5 ways to scare away good candidates when hiring

Anyone having to look for work knows that standing out from a pool of candidates is not easy business. Similar problem applies to companies when they are looking for staff. How to find the right one?

Some companies still want to find candidates who just work like dogs for a decent salary and don’t ask too many questions, but for those companies that want quality staff, it can be exhausting to find the right ones at the right time.

How to create a job ad that stands out in a way that will make it memorable even after going through them for hours or days in a row, and how can you find those good candidates without losing them too early in the process?

1. Advert that stands out

Whether you want to come across as a fun-and-young -kind of company, or professional-all-the way, your choice of words is crucial. If the ad doesn’t reflect the intention properly, you are wasting everyone’s time and in the worst case, end up hiring a person who doesn’t fit into the culture and you will be hunting a new candidate sooner than you wanted.

The ad is not only a list of things to tell the applicant, it is more like a dating ad trying to attract the right person for you. You are selling the company for the applicant as much as you are finding someone to fill a role for you. The results can be a lot better for everyone if you make them want to work with you instead of for you. Good way to do that is by writing an ad that is personal and thought through, something that the person you want to attract will remember days after seeing it because it sounds like a company they fit in.

2. Check the typos

Sounds ridiculously obvious, but It is unbelievably common to have spelling mistakes, as well as wrong information, in job ads. Some of them look like they were done in a hurry with a simple copy paste and no proofreading before posting. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with copy paste, for example if you need to use it for the same job with, say, different language requirements. However, make sure the varying information has been updated in every part of the ad, not only in the title or in the first half. A hasty ad only makes your company sound sloppy and unprofessional and first impressions count both ways!

It is best to let someone else read the ad before posting it anywhere. It is too easy to see what you are expecting to see, so a fresh perspective can come useful, especially if you are in a rush.

Another thing to think about is that if you give the role to be advertised by an agency, they are doing PR for you when they mention your company’s name. If they are making mistakes it will be on you as well, so it is good to check all advertising that is linked to your company, no matter where it comes from. If an external matchmaker is doing bad PR for you when it comes to HR, it might be worth considering if it is worth working with them in the future.

3. Salary or no salary

Salary is not a straightforward subject. You don’t want applicants who are mainly after the money, but you also don’t want to lose people who respect themselves too much to work for a salary that is offensive to their skills and loyalty. Looking like you have something to hide is not a good look. Usually keeping quiet implies that the salary is not very good, so even if you don’t want to show the numbers right away, mention something about it in the ad. “Competitive salary” is sometimes not competitive in the slightest, but when used wisely, even verbal mention of the remuneration is helpful if you don’t want to lose good candidates before they apply.

4. It's not about what you say but how you say it

There are certain phrases in job ads that scream that it’s best to stay away. Some are just so boring and overused that they tell nothing about the company and make your ad blend to the masses before you can say masses. Some are overused in a way that they seem like a warning sign you should listen to before it is too late. One of my favourite ones of those is:

“Hit the ground running”. It usually appears in ads that don’t even pay very well. The more extra miles the applicant seems to be expected to run every day, the lower the salary tends to be. Who wouldn’t want a superhuman for a peanut salary, but the reality is with basic salary how can you expect beyond basic results? If you want your staff to go the extra mile, how about rewarding them for at least half of it if they do? Nothing kills your work motivation faster than seeing that your boss reaping the rewards for what you do. While most workplaces don’t hire staff to stand around waiting for something to happen, multitasking also has its limits. If your staff is on the extra mile all the time, you will be on a constant hunt of replacements.

To make sure your ad stands out, it is best to see what other similar ads look like. If you sound like them, you are more likely to find candidates who are looking for a job, not a career. Make sure you know what all the aims of the ad are.

5. Not Sharing Enough

Companies have been adding more information about the company culture, equal opportunities and values etc. to their job adverts for some time now. If you are not one of them, get onboard now. If your company is doing amazing things, has big plans and rewards their staff generously, be open about it. Most people now value these things above many others and if those are not mentioned, they are likely to lose interest before they finish reading your ad.

Opportunities to learn, grow and progress are as important as salary and stability for more and more people. We have realised life is too short to work for others at the expense of ourselves. It is as important to tell about the company culture in the ad as it is to describe the tasks and duties. In the end of the day, the end result is a partnership that should work for both sides equally in order to be a successful one.