Pretty much every article about recruitment advertising I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot) is undermined by its ignorance of what a job description’s purpose really is. And for the avoidance of doubt, in the hands of a recruiter, a job description’s purpose is to inform a candidate about the scope of a job. …
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If you’re like most hiring managers, you dread those times when your department throws-up a job vacancy that needs to be filled. Suddenly you’re faced with having to do lots of things you’ve never been trained to do; things like posting a job advert, dealing with recruitment agencies, screening and interviewing candidates and making a…
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Jackie Barrie shares the story of how a new call to action generated a £13,500 placement. Chris Booth is the director of a UK recruitment agency called Finders. He attended our copywriting for recruitment course and discovered a new way to write the call to action at the end of his job ads. After Chris…
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Trevor’s an Accountant. He’s been one for about 15 years. One day he’s sitting on the train home after a particularly bad day at work. First, he was passed over for promotion. Then his boss behaved even more stupidly than usual. On reflection, Trevor’s realised he’s become stale and isn’t learning anything anymore. So, he…
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Most recruiters like the idea, in theory, of retained recruitment; being retained by a client. For the avoidance of doubt, a retainer is an amount of money that is paid/received in advance of work done, to secure the commitment of both the client and the supplier. Why do recruiters like retainers? Recruiters generally like the idea of…
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Recruiters (like everyone else) tend to write to match their own psychological preference. But people are different. It’s part of the joy of being human. Some people are more motivated to move towards a goal. Others are more motivated to move away from a problem. As a recruiter, you want to motivate the right people…
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The Equality and Human Rights Commission* (EHRC) has a priority aim of ensuring that people have equal access to the labour market and are treated fairly at work. You probably know about the protected characteristics as identified by the Equality Act 2010**. They include age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity,…
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Are you trying to attract someone to move sideways? From a job somewhere else that’s a similar level to the one you’re recruiting for? That might be what the hiring manager wants from you, but it’s tricky to achieve. Think about it from the candidate’s point of view. Sideways moves Leaving a job to work…
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Attrition/əˈtrɪʃ(ə)n/ noun: The process of reducing something’s strength or effectiveness through sustained attack or pressure. Wearing down, wearing away, weakening, debilitating, enfeebling. Apparently, nearly half of all new hires into the agency recruitment sector leave within their first 6 months, according to a recent CIPD report. Typical responses to why this is so high on this LinkedIn post,…
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There are 5 things that make our Copywriting for Recruiters course different: 1. It’s delivered by a copywriter (Jackie) and a recruiter (Mitch), so you get insights from both outside and inside the industry. 2. Thousands of recruiters have already worked through it and are benefiting from better results from their job ads. 3. You can choose the…
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Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the immediate outcomes when training recruiters how to write effective job ads. What I mean by “immediate outcomes” is the quality of their first attempt at writing their ads differently after they’ve done the course and are sat in either a group workshop or a 121 coaching session.…
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Snippet of a webinar where Mitch Sullivan answers questions about copywriting for recruiters. Mitch says: If you’re really stuck, then just go basic and just make the opening line in your ad as: “Here’s why I think you’ll love this job”. And then tell them why you think they’ll love that job. Just be completely…
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The exclamation mark is known informally as ‘a bang’ or ‘a shriek’. It’s frequently used in fiction and then mostly to express strong feeling in spoken dialogue. There are broadly 3 types of people who use exclamations marks: Clients don’t want their recruitment agencies to be any of these things – which makes the fact…
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Yes, that’s an inflammatory title. Sorry. We’re pretty sure you’d say: “No”. But it’s more complicated than that. You might have heard of unconscious bias. That’s when we make decisions based on our deep-seated thought patterns and assumptions, without being aware of them. Neuro-science tells us that’s not a bad thing. It sometimes helps human…
continue reading...Recruiter, Mitch Sullivan, talking about how long a job ad should be. I often get asked how long a job ad should be and there is no easy answer to this a lot of it will depend on the type of candidate audience you’re writing the ad for. For example is it for younger less…
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Here’s an informal (and I hasten to add, convivial) conversation I once had in a pub with the owner of a recruitment agency: Me: “What are you in the business of selling? You know, when you break it all down?” Agency Owner: “Talent.” Me: “F*** off, seriously…” Agency Owner: “OK OK… candidates.” Me: “Who pays…
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Many people who work in HR and Recruitment seem to think a job advert and a job description are somehow interchangeable. At the risk of coming across like a pedant, I think it’s important that we clarify their respective functions because expecting one to do the job of the other is doomed to failure. When…
continue reading...This is a snippet of a webinar where Mitch Sullivan answers questions about copywriting for recruiters. Here’s what he was asked: JB: Every job’s got boring bits. Every job’s got bits that people don’t like. And I think it’s fair enough, to be open, honest and transparent about those boring bits. You might not put…
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When I read agency websites and/or recruiter profiles I nearly always see words like this being liberally used… “market leading” “unrivalled” “unique” “exceptional” “top talent” “innovative” I could go on… The problem is, when people read this stuff so regularly, it doesn’t tally with their own experiences of recruitment agencies. And it doesn’t really matter…
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One of the things about agency recruitment I’ve always pushed back against is their notion of what selling is. I nearly did it again when I was on Mark Gaisford’s webinar, but managed to control myself in case I derailed the agenda. Agency recruiters are often accused of being a bit “too pushy” when it…
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