When recruiting, many organisations think that putting out the job description as a job advert is okay to do, however, this isn’t the right approach. Using a job description as the job advert can be dangerous and cause a lack of applicants as a job description’s role is to inform candidates of their responsibilities whereas, a job advert is meant to appeal to the candidate and make them want to apply for the role.
Including the essential criteria of the role is a useful thing to do, but you shouldn’t take over the whole advert listing all the specific little skills you would like your candidate to possess. Job adverts are often best being short and snappy to catch the attention of the potential candidates, an overly long advert may be off-putting.
Sometimes in a job description, we can include terms that are known to the industry and the organisation but mean little to the applying candidate. You don’t want to put someone off applying just because they are not sure what it is your describing. Be clear what the role entails. Keep information short and to the point. Reread your advert and ask yourself, would this make me apply?
Another difference between a job advert and a job description is that a job description won’t really say anything in-depth about your company. The potential candidate will want to know what the culture is like, what benefits the company offers, etc. These are things that really sell the role rather than just having a huge list of what the candidate will be expected to do.
With the majority of job searches now taking place online, it is also important to think about including keywords a few times within your advert. What term would the candidate be searching for? Then include that keyword at least three times within your job advert. It will help it to come up in searches if you have used keywords effectively.
Below is a list of what is recommended for you to include in both a job advert and a job description. Here you can see the difference between the two:
Job Advert:
- Job title
- Job location
- Salary
- Job summary draws the candidate in
- Key responsibilities of the job
- Key requirements and skills required for the job
- Benefits package
- Details about the company e.g. culture, ethos, values, etc.
- Call-to-action, inviting the candidate to apply
Job Description:
- Job title
- Job location
- Salary
- All responsibilities of the role
- All skills needed for the role, including soft and hard skills.
- Organisational structure (who the employee reports to)
- Nature of the role
To sum up, simply just copying over a job description and using it as a job advert is not effective, as it won’t show your organisation off in the best light. Both the job advert and job description may contain some similar information, but they should be structured very differently as they both have a different purpose.
If you remember the above differences and apply these in the future you should see an increase in the quantity of applicants, giving you more chance of finding the right fit for your school or Trust. Having your job vacancy online with an automated online application process can also help increase applications, so if you haven’t yet had a look at how FACE-Ed can help you, please book a demo today or call 01924 907319.
