This article was first published in the July 2022 issue of AP, authored by Meqa Smith

There’s a lot of talk about flexible working being the ‘new black’ when it comes to talent attraction. It’s a hot topic and something employees are looking for, but attracting the right people for the roles you need to fill in your business takes more than writing ‘fully remote’ in your job ad.

Have you ever stopped to think about what employees are really looking for when they’re scrolling Seek.com.au for a new role? Remember the last time you did that?

Selecting the category and clicking ‘search’ is usually not a moment of anticipation because almost every single ad reads like a carbon copy of the last one, and most jobs are as generic and unexciting as the ads.

We could go into all sorts of complicated concepts about what to do to stand out in this sea of sameness, but we don’t have time for that. 

Just remember this – employment is a relationship, and your job ad is your Tinder profile.

Your goal is to honestly, but creatively describe your business and the role you have on offer as well as what you’re looking for in your ideal employee. 

So, when you’re looking for your next great team member, take yourself to Seek and search for similar roles. Armed with your new inspiration, write a job ad that uses as few cliches as possible and that is as specific as possible about what you’re looking for and what you’re offering. 

Include intangible things like “Has an appreciation for sarcasm” if that’s how you roll in the office, or “Must be able to confidently negotiate with customers on price objections without caving” if that’s something you need.

Don’t add things that everyone is asking for like “Must be a team player and also be able to work unsupervised”.

You want the ideal candidate to read your ad and think “This job is perfect for me!” not because your job is perfect (no jobs are perfect) but because they see themselves in the picture you’ve painted of the ideal candidate and because they can imagine themselves working in your role and being as happy as one can be at work. 

It’s all about painting that picture. If the picture is too vague or cliche, you’ll only end up with applications from people who would take anything or need to tick a Centrelink box.

Great employees are looking for jobs where they can play to their strengths, be respected, and do work they feel is worth doing. 

There’s even a new phenomenon called The Belief Driven Employee, which Edelman describes as:

“The employee is now as belief-driven in selecting and staying with a company as a consumer is in buying and sticking with a brand. The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) now looks like a tripod, balanced on the traditional enticements of pay and career advancement, a newer focus on employee well-being, with flexible hours and remote work, and now an employer commitment to act for good on society’s biggest challenges. Employers must stand up every leg of this tripod if they want to win and retain the activated employee.”

A job ad that reads like a combination of a copy and paste combination of your website’s ‘About Us’ section with a job description will create zero emotional desire. You’ll need to get out of your comfort zone and write the way you speak at work – which is the original stuff without having to explain too much.

To catch the attention of the kind of candidate you’re really looking for, you need a job ad that creates desire to land this role. Without this initial desire, you’ll be like the desperate person on Tinder who’s always messaging other people with very little response. You’ll be offering to go out of your way to meet up, pay for everything, forgiving their lack of response. You’ll be setting yourself up to fail because a one-sided relationship can never work.

The key to an activated employee is to create emotional connection and spark desire. Of course, you need to make sure you know what you’re looking for so you can be specific enough to find it, and you need to be as interested in them as they are in you before you decide to make it official. But you’ve got to start with a great job ad.

One last caveat. As with online dating, be honest, don’t do the job ad equivalent of posting an old profile picture. If things aren’t great in certain areas, say so, admit flaws without going into too much detail and play up your strengths instead. This is not the time to fake it till you make it.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

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