How do you recruit?

Nara

How Junior of a position are you looking for? You can often find entry-level talent at the local community college's job office.

Carnival Boy

Ideally, degree plus one year's experience or the equivalent without a degree.

Carnival Boy

Do you advertise the salary level when you place job adverts?

Pros:

gives a good indication of the level of candidate you require
stops over-qualified wasting their time applying
Cons:
salaries are always flexible for the right candidate, and you might put the perfect candidate off applying because they incorrectly believe you can't afford them
you might be unrealistic about current salary levels in your industry

How do you handle this?

Minion Queen

I put salary negotiable dependent on experience. Makes it vague enough to sound like I am willing to really pay the right person

RAM.

If anyone looking for someone in the baltimore - washington area I'm your boy.

If anyone is looking to relocate someone to Texas or North Carolina I'm your boy.

scottalanmiller

I think that he is looking for the UK

Which I would much prefer.

Carnival Boy

Yes, UK. And we couldn't afford any relocation fees. I guess it would be tricky to get a work visa anyway, our current political leaders are all very anti-immigration at the moment, sadly.

scottalanmiller

Moving between the US, Canada and UK is always tricky.

Carnival Boy

So, I'm about to replace another job advert on Monster.com. This time I'm going to go minimalist! I'm just going to list the job role. I'm not going to put any restrictions on the amount of experience or skills that the potential applicant requires. If they think they can do the role and are happy with the salary, they're free to apply.

Looking at other companies adverts there is so much bullshit. A lot of this is marketing guff that I guess is used to entice the candidate into applying. I'm not marketeer, does this stuff work? Will my minimalist ad be too boring and put people off?

Here are some exerts from ads I've browsed this morning:

"This is a varied and challenging role that requires good time management, an eye for detail together with the ability to assess information and provide first time solutions to queries in a timely fashion. You will be able to prioritise your workloads and work on your own initiative."

To me, this translates as - "This is an IT role. We want someone who is quite good at IT". It's bullshit.

Strong problem solving skills and the ability to think through problems logically.*Able to forge relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Able to work to deadlines & manage projects outside of day-to-day work in a proactive manner*

Able to work to deadlines? Who would want someone that doesn't work to deadlines? Do you ever see "An ability to meet deadlines is preferred but not essential as we're ok with candidates who are a bit slow"?

**The company has offices in Australia and the UK. They live and breathe by their core values of “caring about our customers”, “doing things right”, “down to earth”, and “having some fun”*.

Core value of having some fun? It's bullshit.

Pushing back the frontiers of business, enabling deals, sparking big ideas, connecting great people – we do all that and more. Changing the game takes some very special people. We might be all about business, but our people check their corporate masks in at reception. They’re super sharp and always switched on. Flexible, friendly, and up for any challenge.. So if you join us as a Technical Support Analyst, get ready for something new.

Check their corporate masks in at reception? What does this even mean?

Innovative and challenging, brilliant at customer service and great at identifying and resolving problems, you thrive in a high-pressure environment.

In my experience, "high-pressure environment" means "in order to save money, we don't employ enough staff so you'll be rushed off your feet and stressed". Who thrives in that environment? It's bullshit.

"This is an excellent opportunity to join an advanced technical team in a thriving company who can offer excellent career prospects, with all staff encouraged to pursue further professional accreditations to assist in personal development. The position will be highly rewarding for the right candidate with a varied and challenging role*

This is both boring and meaningless.

So, should job adverts "sell" your company? Or would you be ok with minimilist job adverts (this is the job spec - apply if you're interested).

Minion Queen

I know in IT most people would like to see the minimalist version. What is the job and what do they want me to do? Don't post crud!

nadnerB

I hate looking for jobs. I spend half my time translating the recruiter speak and second guessing my translation.

How to recruit for IT:

What's the job? (minus the crap. GET TO THE POINT!!!!)
What are you looking for in a person? (minus the crap. GET TO THE POINT!!!!)
1 paragraph that clearly describes the company.
Contact details

Carnival Boy

@nadnerB said:

What are you looking for in a person? (minus the crap. GET TO THE POINT!!!!)

I'm not even doing this. What I'm looking for is someone who feels they can do the job I've specified for the salary range I've specified. I'm not going to pre-judge by listing criteria. If they feel they can do it they can apply and I'll judge their relative merits when I read their resume.

nadnerB

@Carnival-Boy said:

@nadnerB said:

What are you looking for in a person? (minus the crap. GET TO THE POINT!!!!)

I'm not even doing this. What I'm looking for is someone who feels they can do the job I've specified for the salary range I've specified. I'm not going to pre-judge by listing criteria. If they feel they can do it they can apply and I'll judge their relative merits when I read their resume.

Even better!

Nic

LinkedIn is good for finding people near you with qualifications who might not be actively looking, but would be open to a new opportunity if it fell in their lap.