When it comes to posting job openings online, companies have one opportunity to make the right impression. Crafting an online job posting that articulates the culture of the organization, detailed qualifications, and specific responsibilities of the job is no easy task. While it is the single most important piece of the online posting process, it is also where most companies drop the ball.
Companies should treat the job posting just as they would as website or Internet landing page. It should be interesting, appealing, and gain the attention of the right audience. Job postings on your company career page, social networking site, or on a job board, should be optimized for search. And by search I mean SEO or search engine optimization. Because without the use of common search terms used by your online job seeker audience, your job requisition is reaching no one or the wrong candidate altogether.
When writing an online job posting, it’s important to work directly with your hiring manager to get an understanding of job specifics including daily responsibilities and must-have qualifications. I have had most success using a standard questionnaire allowing me to uncover the hidden qualifications that recruiters typically learn about after the first round of interviews.
How to Make a Job Posting
While I recommend skimming a copy of the official corporate job description, it’s important to realize that many job descriptions are ineffective or outdated. Perfect job posting requires a research element. Meaning that one must search similar job postings found online looking for specific keyword combinations, information, and skill sets overlooked by your hiring manager.
Once you have determined the most important sets of skills and qualifications, I recommend using an online keyword evaluation tool like Google’s Keyword Tool. It provides you with information about your keywords and combinations including number of monthly searches, keyword competition level, and other common searched for terms. It’s important to select several keyword combinations to focus on appropriately sprinkling them throughout your online job posting. This can be accomplished by providing a general general description at the beginning of your posting and including a bulleted list making sure to mention several of your keywords multiple times for optimized results. Be sure to link back to your original career job posting somewhere within your posting that is listed elsewhere. SmartRecruiters branded job ads are another good way to optimize your job posting within search engines. Search engines love link backs elevating your original job posting in search engine sites like Bing, Yahoo, or Google.
Promoting your openings using social media not only helps you reach wider audiences, but also elevates your job posting within search. Be sure to include a variety of selected keywords and hash tags, increasing the likelihood that you’re corporate career site will be found. Better yet, use your company’s career blog to further support your online posting efforts focusing on keywords and job search tips to attract an appeal to reoccurring job postings.
While optimizing your online job posting takes a small amount of effort, the results can drive qualified candidates instead of all candidates to your job postings. This makes the selection and interview process less time consuming and that much easier.
Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a HR consultant, new media strategist, and author who writes at Blogging4Jobs. Jessica is the host of Job Search Secrets, an internet television show for job seekers.
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