Last week I ran into a situation which reminded me that even the smallest details need to paid attention to when it comes to talent attraction.
After sharing a new HR job on the Evil HR Facebook jobs group that a client had just posted, one of the members asked me a question about the role.
You see, one of the requirements stated that a certain state license was required. But that one little requirement seemed to throw off interested applicants. It was a license that no HR person usually has. Therefore the candidate didn't think she could apply for the job.
So I messaged the person who posted the job and asked for clarification.
It turns out the employer was willing to pay for the successful candidate to apply for the state license and shepard the process. However the job description did NOT state this information.
I asked the client to rephrase the line item in the requirements to reflect that. Now the posting has a better chance at getting more applicants by simply stating the license requirement is merely a formality that the hiring company will take care of for the successful candidate.
That one line could have prevented qualified people from applying.
I wonder how many examples of this happen each day across the millions of job descriptions posted online. How many are preventing candidates from applying due to poorly worded requirements?
It is a lesson you all can learn from. Words matter in a job description. Audit yours and you might be surprised what misleading things you can find.
The very next day another thing happened to that same job posting. Someone at the corporate office accidentally deleted the job from the ATS. The apply button for the job on EvilHRjobs.com was broken!
A second frustrated candidate on the Facebook group pointed this out in the comments and I had to quickly email the client again to warn her no one could apply! It was fixed within 24hrs but I could only wonder about how many had tried to apply in that timeframe. Who knows how many applications were lost.
And we wonder why companies can’t hire fast enough. Attention to detail is at the heart of the candidate experience. Roadblocks like the ones above serve only to frustrate good candidates.
Remember that the next time you post a job online.
TIP: Are you frustrated by the lack of applicants to certain jobs? Try adding the salary/wage info to the end of your job title. It should generate more interest from potential candidates.
