The First Four Lines
by Peter Weddle
Job seekers are investing more time in their visits to job boards.
According to a recent survey we conducted here at WEDDLE’s,
most visitors now spend at least twenty minutes on these sites, and
more than a quarter (27%) actually spend thirty minutes or more.
The good news is that most of this time is devoted to looking at
the job openings we post on the sites. The bad news is that our ads
aren’t always viewed in the same way.
Job seekers, of course, are not generic beings. They fall into
one of two populations—active or passive—and it’s
that status which determines how they look at job postings. Active
job seekers will consider any and all ads—those that are well
written and those that are not. They will ignore unclear descriptions
and uninviting value propositions and apply anyway. Passive job seekers
will simply ignore poorly written job postings altogether. They represent
more of the top talent that organizations most want to recruit, so
they have too many choices to spend their time plowing through job
postings with all of the excitement of a brick.
How can you be sure that your job postings capture the attention
and pique the interest of passive job seekers? Understand and respect
the characteristics that define and set them apart.
- Active job seekers are, by definition, actively
looking for a job. Most are determined and even aggressive in their pursuit
of employment opportunities. They need to find work, so in most
cases, they will seek employers out and overlook any shortcomings
in their job postings.
- Passive job seekers aren’t job seekers at all. More often than not, they
are already employed; to be recruited, therefore, they must be persuaded to move
from their current employer to another. No one seeks the disruption such a change
will cause, however, so passive prospects put it off by holding job postings
to a very high standard.
What is that standard? Passive prospects have the attention span of a
gnat. They expect to be informed and captivated in a very short period
of time. In practical terms, that means you must work magic in the first
four lines of your job postings. That introductory text must transform
a person who isn’t looking for a job and doesn’t want to change
employers into someone who is at least willing to read further. The rest
of the posting must convince them to become active, but the first four
lines create the suspension of inactivity that makes such an outcome possible.
To put it another way, well written introductions shift passive prospects
to “active-ready” job seekers.
To achieve that high standard, the first four lines of a job posting
must include the following four elements in the following order:
- A powerful, compelling statement about why the opening is
a “dream job.” Passive prospects are willing to
make a change in employers, but only if they believe they will get to
do interesting work and interact with talented peers.
- An equally powerful and compelling statement about why
your organization is a “dream employer.” Passive
prospects don’t look for a job; they seek opportunities with
employers that will encourage and support their best work and
advance their careers.
- A statement regarding the compensation the opening provides. A
salary range is sufficient, but such terms as “competitive” and “commensurate
with experience” are not. Most passive prospects don’t
work for the money; they work for the intrinsic satisfaction
they derive from doing interesting work for a supportive employer.
In our culture, however, money is a measure of how much that work is
valued, so they will not make a move unless they know there is a financial
advantage to doing so.
- A statement that underscores your employer’s commitment
to protecting candidate confidentiality. Since most passive
prospects are employed, they are risk averse in the job market. They
can only be engaged if they are convinced that their identity will
not be revealed at any point to anyone outside your organization
All of that is what you should say in the first four lines. How you say
it is equally as important. For maximum impact on passive prospects:
- Be concise and use short, hard-hitting statements. The goal is not
to describe your entire value proposition in the introduction, but rather
to elicit an emotional response—to get a reluctant reader to
make a spur-of-the-moment decision to read on.
- Use the second person, wherever possible. It’s much more effective
to tell someone “You will get to do this” or “You will
be able to accomplish that” than to speak in the impersonal third
person with phrases like “The successful candidate will have experience
in this” or “Applicants must be able to do that.”
- Avoid inside jargon that is unique to your organization as it will
make prospects feel like outsiders. Instead, use words and phrases that
reflect the values and culture of your organization that were most appealing
to its highest performing employees when they were recruited.
The sequence or order in which these elements are presented will also influence
their effectiveness. Traditionally, the search engines for job databases
at job boards produce search results that list openings by the title of their
posting. (See my August 24, 2006 column for an introduction to writing powerful
titles for job postings.) More recently, however, a small, but growing number
of search engines are also providing the first several lines of each posting.
By organizing your ad to begin with what passive prospects want, you lead
with your strength. You tell them up front what’s in it for
them, and that’s the way you transform them from passive prospects
to “active-ready” job seekers.
© Peter Weddle 2006
Reprinted with permission of the author
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