...the Web's Best Employment Resources

Job postings on a Web site are very different from want ads (where you are paying by word) and even job descriptions (which are written in company and HR jargon). How are they different?

• Usually, you are not restricted by the number of words you can use in your description, and most employment sites have search engines for applicants to use to find job postings, so:
  • Make those descriptions really descriptive -- be almost wordy so that there will be plenty of "keywords" in your descriptions. We call these words "search engine fodder" -- words that applicants will use to find your job descriptions (or your competitor's).
  • Include appropriate technical and professional jargon
  • Use bulleted lists to call attention to certain aspects of the description.
  • Use the space to sell your organization and this job opportunity. Mention the work environment (physical, business, and social), the benefits (health, dental, tuition reimbursement, pension, 401K, flex time, telecommuting, profit-sharing, etc.), and the organization's glowing future.
• Use a descriptive job title, not the real one if the real one is boring or unclear to anyone outside your organization. For example, is "Financial Analyst II" the bottom, middle, or top rung of this career path?
• If possible (depends on the employment site) link to your organization's Web site where there will (hopefully!!) be more job descriptions and more exciting information about your organization, if the applicant cares to visit.
• Offer as many ways as possible for the applicant to reach you, e.g., phone, FAX, e-mail, and "snail mail" (street, city, state, and zip).
• Respond immediately with an acknowledgement, personalized if possible, to the applicant via e-mail.

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Most employment sites provide activity reports or, at least, access to some statistics about the number of times a posting is viewed by an applicant, the number of actual applications, etc. You will need to keep information in the applicant's record on the actual applicant source so that you can compare postings to hires, at a minimum.

Some ideas:

• Post the same job, if you can, with different job titles and different descriptions, assign each a unique requisition number and see which gets the most, and best, results. Then, use what you learn on your next description (and eliminate the less productive ones).

  Note: an effective description on one site is not necessarily an effective description on another site, but it usually is. The reason: each site search engine is different and uses different algorithms to determine search results "relevance" (which selection is first, second, third, etc.).

• Assign your own identifier to each job posting and each employment site. For example, a Systems Analyst could be MB-00-01-0004 on the Monster Board, number DC-00-01-0004 on Dice, and number CJ-00-01-0004 on Computer Jobs.
• Assign a unique e-mail address for responding to each different employment site, e.g. MBjobs@yourcompany.com for the Monster Board, etc.
• Set up, if possible, a separate Web page for each employment site so that, if an applicant clicks on your Web site from the Monster Board, you have a count of the number of "click-throughs" you got from Monster Board. The Web page can look like the "real" Web page, but it will just have a different file name. For example, you could send Monster Board applicants to www.yourcompany.com/indexMB.html rather than www.yourcompany.com/index.html.

  Note: this will cause extra work for your Web team to set up and maintain multiple pages that are EXACTLY the same, except for the file name. It will also work only if your Web team has access to your Web site's "server statistics" so they can see the number of times that a page is requested.