{"id":1149,"date":"2007-08-23T16:31:45","date_gmt":"2007-08-23T21:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/08\/a-clever-ad-test\/"},"modified":"2007-08-23T16:31:46","modified_gmt":"2007-08-23T21:31:46","slug":"a-clever-ad-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/08\/a-clever-ad-test\/","title":{"rendered":"A Clever Ad Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was reading this article from BusinessWeek.com titled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/careers\/content\/aug2007\/ca20070819_142594.htm?campaign_id=rss_null\" target=\"_blank\">Gateway to Better Hiring<\/a> and I enjoyed this test that the author incorporated into her employment ad.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Here is an example. I was hiring an editor, and so I included this instruction in the job ad: &#8220;If you are interested in this job, please write to me at this e-mail address with your comments on the most recent edition of our newsletter.&#8221; (I included the URL for the newsletter, of course.) That is a simple enough gate. Curious to know what percentage of candidates followed the instruction? Ten percent. The rest probably never saw the instruction at all, &#8220;buried&#8221; as it was in a 100-word job posting. They just spotted the job ad, read maybe the first line, and shot off a r\u00c3\u00a9sum\u00c3\u00a9e. (<em>sic<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>That 90% aren&#8217;t in my pool. I saved time, and the best candidates rose right to the top.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>She goes on to suggest a writing assignment for candidates to get a glimpse of their writing ability and grammar.&nbsp; This task is one we use in our sourcing activities and it is quite effective.&nbsp; One other piece of information you learn is their responsiveness to your request.&nbsp; Some respond fairly quickly while others ignore the request all together.&nbsp; Some respond poorly while others respond in thought-provoking ways.<\/p>\n<p>On your next round of candidates, ask them to analyze part of your business, address a market question or explain a finely-worded topic.&nbsp; You will be surprised at what you learn from such a simple exercise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was reading this article from BusinessWeek.com titled Gateway to Better Hiring and I enjoyed this test that the author incorporated into her employment ad. Here is an example. I was hiring an editor, and so I included this instruction in the job ad: &#8220;If you are interested in this job, please write to me at this e-mail address with your comments on the most recent edition of our newsletter.&#8221; (I included the URL for the newsletter, of course.) That is a simple enough gate. Curious to know what percentage of candidates followed the instruction? Ten percent. The rest probably never saw the instruction at all, &#8220;buried&#8221; as it was&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/08\/a-clever-ad-test\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hiring"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-ix","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1707,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/08\/when-to-test\/","url_meta":{"origin":1149,"position":0},"title":"When To Test","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Selling Power's Hiring Newsletter takes a look at assessments used in the hiring process.\u00a0 This is a topic near and dear to our hearts in that we assess sales candidates with online tests.\u00a0 One paragraph jumped out (emphasis mine): According to Whittle, the average test runs around $200, but there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Assessing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Assessing","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":229,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/08\/job-titles-attract-workers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1149,"position":1},"title":"Job Titles Attract Workers","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"August 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I read a recent newsletter article from Ragan's Management Resources titled \"Use job titles to attract and reward workers\" (sorry, no link available). The president of a service company ran an experiement. He offered job candidates a choice between having the title of \"sales manager\" or the title of \"salesperson\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1762,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/hiring-obstacles\/","url_meta":{"origin":1149,"position":2},"title":"Hiring Obstacles","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"October 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"According to the most recent Workforce Recruiting newsletter (sorry no link available), 1,100 employers were asked what the main reason was for them not being able to hire their top candidates over the past two years.\u00a0 Their responses were as follows: 35.9% - Said they went elsewhere for higher perceived\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Compensation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Compensation","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/compensation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29799,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2019\/06\/hiring-hacks\/","url_meta":{"origin":1149,"position":3},"title":"5 Hiring Hacks For Full Employment","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The job creation numbers are slowing down yet I don't think that is due to a catastrophic economic slowdown.\u00a0 The most recent jobs report shows that we have 50-year record low unemployment that is holding month-to-month.\u00a0 The average hourly wage rate is rising at over 3%.\u00a0 These factors are signs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/For-Hire.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/For-Hire.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/For-Hire.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":386,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/10\/open-mind-hiring\/","url_meta":{"origin":1149,"position":4},"title":"Open-Minded Hiring","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"October 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Another good article from the new Selling Power newsletter - Open Minds Open Doors. The topic here is Hiring Salespeople From Outside Your Industry. If you follow that link, you will see that this topic is of great importance in our world. From the article: \"I believe the way the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":141,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/06\/how-not-to-write-a-sales-ad\/","url_meta":{"origin":1149,"position":5},"title":"How Not to Write a Sales Ad","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I just read an ad for a sales-related position - it is in the sales category but it is so vaguely written that I cannot decipher what the position entails. The ad discusses what the person will be responsible for managing and some of what they will be doing. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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