“Before you were a recruiter, you were a human being”
“Before you were a recruiter, you were a human being.”
This is a phrase we use often on our training courses.
And we continue with; “And you need to write in a way that appeals to other human beings.”
Make it easier for people
A contributory factor to people wanting to read something is ease of use. Or in other words, making it as easy as possible to be read and understood.
That means using short sentences, plenty of white space (aka paragraph breaks) and simple words. The kinds of words you’d naturally use when speaking.
The easier something is to read, the stronger the likelihood that it will actually be read, as opposed to just scanned.
The problem with recruitment adverts
The problem with most recruitment adverts is that recruiters see other job ads and think that’s the way they ought to be written. They fall into bad habits and use the same recruitment clichés. Words that are so over-used they’ve become meaningless.
In a study by WHATJOBS?, ‘fast-paced’ was the most common phrase used in job ads posted on their platform (closely followed by ‘dynamic’, ‘team player’, ‘proactive’ and ‘can-do attitude’).
In 1 million UK job ads posted in one month on Adzuna, the most common words and phrases were ‘communication skills’, ‘passionate’, ‘motivated’, ‘organised’ and ‘track record’.
Try to think differently
If you find yourself writing something you’ve written a million times before (or that you’ve seen a million times before), try to think of another way of saying it. If the environment really is fast-paced, prove it by telling stories and/or sharing facts. Then, your ads are more likely to stand out, get read and be believed.
Try to sound like a human being
Another way to stand out is to sound like a human being – and that means writing as you speak.
Here’s a list of words that will help you do that:
If you want to sound more human you need to write in a more human way – our copywriting courses for recruiters can help you do this.
If you would like more thoughts and musings on recruitment, you might want to download Mitch’s free book “On Recruitment”.
