Jazzy Job Ads Attract Lots of Responses

"If you write a good ad, it' s the start of the whole thing," says Lou Adler, president of Power Hiring, an interviewworkshop and software firm in Tustin, CA. Unfortunately, most ads are being written the way they were written 100 years ago.

Treat job candidates as if they were a scarce resource, not a commodity. By doing that, recruiters will start writing morecreative titles and tantalizing ads.

There are three components to an ad - having, doing, and becoming. "The having is the list of experiences andresponsibilities and duties of the job. It' s very static and boring, and in many ways, misleading. It also precludes thebest people from applying," Adler tells Recruiting Trends.

Recruiters need to write ads that focus on the doing, what the person will do on the job, and the becoming, what theperson will become by taking this job. "These are the compelling features of the job. Why if you take the job, you' ll bebetter than you are today," Adler says.

Focus on what candidates need to do with what they have, not what they need to have. For example:

• Don' t say: Five years of engineering experience and an electrical degree needed.
• Say: Design three new telecommunications products over the next year.
• Don' t say: Three years of Java experience and B.S. degree in computer science required.
• Say: Develop new Internet e-commerce site.

So, instead of Brand Manager, title the ad E-Marketing Guru. Instead of Division Accountant, try out Division Non-Accountant. "You can' t believehow many resumes we got [ with that one] ," Adler says. "What it means is we want an accountant that doesn' t think as an accountant, but someonewho thinks like a business person."

Which Ad Will Elicit More Responses?