Now in their ninth year, the NORAs are seen as the standard by which recruitment websites are measured.  The awards are initially nominated by job seekers themselves.  This year they received almost 25,000 nominations for 654 separate websites.

The finalists were assessed by a selection panel of industry experts (well, and me), from a candidate’s point of view, to arrive at the shortlist of sites across 12 categories.

As an industry insider it was an interesting exercise to see what boundaries are being pushed to help companies recruit better for themselves. Some interesting propositions from small businesses, but the traditional recruitment agency space felt very dated.

Will be interesting to see who actual winners are later this year. I’ll keep you posted…

1.           SELL, SELL, SELL…This is an ADVERT not a job description. This is the first most people will have heard of you and it’s your chance to sell your company and your wonderful position. It is important for people to know  who they work for AND what they are going to be doing, so this is your opportunity to tell candidates about YOUR unique selling points and make you stand out.  Are you a successful, growing business, have you won awards, what’s the company “vibe” like? Everything is relevant. company vibes, size etc.

2.         Make sure that the first 2 lines are short, snappy mentioning the title and the company, to encourage the reader to carry on.  Sorry to say, but your advert won’t be the only one your candidate will read. If your advert is too long the candidates will lose interest before they reach the apply button. Make sure you get the right information in front of them from the start. As for the rest of the advert, keep that short and to the point, as well, where relevant, use bullet points.

3.          Be as precise as you can be with the location, add the postcode. If you advertise a job as with a location of “Sussex” a candidates will have to search on “Sussex” to find the job, searching on a specific location within Sussex i.e. Brighton, will not show your job. Some companies ask us to put “nationwide” in their job ads because they have lots of jobs across lots of locations.  However, very few job seekers will be willing to look for your perfect job anywhere in the UK, this needs to be kept in mind and thought about.

4.          It is important that you add the salary details to the advert with benefits. Salary is one of the absolute key aspects of searching, if you don’t have your salary up there, chances are you won’t be found. But highlight EVERY benefit of working with you, from bonus, through to parking space. Everything is relevant.

5.          But, regardless of what YOU may call the job, make sure the title and the job advert content relates to what your perfect candidate will be searching for. For example, just because you are going to call your next hire, “the VP of Client Relations”, hardly any excellent candidates will search for that term. Tailor the title to what will get the best response.

6.           KEY WORDS are called key for a reason… this is what will render your advert higher up the search listing against the search criteria of your candidate. Make sure that the body of the advert is key word optimized against the search criteria of the advert as well as the title. But, BE WARNED, too much key word optimization will mean that it will be considered SPAM…

7.          Sector and skills are equally important. Many people choose to work in a particular industry sector and set their search criteria against that sector. Always consider this when creating the job advert. Likewise, In many professions qualifications are very important and would be what your perfect applicant would search on. In accounting, for example, it’s ACA, ACCA, CIMA. In IT, the specific tools and languages are of paramount importance. If your job requires specific qualifications, add them.

8.           Personalise the advert, Make sure that the language used in directed to the type of candidate you wish to attract. Make it salesy for a sales person, but a technical person will want a clinical description with facts whilst it would be more suitable when addressing a creative person an advert full of adjectives and enticements will appeal.

If you have any questions about what makes a successful recruitment advert, just ask for Michaela at Net Natives, I’d be happy to help.

You can follow any twitter activity with the #1010 tag.

We are a small online recruitment business, so our impact is already pretty negligable, but we’ll do our best to try to do more…By putting this post out to our friends and subscribers, we hope to encourage others to get involved.

• It’s a completely targeted approach – the correct advertising will only appeal to those who have searched for your requirements
• Geo-targeting –only showing ads to candidates in your geographic location. But…you could show your ads to those in one town or the whole of the UK (worth considering for contract roles or if you think people would relocate).
• Drive direct traffic to your own site – Cut out all middle men (especially the recruiters). You have control of the look and feel of your careers site and candidates can quickly find out what you’re all about.
• Promote your company as well as the recruitment – Candidates may also be your customers so even if you don’t employ them they may buy your products, or just talk about you to their mates. Win win!
• You set the budget – You never have to worry about overspend when you have established an effective budget and bidding level.
• Only pay for relevant clicks – You only pay for those who have actually clicked on your ads. Your ads could be seen millions of time but you only pay for those who look on your site, ones who want to apply.
• It’s cost effective – By only paying for relevant clicks and being very targeted with your advertising, if done effectively, Google could become your lowest cost per hire model.
• Turn it off when you want – Adwords can be stopped with a click. You can also edit your ads and keywords during a campaign and Adwords won’t charge you a penny extra.
• Be completely specific – You can keep your Adwords costs down by bidding on very specific terms. For example “C# developer job Brighton” would only cost you 4p per click as it’s so specific.
• Be creative and have fun with the adverts – As Adwords ads can be edited in real time and the costs are so low, you can experiment with lots of different Ad copy. Why not try emotive and factual copy to see how each performs. You can then use the feedback to improve your other marketing.
• Target “passive” job seekers - don’t just focus on jobs or recruitment. Think about how your ideal person would engage with searches and terms and bid for those terms as well.
• Target your competitors – Not everyone agrees with this, but it is within the “rules” to bid on your competitors keywords. This way if candidates are searching for jobs with your competitors you can make sure your company appears above them in the paid search results. Cheeky, I know, but it works.

All well and good. But be warned – ALWAYS make sure that your advert relates to the landing page you are driving traffic to and make it easy for candidates to apply when they are there. Right, here endeth the lesson. If anyone wants to talk to me about recruitment PPC campaigns in more detail or has more comments to add feel free.

But look closer…

• Jobsite’s network = 474 boards, including their partnerships with regional press through Northcliffe  and Jonston Press,
• Fish4’s network = 180 boards with their Newsquest affiliation
• Hotonline network = 41 boards
• SimplyGroup = 17 boards

and of course, Monster, TotalJobs, Reed and a few others increasing this tally and you soon get beyond the 700 mark…

But this begs the question, “How many job boards are out there (we are the experts and, believe me, no one knows) and how much more consolidation will the market take during the economic downturn”?

I have recently been asked to write a piece on the future of the online recruitment market for Online Recruitment Magazine, so I won’t pre-empt what I am going to say in this article, but, needless to say, one thing is pretty obvious…

During this continued downturn, there is going to be more consolidation in the market and the clever job boards are building their reach through effective affiliations. The fight for recognition is by getting onto that first page on Google and the boards with the widest reach are the ones winning this battle.

We’ll keep reviewing our suppliers and only recommend the sites we feel will work. But, until the dust settles, we’ll continue to patiently explain that 700 isn’t that fanciful after all. In fact, it is only going to go up…

Firstly some quick stats; these stats are always changing (for the better), but, in a nutshell, Facebook can rightly be called a phenomenon with 200 million active users, 18 million of those return daily. And its popularity is spread across all age groups; 12% of users are aged between 13-17, 29% aged 18 to 24, 30% aged 25- 34 and 29% aged 35 and above.  This demographically even split makes Facebook an amazing prospect for business advertising.

How does it work? It’s like Google…on steroids…

We all know Google Adwords Pay Per Click Platform enables advertisers to choose what keywords their ads would display against in Google search. Facebook have taken this a step further, enabling advertisers to only show ads to those targeted users who would be interested based on the detailed information captured by each user. Like Google, you are only charged when that relevant person clicks on your ad. Turn it off and on when you need. Simple.

The key to Facebook advertising is knowing and understanding your target demographic and making sure you reach them with adverts that resonate and are relevant.

So the first action is to work out who you want to reach and build a targeted campaign against that demographic. Below is an extract example of a targeted campaign to increase awareness and applications for a journalism course at a further education college we were advising. You can see how easy it is to target your campaign against age, gender, location, workplace, education and interests.

a snapshot of what targeting information you should include

Think about the possibilities here for who you want to reach and how they would register their interests on Facebook – the opportunities are endless. Think about the recruitment potential (both direct and branding), being able to direct specific campaigns to users who are working at a company you would like to target (Call Centre staff working for a competitor in an area, for example). Or a graduate campaign for specifc universities which have a distinctive talent pool. What about solicitors who have roots in Liverpool, but are finishing their training contract in London…

And don’t forget this is global. We recently ran a campaign for a global translation business that needed to hire Chinese translators in China. Through effective targeting we were able to pinpoint an ad to the 240 registered users who had registered their interests as “translator” or derivative – to ENORMOUS success…

But, and this is the real meat of the post, make sure that your campaign is relevant and resonates!

Here  are 5 key pointers to remember when designing your Facebook advertising campaigns:

1. Make Your Ads Campaign Specific.

So many businesses make the mistake of creating a general business ad with details of their company as a whole. The more specific the ad, the easier it will be for the viewer to decide whether it is relevant to them. Increasing relevant and cutting out irelevant clicks. It will also allow you to more clearly specify your key demographic i.e. age group, gender, interests.

Create an ad for each specific product/service you provide.

For example: For a Further Education College, instead of creating a general college ad they should create ads for their separate courses e.g.  a  journalism course ad with specific details about that course.

This leads onto the what you do with people when they get onto your site…

2. Think Carefully About The Ad Landing page

You could have the best ad in the world but if the viewer isn’t taken to a landing page that matches the ad copy , they’ll lose interest. If you are recruiting land on the relevant work for us page. If you are a college looking to increase enrolments, land on the right course page.

3. Make Your Ads Emotive

Create a reason for the user to click on your ad. Remember you are targeting ads to their interests. Ask your viewer a question.

For example: A further education college may ask “Do you want to be a journalist?” when alluding to their journalism course.

Making bold statements that grab the viewer’s attention will always gain you more clicks.

Be daring as well as informative with your ad copy and you’ll definitely get a higher click through rate.

4. Choose a Memorable Picture

Unlike plain Google text ads, Facebook allows you to include a picture with your ad. Your company logo won’t always gain maximum clicks. Good pictures of people get more clicks than anything else, but images that closely relate to your product are always a good choice.

5. Be Competitive and Realistic with your Bids

Although quite self-explanatory it is important to take note that you can run your advertisement for a specific time period and can specify the date and time the campaign starts and finishes. Impressions are the number of times your advert is displayed on facebook. I would always recommend paying per click instead of impression as this should be more cost effective.

Ensure your daily budget and cost per click is both competitive and realistic. It may take a certain amount of trial and error to gauge the right bid per click and you should start at facebook’s suggested bid when you first start listing your ad.

Why wouldn’t any business consider this. What stops companies wanting to engage in this direct approach?

Time and inclination. Look, everything I have put up here does take time and you need to put the effort in to get the results (or outsource to a reputable partner who will save you time and will be transparent in their charges). Whether you do this yourself or work with a partner (mmmm and maybe I know someone who could help…), I hope this post has helped focus on the potentials .

So to sum up, Facebook advertising can be extremely cost effective and a valuable advertising platform if used with thought and care. Don’t be afraid to be imaginative when writing your ad copy and choosing your picture and monitor your click through rate carefully as this will be a good indicator for how well your ads are performing and how much you should bid per ad. If you want more detailed help with setting up a facebook advertising campaign or want information on our flat fee recruitment service please get in touch.

1. The best candidates are all online. The flat fee service is suitable for pretty much EVERY SINGLE TYPE OF VACANCY. But, if you don’t want to contact people who know how to use a computer, flat fee recruitment is not for you.

2. It is a fraction of the cost (up to 90%) of traditional recruitment methods

3. You can hire as many candidates who are relevant as you wish as no extra cost

4. We use a wider network of relevant job boards and online databases than most recruitment companies

5. It is low cost recruitment, MUCH cheaper than buying the ads from job boards on an individual basis, as we have pre bought the services in bulk.

6. We know which sites are relevant and will bring the best candidates, you don’t have to rely on the sales pitches of individual job boards

7. You will not be inundated with CVs as we manage all responses and only send you the relevant candidates

8. All filtering and sourcing is done MANUALLY by real humans, based on the criteria we work with you to create

9. It is not just job board advertising reselling, we add REAL value through our expertise in the recruitment process. The process is EXACTLY as detailed as any traditional recruitment

10. Our unique guarantee means that we will not rest until you have successfully hired that perfect person.

Oh and you will never have to speak to a recruitment consultant again!

(OK that’s 11)

And look, of course, we want you to use our online flat fee recruitment service, that’s why we’re here. But let’s all try and shake up the prehistoric recruitment model and help each other become better at recruitment.
We know that sometimes the best person is the friend of the friend already working for you. You just need to make sure you are getting the message out to that you are hiring effectively to your cheerleaders.
My thoughts here should be seen as a basic structure and you can always ask call me for more advice if you need it.

Before you put any referral schemes in place consider the five key elements:
1. What type of people are your schemes aimed at?
2. Is there are defined timescale for the schemes?
3. What sort of bonus should the hires reflect?
4. How do the schemes fit with the culture of your company?
5. How will you promote your schemes?

So Rule Number 1. Plan, plan, plan is the name of the game. The more you put in, the more you put out.

 
Rule Number 2. Create an employee focus group, ask your key stakeholders what would incentivise them to refer people. Empower ownership from day 1.

How best to promote, what schemes would be best, are league table relevant, that sort of thing.
Remember that everyone is motivated differently, mix up the schemes and what people can get out of them.

Have fun with the process.

Rule Number 3. Give the scheme an identity, a name and maybe even a logo. Make it stand out, make everyone know what they are talking about.

Establish timeframes and cut off points.

Be clear with the message and incentives

Rule Number 4. Promote Promote Promote You can offer your employees amazing incentives but if they don’t know your referral scheme exists you won’t get any referrals. Pretty obvious, really…
1. Cleary explain the schemes with everyone in companywide of team meetings. Keep the schemes on the agendas.
2. Use email, work notice boards, newsletters, whatever it takes to keep everyone informed
3. Inform every new employee the scheme exists when they start working for your organisation
4. Even at interview stage, let your candidates know about the scheme
5. If you use them, send out the details of the scheme with employee payslips (this is a great medium with sales people!)

Rule Number 5. Embrace and use relevant social media networks. I may make this a seperate post, as this could be such a big topic because social media sites are perfectly designed for you to promote a referral scheme.

Take advantage of the fact that many of your employees will already be using them and it is direct. USE SOCIAL MEDIA!

Not only should you encourage your guys to use their own LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook network to promote the jobs and scheme you should at the very least…

1. Create a Referral Scheme Page on your Company page on Facebook and LinkedIn.
The page should have:
a. Details of the incentives offered for successful referrals
b. Information on all the jobs that you are trying to fill.
c. Details of all the methods staff can refer people .
e.g. email, phone, facebook application form etc.
d. Clear and eye catching imagery to get everyone engaged
e.g. images and video.
2. Regularly tweet about your scheme on Twitter making sure you engage with your network.

Rule Number 6. Keep your career page up to date – Again, I may expand on this later as this is a massive subject. Suffice to say, make sure that your career site (or work for us page) reflects the fact that you are hiring and is as clear as possible as to your recruitment process.

Rule Number 7. Always respond to every referral – you should ALWAYS respond to every applicant, but even more so when it is a friend of an employee!

Final Rule. Measure & Review - the only way you’ll know if your referral scheme has been a success is if you can measure all the referrals you receive. Simple.
1. Add all referred candidates to your applicant tracking system, even if it is just an excel spreadsheet. Even if they aren’t suitable for the role you’re recruiting for now, who knows, they could be perfect for a job you want to fill later on. Your candidates are your clients
2. Keep a referral database with a record of every referral made and who made the referral. This will be useful when you want to find out who to reward for the most successful referrals.
3. Measure which methods work and increase that exposure. If you find a lot of people through, say, Facebook, maybe try some focused Facebook advertising next time round?

I hope this has been useful. I think the key message is to give it a go and have a bit of fun with the format. I would love to hear about other ideas and schemes , though, so please get involved or get in contact.

My favourites are hardly unique:

• Delicious – for all websites Net Natives’ Delicious Page.

and

• Digg – a social bookmarking site designed specifically for news items. Users can vote on different links (“digging”) and the most “dugg” stories will appear on the site’s home page. e.g. Take a look at Net Natives’ Digg Page.

Delicious and Digg are just 2 of hundreds of social bookmarking sites including Technorati, Reddit, Stumbleupon and Ma.gnolia to name but a few. We’d recommend playing around with different sites as each has a different slant.

Why should you use social bookmarking?

1. It allows you to view your favourite sites from anywhere in the world, as your bookmarks are on a website and not stored on your computer’s hardware

2. They are fantastic for search engine optimisation. Google’s search algorythm takes into account what websites your site is listed on and how popular those sites are. As websites like Digg and Delicious are very popular, having your business site bookmarked on these sites should improve your Google ranking

3. They are excellent for promotion. Add your facebook page, twitter page, Blog, MySpace page and any other online presence you have to these site as they have millions of users and are an easy and free method to increase your online exposure

4. To improve internal business communication. As bookmarks are saved online it allows potentially hundreds of employees within a business to view them simultaneously saving time, money and encouraging interaction

You’ll see at the bottom of this blog post there is a social bookmarking tool bar allowing you to add this very blog to a variety of different sites. It’s easy to add this to your own blog and is available from GetSocial.

Told you this was a quick one. But hopefully useful. I am always up for hearing about any good social bookmarking suggestions or possible uses, so please get in touch.