is known to discourage possible candidates. Careless or misleading language can also send applicants away, Johnson says.

“If a job really doesn’t require two years of prior experience, don’t claim it does. If you’re trying to diversify your workforce (and I hope you are) then include language specifically inviting diverse interest,” Johnson says.

You should also think about the meaning of the job when crafting the job description, Johnson suggests. Candidates who are passionate about the role will be eager to sign up.

“It is critical that organizations ensure the roles they are hiring for are quality opportunities for meaningful work, personal growth, and impact. This needs to be conveyed through the job description and even into the interviewing process,” she says.

Make Your Virtual Event More Interactive

If you’re worried about engaging a virtual audience, there are several ways to make an online event interactive, says Callie Walker of MemberClicks.

Moderators can encourage attendee participation by using polls. “Best of all, as long as you have the right technology in place, conducting live polls is easy. So don’t worry about this being too much extra work on your plate,” Walker says.

Other Links of Note

Recruitment is not going away, so make the most of your job board, says Madgex’s Sergio Garcia.

Your board should be using cloud storage services to demonstrate transparency and conserve resources, argues Annisa Wanat on Nonprofit Tech for Good.

Looking to outsource your marketing efforts? You don’t need to lose your brand voice, says Michael Brenner of Marketing Insider Group.

(vicky_81/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Michael Hickey

By Michael Hickey

Michael Hickey is a contributor to Associations Now. MORE

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