Seems like employment ads are the topic du jour on the The Hire Sense today. One thing I have noticed that truly cheapens an ad is to use extra large fonts, multiple colors and highlighting. Does this approach just scream multi-level marketing or is it me?

Most corporations write their ads in a prim and proper manner which is ok. This approach reminds me of the Apple commercials with the PC represented by the stodgy, business-suit guy and Apple represented by the trendy, young guy. Formula ads with cliche requests for degrees, years of experience, etc. are similar to the somewhat boring PC guy. Of course, that approach is certainly better than the MLM coloring page look, but there are some differences that bring good attention to an ad:

-Provide the company’s website
-Use bullets, some bold and only black
-Describe the job’s rewards
-Focus on skills & talents not experience & degrees
-Avoid detailed benefit descriptions
-Provide a clear response request (call, email, etc.)
-Shorten it

Simple suggestions but look at the ads that are out there today. We monitor the local ads on a daily basis and it’s ugly. Many companies believe employment ads are slow and ineffective for sourcing. Many recruiters attempt to reinforce that belief. Not true. Effective ads receive overwhelming responses from strong candidates.

If you don’t catch any fish in the lake, it isn’t because the lake is lacking fish. Change your bait.

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One of the peculiar facets of Internet job boards is that you receive interest from around the world. That fact has its good and its bad. This would be the bad side of it:

Meanwhile I am highly & hugely trying at my best efforts to post for this vacancy with heavily long-desired rayhopes that based on my supreme graymatters plusing with my well-accumulated experiences in working for several foreign-based firms as well as projects, & I have accrued a lot of skills or so specialization in various matters & manners…I make risks to submit for the aforesaid post with long-desired hopes that you will see through my sensitively & briliantly particular status quos, & I deplore you all to give me a chance to work for your corporation.

I haven’t sorted out if this is a hoax, a promo for an email client or a legitimate response. After rereading all of it, I think it is a bad promo. One thing I do know, the communication level for the position we are sourcing requires a higher level than this cover letter shows.

“Supreme graymatters” is most excellent though.

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We posted multiple ads about 10 days ago on multiple job boards for 3 different sales positions we are presently working. Our highly unscientific experiment has led us to these . . . conclusions.

• Big Boards – Monster.com still leads the pack – probably due to name recognition. We have had more success with monster as opposed to CareerBuilder.

• Niche Boards – We received a limited response and no viable candidates. My gut tells me these may work better for higher-level positions (VP, Director, Manager).

• Free Boards – We have been using them for 6 months and the response totals are increasing with each posting. The candidate quality is hit-or-miss, but we have found viable candidates.

We attempt to use a mixture of all boards when we are sourcing for a position. Depending upon the position, we blend in resume database searches (if we need a very specific experience set) and old-fashioned direct recruiting. One note on direct recruiting – we have found email to be the best approach tool. If you send an introductory email first and then follow up with a phone call, you will increase your response rate immensely.

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Even I had to do a double take regarding the title of this post – it is a bit misleading. AICPA has a rather dry article (what did you expect from a CPA website) about hiring trends in the accounting world. We try to stay on the cutting edge here at The Hire Sense so I read the short article. I was intrigued by this statement:

The traditional structure of a corporation’s accounting department, with definitive job responsibilities and several layers of management and staff positions is changing. Accounting departments are staffed by fewer, more flexible, technologically savvy and highly experienced professionals. They are responsible for developing methods to grow the business and increase profit margins.

That is my emphasis but this is directly from the article. As a former salesperson in larger organizations, we seemed to view the accounting department as a necessary evil. Not an enlightened thought, I know. Yet, it seemed that their job was to question every commission, seek clarification on every expense and complain about frivolous costs in the sales department.

I read this article and am left wondering what will accountants sell to grow the business. This article states that they are being asked to more than beancounters. Instead, they are morphing into business advisors for their clientele:

Candidates who can assist clients in everything from auditing and tax work to process improvement are highly valued.

I note this statement simply because more companies are moving towards well-rounded employees. The demand for a wider skill set among employees is a trend we have seen for the past 2 years. Companies are looking for candidates that have a mix of abilities that allow them to contribute to areas outside their primary department. One word to accomplish this task – assess.

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