CATS Applicant Tracking System

On the last day of February in 2021, there were a record-high 7.4 million job openings in the United States. Recruiters have likely posted most of those jobs multiple times on various career sites. Take into account every fake or expired job listing used for candidate sourcing, and you’ll realize that there is an unbelievable amount of noise in the job market today. It’s easy for talented, qualified job seekers to feel absolutely lost as they try to sift through job listings that seem fake, old, or out of their league. In that spirit, here are 4 things to keep in mind that will help your job listing stand out to the right candidates.

Make It Simple

On average, job seekers submit 27 applications for each interview they get. By the time they’re hired, applicants may have submitted hundreds of job applications. They have potentially sifted through thousands of job listings. With so much time spent searching, job seekers know the kinds of roles they’re looking for—so while the job title may be catchy, make sure you’re going to show up in their searches. Nail the important stuff, so even the most uninitiated of job seekers can find it. Proper use of the recruitment automation features of your ATS will screen out undesirable candidates, but it won’t matter if great candidates can’t find you.

Make It Human

A big part of your job is marketing, and while recruiters seem to prefer the technical jargon of job hunting, candidates are just regular people. Chances are they’re not experts at job searching. Perhaps Mark was just laid off, or maybe Rachel is looking for a new opportunity that her current position can’t offer. You’re going to have to appeal to their human side if you want to win them over. Address them as “you.” They will identify much more with that than they will with “the ideal candidate.” Help them to picture themselves in the role, and you will stand out.

Make It Exciting

The compensation conversation will happen during the hiring process no matter what. The salary offered will either fall into the candidate’s range or it won’t—you can’t control that. What you can control, however, is candidates’ perception of the role and of the company. Highlight the exciting challenges that the role has to offer, and you will get responses from candidates eager to tackle them. You’ll also weed out some of those applicants who aren’t up to the task.

Make It Achievable

Just like you, job seekers streamline their process because of the sheer volume of data that exists. So when a job seeker reads a long, highly specific list of qualifications and experience, sometimes they’ll be tempted to skip over the application altogether because it seems unlikely that you’ll call them in for an interview. Do your absolute best to delineate which criteria are must-haves and which are nice-to-haves. You will attract more of the excellent fringe candidates that you love and crave.

With branded career portals and numerous job board integrations, CATS recruiting software enables you to get your job listing seen by as many candidates as possible. Whichever recruiting software you choose to use, focus on these 4 keys as you prepare job listings and you’ll attract more of the right kind of candidates.