Bad Job Ads Attract Only Desperate Candidates

All online advertising attracts some bad candidates, but poorly written job ads seem to attract only desperate candidates.   Bad ads look like all the other ads:

 ”XYZ company, located in Washington DC, is the foremost widget maker in the region.  We are seeking a Controller.  Responsibilities include… blah blah blah”

Research shows that job seekers look for jobs using the title they have, or the title they want.  So for fun, I took a common job – controller – and I went to Indeed (where all the candidates are going these days) and looked at the first 10 non-agency ads for a controller in my zipcode.  I cut and pasted all the job descriptions into a fun site called wordle that gives you a visual representation of the words you are using - you can see the word cloud here  – it’s a very cool representation of some really dull ad copy.  (For a bit of contrast, this is the word cloud for what this blog is about).

Time will not permit me to cover all the things wrong with the ads, so I’ll just give you the highlights (lowlights?). 

1. Context.  Not one of the 10 ads answered the 4 key context questions every Controller asks about a new opportunity.  (What position do I report to, how many people report to me, what are the annual revenues, and are you profitable?).   No answers to these key context questions means no critical context for the “conversation” and no interest from people who are not desperate.   (Candidates for different positions ask different key context questions, so I’m just using controller as the example).
2. Expectations.  Not one of the ads described what success looks like, or what tangible business accomplishments were expected.   (Not doing this?  Don’t feel bad, I just read a position description prepared by one of the world’s most expensive search firms and it also missed this point – even though it had a section titled “Year One Critical Success Factors”)    The way I see it, the only reason to hire is to get business results.  So why not list the results you want, right in the ad? After all, it never hurts to let people know what you expect.
3. Communication.  Not one ad painted a mental picture of what it was like to work there.   Years ago I was interviewed for an article about how to write better job ads (in a very different employment market, but the advice is still accurate) you can read it here.
4. Meaningless words.  These are the hackneyed, stale, old meaningless phrases thrown into virtually every ad to “jazz things up” or to describe the ideal candidate (in the most boring way possible).  Many of us think these words mean something, but without context they mean nothing.  What are they?

• Dynamic (found in 22,000 local ads) 
• Hands On  (found in 12,000 local ads)
• Motivated (found in 10,000 local ads) 
• Fast Paced (found in 9,000 local ads)
• Exciting (found in 8,000 local ads) 
• Team Player (found in 4,000 local ads)  
• Self-Starter (found in 4,000 local ads)

Are you still posting ads on the job boards?  How’s that going for you lately? Is your “signal to noise ratio” (ratio of good to bad applicants) trending up or trending down?