Website launched

Fourth term project: Job advertisement

GIMNASIO LOS PINOS

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FOURTH TERM PROJECT

9 ^TH GRADE

JOB ADVERTS

how to design and write effective job advertisements - tips and techniques

…The job is your product; the readers of the job advert are your potential customers. The aim of the job advert is to attract interest, communicate quickly and clearly the essential points, and to provide a clear response process and mechanism. Design should concentrate on clarity of text, layout, and on conveying a professional image…

Job adverts and recruitment processes should follow the classical AIDA selling format: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

This means that good job advertisements must first attract attention (from appropriate job-seekers); attract relevant interest (by establishing relevance in the minds of the ideal candidates); create desire (to pursue what looks like a great opportunity), and finally provide a clear instruction for the next action or response.

Job adverts no-nos

• over-designed graphics (distracts and slows reading)
• extravagantly presented layouts and words (distracts and slows reading)

difficult to read quickly or at all for any reason

• font (type-style) too small or too large
• capital-letters (upper-case)
• lots of words in italics - they are a lot more difficult to read quickly
• too much technical detail about the job or the company
• too many words - they are a real turn-off - keep it simple
• uninspiring, boring descriptions of roles and ideal candidates
• too much emphasis on the job and not enough on the person

Job adverts writing tips

1. Use one simple headline, and make the job advert headline relevant and clear. Normally the logical headline is the job title itself - this is after all what people will be looking for.
2. Make the advert easy to read. Use simple language, avoid complicated words unless absolutely necessary (for example if recruiting for Head of Rocket Science), and keep enough space around the text to attract attention to it. Less is more. Giving text some space is a very powerful way of attracting the eye, and also a way of ensuring you write efficiently. Efficient writing enables efficient reading.

3. Use short sentences. More than fifteen words in a sentence reduces the clarity of the meaning. After drafting your communication, seek out commas and 'and's, and replace with full-stops.
4. Use simple type-styles: Arial, Tahoma, Times, etc.
5. Try to avoid upper-case (capitals) even in headings - it's very much slower to read. Increase prominence by use of a larger point-size, and to an extent emboldening, not by using capitals. CAPITALS HAVE NO WORDSHAPES - SEE WHAT I MEAN?)

6. Get the reader involved. Refer to the reader as ‘you’ and use the second person (‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘yours’ etc) in the description of the requirements and expectations of the candidate and the job role. This helps people to visualise themselves in the role. It involves them.
7. Try to incorporate something new, innovative, exciting, challenging - people are attracted to new things - either in the company or the role.
8. Stress what is unique. You must try to emphasise what makes your job and organization special.

9. Remember AIDA: The Attention part is the banner or headline that makes an impressive benefit promise. Interest builds information in an interesting way, usually meaning that this must relate closely to the way that the reader thinks about the issues concerned. Since job advertisements aim to produce a response you must then create Desire, which relates job appeal and rewards to the reader so that they will aspire to them and want them. Finally you must prompt an Action, which may be to call a telephone number or to send CV, or to download an application form from a website address. Your job advert should follow this step by step format to be effective.

10. Many job ads are written with the assumption that the employer is doing potential candidates a favour by inviting them to apply for their job. This attitude instantly discourages your audience — if you're not welcoming in your job adverts then you can't expect people to think you'll provide a welcoming place to work.

11. Looking for a job is a full time job in itself so try and keep your job advert to fewer than 700 words. Long rambling job adverts suggest a stifling working environment, whereas a fun and joke packed advert will give the impression of unprofessionalism. Talk to people on their level and in the second person, using 'you' and 'your' rather than 'we' and 'our'.

job adverts checklist

Having seen the layout and design rules above, here are the items to include in an effective job advert- use a sequence that works best.

1. Job title
2. Short introduction — Aim to keep this to around 40 words and talk about the job rather than the company.
3. Role responsibilities - List between three and seven main tasks the successful applicant will be expected to undertake. For example, “Developing an email marketing programme to help increase customer retention levels”. 
4. Outline of ideal candidate profile - expressed in 'second-person' What skills, qualifications or attributes are you looking for in your ideal applicant? Try and divide these up between what is necessary and what would be an advantage.
5. Indicate qualifications and experience required
6. Rewards — As well as information on the salary candidates can expect to receive,  you should also look to point out some of the key benefits and perks they can look forward to. What would make them want to apply for your role rather than a similar position with a competitor? Rewards don't have to be financial so think about what flexible working programmes, team outings or child day care options your company offers.
7. Location - As well as filling in the ‘Location' field when filling in the online job posting form, you may also want to add more specific information about where the job is based.
8. Whether the role is full-time or permanent or a short-term contract
9. Other package details or guide (pension, car etc)
10. Your company — What's your business? If your company isn't a well known brand name you'll need to provide an explanation of what kind of industry you are in. E.G  if it's a sales role you could put “A leading supplier of textiles with an aggressive expansion programme to gain business outside the UK.” whereas for an IT role you could put “A leading supplier of textiles with a newly developed online ordering system built on a .NET framework.” Don't make the mistake of providing too much information here.
11. Explanation of recruitment process
12. Response and application instructions
13. Contact details as necessary, for example, address, phone, fax, email, etc; website address, corporate branding.

Text taken and modified from businessballs.com[i] and hiring.monster.co.uk [ii]

Other links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThLUnDH2kik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI-rsong4xs

AUSTRALIA THE BEST JOB:

https://blog.queensland.com/2013/03/05/best-job-in-the-world-is-back/

NEWS PORTFOLIO

It will be done each two weeks. Students must print an article from CNN, BBc, New york Herald... an take it to the class where vocabulary and a summary will be done.