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Written by MJ Fadaee, Senior Product Manager at FactoryFix
Have you ever wondered what makes a great job posting?
It probably depends on what you mean by “great.” In my role here at FactoryFix, my goal is to help manufacturing recruiters find the people they need, fast. A critical part of that is ensuring their job postings get in front of talent, quickly capture interest and motivate qualified workers to apply.
Fortunately, I don’t just see a lot of job postings—I get to look behind the curtain to see how those postings perform. I see which posts get inundated with qualified applicants in a matter of days and which ones initially flop.
Here are three things that great job postings have in common.
1. Great job postings provide clear, correct information about the job, starting with its pay.
This is, by far, the most important characteristic that determines whether a job posting will capture attention and, more importantly, applicants. Tell people exactly what you need them to do and how you will compensate them for doing it. It is that easy.
Worried that your relatively low-paying entry-level job won’t appeal to job seekers? Don’t be. Contrary to popular belief, listing the pay greatly increases applications. Our data shows that, on average, having pay data attached to a job increases app volume by 80%. Even if the rate is not considered particularly competitive.
Suppose you’re trying to fill a more advanced position or need applicants with specific skills and experiences. In that case, competitive pay will be an essential factor in attracting candidates with the qualifications you need. But the pay isn’t everything, and at the entry level, it isn’t even close to the most important thing.
What is?
In my experience, especially for most factory floor positions, the quality of an applicant is determined by their intentionality. How keen are they to get this job? How much do they want to come and work for you?
Fortunately, candidate intentionality is something you can influence. The more clear, concise and correct information you provide in a job posting, the more you build the reader’s interest in that position. That means people who started with a lower intention are more likely to apply, people who were already considering your position are now very interested and there (hopefully) shouldn’t be any surprises during interviews.
Sidebar: Build intentionality by removing obstacles.
Another way to maximize applicants’ intentionality is to minimize the obstacles you place in their way. Companies inadvertently introduce a variety of obstacles in their hiring processes.
One common issue is too many screening questions. A couple of screening questions are fine, but more than three will reduce candidates’ intentionality or even actively drive them away.
Requiring a resume or a detailed listing of qualifications also impedes many applicants. At least 75 to 80% of the traffic for factory jobs is coming from people on mobile devices. These job seekers don’t have a resume or a catalog of their prior experience at their fingertips—and if you make them go look up information, they might not ever come back to your posting.
That’s why FactoryFix makes the application process easy—even from mobile devices. An initial application requires nothing more than the person’s name and contact information. After submitting their application, we can automatically follow up via SMS with customized employer questions to screen their experience and qualifications.
Speaking of important details that candidates want to know before the interview …
2. Great job postings say where the job is and who’s hiring.
Technically, this is just a continuation of my first point about providing clear and correct information about your job, but the job location and employer are so important that they’re worth calling out separately.
The reality is it’s challenging to find talent in certain geographical locations. There’s just no way around that in the manufacturing industry. You need workers who can show up to your job in person, which means they either need to already live close enough to commute or they need to be willing to relocate.
Don’t avoid disclosing where your job is. Candidates need to know at some point, so why waste their time and yours by concealing essential information?
In the same vein, don’t fall for the trap of posting a job as an anonymous employer. Sure, you may have your reasons—maybe you’re filling a position that hasn’t been vacated yet, or you’re posting your job at a higher pay than your current employees make—but this is a move that’s likely to cost you. The numbers here don’t lie: anonymous employers see about a 30% decrease in application volume.
Now, if you’re of the mind that you should share as much information as possible right off the bat in your job title, you’ll want to continue reading.
3. Great job postings keep the job title short and simple.
Many companies think they have to come up with a fancy job title. They’ll draft an unnecessarily wordy title (think “sanitation engineer” instead of “janitor”) and include irrelevant information to the job title or toss the phrase “signup bonus.”
None of that helps. It can actively hurt the quantity and the quality of applications you receive.
If that seems counterintuitive, let me explain further.
To get your job posting in front of the highest number of potential applicants, you must publish it to various job boards and networks. Each of those destinations uses its own taxonomy to categorize and promote jobs. That means your job title needs to be something every single job site can recognize and accurately characterize.
When your job title is cluttered with extraneous information, the ranking algorithms for those job sites can’t identify the appropriate audience to show your posting to. And far fewer people will see your robust job title if job sites can’t figure out what kind of work it’s for or who’s interested in that work.
Keep it simple. If you need a welder, just say you need a welder. That way, people searching for welding jobs will surely see your posting.
There you have it: three things high-performing job postings have in common. They provide clear, correct information that includes at least a pay range and a job location, and they stick to the fundamentals, especially in the job title.
The talent you need is out there and ready to get to work. Let FactoryFix help you connect with them.
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