Planning Resource Jobs Recruiter Zone

How to upload your vacancies effectively on planningjobs.co.uk

How to write an effective print job advertisement

Make your print ad stand out and attract attention from relevant job seekers by following our simple advice:

Approach writing a job advertisement as you would any other form of advertising: consider the job as your product and the readers of the ad as your potential customers. If you want the ad to grab the reader’s attention and hold their interest, it needs to communicate quickly and clearly the key messages you want to convey. There must also be an obvious and simple call to action: how to apply.

An effective job advert should include all or most of the following, allowing for your own organisational policies:

• Job title
• Name of employer or recruitment agency/consultancy
• Where the job is to be located
• Brief description of your business/organisation and its aims and market position
• How the job fits into the company structure (eg to whom the successful applicant will report)
• Description of job role and purpose
• An idea of the scale, size and responsibility of the role
• An outline of an ideal candidate’s profile
• Any experience or qualifications required of applicants
• Salary or salary guide, plus other benefits (eg car, pension)
• Whether the post is full- or part-time, permanent, temporary or on a contract
• How the recruitment process will work
• Instructions on how to apply
• Contact details (eg name, address, phone number, email etc)
• Any job reference number related to the post
• Your organisation’s branding and website address, plus any quality accreditations
• Your equal opportunities statement

The design of the ad should be clear and simple. By all means use your company’s branding, especially if your organisation is well-known within the community you are advertising to, but don’t let it dominate the ad. Other key tips include:

• Use a simple heading which makes clear the job being advertised
• Use simple language and make the ad easy to read, with short sentences and bullet points where appropriate
• Use straightforward font styles (eg Arial, Times etc) or your house font, avoiding italics, capitals and complicated typography
• Write in the second person, addressing the reader as ‘you’, ‘your’, yours’ etc
• Make sure you highlight what is exciting, new or unique about the job you are offering

How best to combine print and online advertising

Advertising your vacancy in both print and online gives you the best possible market penetration for your ad. Combining the two media by advertising with Planning and planningjobs.co.uk means you will:

• Harness the immediacy of online with the longevity of print
• Capture the attention of both active and passive job seekers - attracted specifically by your advertisement
• Ensure a wide coverage of a highly professional audience while avoiding irrelevant response

The most cost-effective way to maximise exposure for your ad is through a value-for-money package of online and print options. Our Bronze, Silver and Gold packages will enable your vacancy to stand out and be noticed over similar roles. The three packages offer increasing levels of exposure in the magazine and job site.

Understanding what all the different advertising formats offer

The simplest option available to start applications rolling in for your vacancy, is to upload a job listing onto the planningjobs.co.uk . The listing promotes your vacancy to the targeted group of active job seekers looking for a role matching your requirements. Job seekers can search for listings across industry sector, job function, salary band and geographical location.

The next step is to consider enhancing your simple text listing, which will make your vacancy stand out on the search result page, helping users spot it first and increasing potential response.

Banners and buttons help you use your company brand to increase your chances of being noticed by both active and passive job-seekers, while keyword sponsorship options guarantee that your vacancy is in the top three search results.

To widen your exposure further, buying a featured recruiter logo and/or featured job spot enables job seekers to access your vacancy by your company name, and puts your organisation alongside editorial content which will drive traffic to your vacancy.

Using targeted email or accessing our CV database helps you to target applicants more specifically through their particular skills or interests. Developing a dedicated microsite to cover all aspects of the recruitment process not only givecs your candidate an easy way to access all relevant information about the job and your company, but also gives you a web site dedicated to the management of your recruitment campaign. Microsites can carry information from company profiles and job descriptions to application forms. 

Using your company's brand to attract candidates

Effective branding can greatly increase response from relevant candidates. Planning has a number of ways to help build your company as an employer of choice. By using your company brand, you will enable job seekers to access your vacancy by your company name to attract those serious job seekers specifically interested in working for you. You also have the opportunity to convey your company’s values and the benefits of working for you.

Branding opportunities include buttons and banners, keyword sponsorship, featured recruiter and featured job spots and microsites. We also have a number of other options such as our Career Guide, display advertising and inserts which further extend your company’s profile. For more details, phone our expert sales team on 020 8267 4492 or email planning.ads@haymarket.com .