We all know that it’s a tough market for those of us in Agribusiness trying to make new hires.
One thing you can do to put your best foot forward is to make sure you nail the advertising. A good promotion strategy isn’t only where you should be placing ads but also the language you’re using and the focus of your promotion.
Job ads are a call-to-action – there to prompt an immediate response. More than that, a job
ad is a fantastic opportunity to represent your brand.
So how can you improve your job ad and increase quality applications? Here are 5 proven ways to help your role stand out.
Understand what candidates want
It’s like a more confusing version of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. The drivers and desires of employers and candidates are wildly different.
We speak to dozens (if not hundreds) of people working in agriculture every day, gaining insight into what would convince someone to move into a new organisation.
Understanding what people want helps drive your job ads and speak to these points. Career development, your organisation, and work-life balance are all crucial things to address in advertising a position.
Speak directly to them
In today’s market, you’re convincing people to come work for you, not having them convince you to hire them.
Your job ad needs to speak directly to your prospective employee, communicating why they’d want to work for your company.
Shine the spotlight on the perks and bonuses of your position/company to draw candidates in.
Focus on the people, not the tasks
Do you have an excellent team? Are there 3 or 15 of you? Focus on the people that make your business, not the tasks that make the role.
It’s equally important to focus on the soft skills that your ideal candidate might have. These need to be the right fit for your organisation.
Realistically, you can teach people new tasks and new skills, but you can’t teach them a new personality.
Cast a wide net
Don’t play hard and fast with definitive requirements in your job ad.
Is it actually necessary that your Senior Farm Hand have a tertiary qualification in agriculture? Is 5 really the minimum years of experience you’ll accept?
You need to be realistic about the person you’re looking for. Cast a wide net and then weed out the unsuitable applications.
Salary matters
No matter how you slice it, salary is an overwhelming factor in job application success. Transparency is reflected in applications.
According to SEEK 75% of people are unlikely to apply for a role that doesn’t specify salary. You could be missing out on the best candidates.
As an employer, you need to consider why you don’t want to publish the salary and whether that decision will hurt your objective.
Thanks to the cost of living and staff shortages increasing, salary ranges of 2-3 years ago won’t cut the mustard anymore.
With the changing attitudes across employment and current candidate expectations, job ads need to effectively speak to candidates’ wants and needs. Someone applying for a role will already know the gist of the position; you need to communicate why they’d want to leave their current role and come work for you.
We’ve spent decades crafting job advertisements, sifting through applicants, and guiding agribusiness enterprises to the best staff. If you’re struggling to find the right people for your agribusiness, contact us to see how we can help.
Photo by regional photographer Al Mabin