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Alternative Ways To Advertise A Job

Alternative Ways To Advertise A Job

Even before employers and job seekers flocked in their millions to online job boards, which are the most effective overall place for companies to attract potential talent, there were plenty of alternative ways to advertise a job.

While both larger and smaller companies still find some success in print advertising, online job advertisements offer a platter of standard and quirky ways to find and communicate with your target audience. In essence, you can cast your net wide or fish in smaller pools where experts in specific industries hang out.

In this article, we help employers and those responsible for posting jobs explore their options, including:

  • Posting job openings on social media channels
  • How to post jobs on your careers page
  • When niche job boards are an advantage
  • Universities, interns, and graduates
  • Broadcasting job openings to your professional network
  • Finding passive candidates through industry blogs
  • Reassessing your talent pool and attained CVs
  • Newsletters and turning customers into employees
  • Flat fee recruitment and general job boards
  • Tips for getting job seekers to apply for your job opening

Posting Job Openings On Social Media Channels

Job Posting On Social Media

Social media channels are a superb place to find your ideal candidate, and you can hone your recruitment campaigns in various ways. Firstly, ask your current employees where they spend their time.

Discovering if they visit your Facebook page, hang out in specific Facebook groups, or are active on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Snap Shat can help you put your job ads where they will receive the highest traffic.

Of course, where you post on social media will affect your tone of voice and your advertising approach. An Instagram job ad might be an image, a LinkedIn job posting might be an in-depth text, while a TikTok post will be a video. People on social media love to share, so there is a chance of creating a snowball with runaway momentum.

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How To Post Jobs On Your Careers Page

Smaller businesses often overlook their website, yet eight out of ten candidates will visit a company careers page when applying for a job opening. These applicants may have found your job advert on job boards or arrive directly from an internet search engine or job aggregator. To capitalise on the latter and have your jobs appear on Google for Jobs, each job should have a separate page.

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When Niche Job Boards Are An Advantage

A niche job board will attract fewer candidates than a general job board, and job postings cost more. However, the focus is on quality and delivering qualified candidates. If you need an elite candidate with a specialist skill, qualification, or experience in a particular business/industry sector, then including niche advertising with your free and paid job board advertising is highly beneficial.

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Universities, Interns, And Graduates

Free Site Advertising At Universities

Many local universities allow you to advertise job openings for placements and internships, permanent graduate positions, project work, and short-term contracts on their websites.

The university might distribute your advert for free to talented students who have registered their interest in hearing about relevant opportunities and positions. A mention in an alumni chat room would again be free and could lead to online discussions and a flood of applicants.

Broadcasting Job Openings To Your Professional Network

While your professional network includes contacts made through Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook, it is vital not to forget to look inwards and utilise your team. Employee referrals often result in hiring the best new employee, as they tend to suit your company culture.

If employee referrals are lacking in your business, consider offering an incentive or reward and encourage your team to share your job post on their social media channels, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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Finding Passive Candidates Through Industry Blogs

Your company blog and website is definitely a potential source of candidates, and so are industry blogs. Readers of industry blogs will fall into the passive candidate’s moniker, so paid advertising and guest posts can connect you with candidates with real-world experience and a genuine commitment to their profession.

Targeting passive candidates through website blogs and LinkedIn will be crucial if your business sector has a skills shortage.

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Reassessing Your Talent Pool And Attained CVs

Create A Free Pool Of Talent

Employers often make the mistake of deleting CVs from past hiring campaigns. Keeping the CVs of candidates with potential, but weren’t quite right for the role at the time, is an excellent way to build a free pool of talented prospects. You should revisit and contact potential candidates that narrowly missed out to see if they are interested in your new opportunity.

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Newsletters And Turning Customers Into Employees

Customer newsletters extend your job advertising reach further. Your newsletter subscribers already have a passion for your products or services, so they can be a great resource to tap into. Word of mouth referrals from customers is also possible. If you have a retail space, don’t forget to post jobs in your window.

Flat Fee Recruitment And General Job Boards

Flat fee recruitment is the best way to tackle and pay for job board advertising. Most company hires come through this avenue, and various packages give you the options and support you want, saving time, admin, and money.

You can advertise jobs on a mix of free and paid job sites in a few clicks, with an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) assisting and automating many recruitment tasks from posting to responding to applicants, importing CVs, and arranging job interviews. 

Your company can post jobs on high-traffic sites and jobs boards such as Monster, TotalJobs, Jobsite, Indeed, Reed, Glassdoor, etc.

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Tips For Getting Job Seekers To Apply For Your Job Opening

Tips For A Successful Employee Search

Here are our top tips for getting the right candidates to apply for your jobs:

1. Advertise Jobs On A Job Board

To reach a vast quantity of potential candidates, you need to post jobs on a job board. You should post jobs on a mix of free and paid sites. These are the top job sites and the most likely avenue for a successful candidate search.

2. Write An Effective Job Advert

To create an ad, you need several pieces of content. These include a job title, location, a job description, and a job specification detailing required or desired skills, personal traits, qualifications, and experience. We have penned several blogs on writing these, including:

You can also use the following free resources to create a unique job description and ad:

3. Promote Your Company Culture

People want to work for companies with the same values, which should be expressed in your job ad and any other candidate touchpoint. Your culture should portray why your business is a fantastic place to work. Not sure what your employees think or are saying about your business? Check out employer review sites such as Glassdoor.

4. Include A Salary Range

Many hiring managers seem reluctant to share a job’s salary, and our experience indicates that this is a mistake. You will fill a vacancy quicker if you include a salary range and avoid wasting your and the candidate’s time interviewing individuals who will never accept an employment offer.

5. Highlight Opportunities

Career opportunities can add to your proposition and should not be limited to simply promotions. You will fill your vacancy quicker and with better people if, for example, you highlight opportunities to build related work experience, access training, or advance their qualifications.

6. Include A Job Specification

Your ad should include both a job description (what the role is) and a job specification (what skills, traits, qualifications, and experience are required to perform the function). A clear and precise person specification makes it easy for applicants to see if they are a match, and HR identify potential training needs.

Hiring Resources:

Advertising And Talent Search FAQs

Here we answer your questions on the best places and sites for hiring a candidate.

Where is the best place to advertise your jobs?

The best places to advertise job openings include job boards, your company website, social media, and the jobs section of your local newspaper. Websites that attract the greatest audience include TotalJobs, Indeed, Monster, Jobsite, and LinkedIn.

What is the best way to advertise job openings on social media?

Use a form of media appropriate to the social media site, for example, a text job spec, image, or video post. You can post for free in your feed and on your profile page, pay for sponsored advertising, or have the cost included in a fixed cost advertising package from a job board reseller.

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