Why aren’t my job adverts pulling in talent?

Advertising a vacancy to ensure that you are attracting the right applicants may not seem like rocket science.  But, there is a whole host of reasons that your advert may fail to achieve your expectations and subsequently result in not hiring.  We have listed below 5 possible reasons why your recruitment advert may not be pulling in top talent:

1. The Job Title

Job titles are crucial not only to give insight as to what the role entails but also for the role to come up in searches in the first place. If you have a job title that is very specialist or that is specific to your company, applicants aren’t likely to search for it so the views will be low and correlatively so will the number of applications. Like this previous blog post explains; keep it simple, keep it generic.

2. The Salary

While a lot of companies advertise the salary as ‘competitive’ or ‘negotiable’, this can actually hinder your chances of attracting top talent, see our previous blog for more information here. You will get a higher number of applicants if you ensure the role they’re applying for supports their financial obligations. For example, stating any further benefits can often be the deciding factor on between two similar roles.

3. The Location

As previously explained the majority of applicants search for jobs by the city so this is the best method to advertise your vacancy. If your company is located in a small or isolated location, it may be beneficial to advertise this in the next largest area.

4. The Requirements

A lot of good applicants are put off applying for a role because they feel over faced by the requirements. There are a lot of jobs that require extensive knowledge and experience.  If these are truly essential for the position and you include them all, you may receive lower volumes of high-quality applications. If you seek to target a wider audience, so that you can filter appropriately, it may prove beneficial to review the requirements: What is absolutely essential and what is a ‘nice to have’?

5. The Process

Is your advert attracting lots of views but low numbers of applications? Check your application process. If your application process is lengthy or confusing, this will deter applicants from applying and you may miss out on the perfect applicant. It is vitally important that you always engage with your applicants too, let them know you’ve received their application; you’ve reviewed it and what the outcome is.  They will remember their experience with you.

Of course, these points merely touch on what could be deterring top talent from applying to your vacancy.  There could be one hundred other reasons why you are not getting the applicants you hoped for.  Every job, every advert and every applicant is different. At Flat Fee Recruiter, we spend all day, every day, writing adverts, posting adverts, reviewing adverts and ensuring that all our customers get the best quality applicants for their job vacancies.  This is the main focus of our day.  So, if you have a vacancy, if are struggling to pull the best applicants or simply want a bit of advice for your next vacancy, please get in touch and have a no obligation chat with someone in our specialist team.