It’s hard to anticipate when you’ll need to replace an existing worker, especially if they currently seem happy and perform well. To make things worse, then, it can be nearly impossible to try to replace that former employee within a very limited amount of time. To do so, employers and hiring professionals often cast their hiring nets far and wide to try to search through as many candidates as possible for a potential match. But this can be exhausting, discouraging, and even costly if not done correctly. So, how can you target a job seeker for your next available position?
It starts with knowing who your job ads should be targeting.
Which Job Seekers You Should Target with Your Postings?
When we talk about hiring candidates for available positions, we often think immediately of candidates who will meet you halfway with the hiring process. They’ll apply to your ads and then will communicate equally with you until they either make the cut or do not.
But by no means are you limited to these “active” candidates. You can also appeal to passive candidates. These are candidates whom you can poach for immediate or future hiring. Here’s a basic run-down of the these types of candidates.
1. Active candidates
Active candidates are those who are currently looking for positions. Often, these candidates are ready to join a company within two weeks or less. And unlike passive candidates, active candidates are actively applying for jobs, reaching out to recruiters, and are making it publicly known they are open to work.
These candidates are often enthusiastic for new opportunities and are ready to move on without having to be convinced to leave their current employer (if they still have one).
2. Passive candidates
Passive candidates, on the other hand, might be harder to appeal to, since they are not actively looking for a new job. This might be because they’re self-employed, are working elsewhere full- or part-time, or are simply not looking for as consistent work as you might be offering.
But appealing to passive candidates is not entirely a bad idea. In fact, poaching currently employed workers is a common practice that can often make a top performing employee elsewhere feel more appreciated than their current employer.
So, even if a candidate has a current employer, that doesn’t always mean they’re not open to offers. These candidates are good if you know exactly how well they perform and how well their skills would easily transfer over to your organization.
The downside? They may need some time before they break the bad news to their current employer and make the transition onto your team.
Top Tips to Target a Job Seeker with Your Job Ads
Depending on whether you already have someone in mind you are thinking of poaching, or if you would prefer to hire fresh, your needs for targeting your job ads might vary.
Generally speaking, if you’re looking to appeal to active candidates, you’ll need to consider and practice the following.
Narrow Down Your Search
When an active job seeker is browsing online, whether on a job posting website like LinkedIn or Indeed or elsewhere, most often, they will be filtering jobs by the following categories.
-
Job title
-
Industry
-
Geographic location or lack thereof (remote status)
So, naturally, you’ll want to keep these three categories in mind when writing and advertising your available position(s). Problems may arise, however, if you’re not sure exactly what the title of the position should be. Maybe you aren’t exactly sure what the position title would be, or what keywords you might need to include to make sure you’re hiring for that specific position.
In this case, try searching the function or task on LinkedIn and clicking on the Jobs tab. Here, you’ll see tons of postings that also need someone to complete that task. These postings, however, might range in what titles they use to advertise for the opening in the company.
Take a survey and see what titles are being used, and then use the other titles or synonyms in the description. That way, those looking for jobs under those titles will find your posting no matter what position title you use.
You can also get ChatGPT to write job descriptions for these positions by also offering it existing job postings. From these, it will synthesize the information and offer you a rewritten version you can use to attract similar candidates.
Target a Job Seeker with the Right Kind of Experience
Depending on the position you’re looking to fill, you might need someone with more or less experience. Of course, it’s great to have someone with tons of experience. But naturally, if a candidate has more experience, they won’t likely take a position with a lower seniority ranking or lower pay.
So, be realistic. If your pay is around your competitors’ starting rates, look for candidates with entry-level experience. After all, making your asks too great in your job description can and often does prevent the right candidates from applying.
Save Top Ranking Candidates for Later
If at the end of your hiring cycle you’ve found that you have more than one top ranking candidates who would be an asset at your organization, don’t let them go. Instead, be transparent. Tell them they’re a top ranking candidate, and that although they didn’t quite make the cut this time around, you’d like to stay in touch for future opportunities.
If they agree to stay in contact, you can keep them in a candidate pool from which you draw the next time you need a new hire. This is especially handy when you’re still a growing organization and don’t know when you’ll need to bring on more team members next.
With the Workwolf platform, you can easily store candidate information for a later date, so you can bypass the hassle of having to target job seekers with future postings online. This can save you time and money on job postings and the time and energy that you’ve already expended to find these top ranking candidates.
So, why start fresh when you can just pick up where you last left off? Want to check it out for yourself? Click here to sign up for your very own Workwolf business account and to start building your candidate pools for future hiring needs.
Conclusion
Depending on what your needs may be for the roles you’re looking to fill, you may want to hire either a passive or active candidate. In order to appeal to the right active candidates, you’ll need to narrow down the pool to which you’re advertising. You can do this by using specific language in your job ads and specifying the details job seekers will be filtering by. As well, you’ll need to target a job seeker with the right kinds of experience and make sure you’re asking only what is fair of the candidate. If by the end of your hiring cycle you still have those you’re interested in hiring, but can’t hire them all, you can save them for future opportunities. You can do so by using the Workwolf business platform to store their candidate data in pools you can revisit at a later time.
