Want to increase your job advert application rate?
There are loads of quick-fix solutions on the internet, but which one actually works?
According to Glassdoor, 76% of hiring decision-makers report a major challenge in attracting and hiring passive candidates nowadays, as they’ve grown war of contact through networking websites like LinkedIn.
Furthermore, 76% also said that attracting quality candidates is their number one challenge.
One of the integral parts of any recruitment process is the job advert. You can lose a candidate’s attention by just saying the wrong thing, using an inappropriate tone or failing to include enough detail in the description.
Crafting an effective job advert is an art. However, it’s an art that we’ve cracked over the past couple of years. By making one simple tweak to our job adverts, we’ve increased our application rate by 61.7%!
Interested? Then read on.
The one simple tweak
Believe it or not, we found that by including the salary in our job adverts, our application rate shot up.
Yep, it’s really that straightforward!
However, it’s surprising to see how many employers and recruiters choose not to include this vital information.
Especially when one study revealed that a job ads with a salary range included receives 30% more applications.
What’s more, Jobsite found that drop off rates for those which don’t have these details are between 25-35%.
Can your business afford to take that risk for the sake of being unforthcoming?
Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to include the exact amount on offer – as you don’t know how much experience the candidate has at that point in time.
But we found by including DOE (depending on experience) and a salary range on our job adverts, it instantly boosted job application rates.
You see, candidates want transparency.
We live in a fast-moving world where people don’t have the time to go through the whole recruitment process only to be offered a sub-par salary.
It’s worth noting that the ‘DOE’ inclusion only works if you have a salary range. Otherwise, you could offer a candidate anything within reason.
Always be upfront and honest.
Reasons why you should include salary ranges in your job ads
There are several reasons why making this one simple tweak to our job adverts boosted application rates by 61.7%.
For starters, candidates are savvy nowadays.
The power of the internet allows them to visit Glassdoor’s website and research previous salaries at a company.
This will include reviews from both successful and unsuccessful candidates too.
So, even if we’re acting on behalf of a company, our candidates could easily research this kind of information.
Jennifer Deal’s successful book ‘What Millennials Want From Work’ suggests that “millennials are most likely to discuss their compensation with parents (71%) or their friends (47%).
In comparison, older staff are substantially less likely to discuss their compensation with co-workers (19%), friends (24%) or parents (31%).”
In other words, millennials care about salaries – like, a lot!
And when you consider the fact that millennials are set to make up 75% of the workforce by 2030, it pays to keep them sweet.
Another reason why we successfully boosted application rates by including salary ranges is the fact that candidates need a reason to make the leap.
Think of it this way, if you’re trying to employ the very best professionals, you need to appeal to passive job seekers – i.e. the top performers who already have a job, but are always eager to hear about other opportunities to progress their careers.
However, if you just throw a job advert at them without including the juicy details, why should they jump ship?
Applying for a role and going through the process takes time.
Some people even have to use some of their holiday to do so.
Being transparent will enable you to attract the right applicants, maintain your company’s reputation and cut out the awkward conversations further down the line.
Looking to the future
Diversity and bias are two of the most important topics in the recruitment industry right now.
The UK and US governments are calling for greater clarity on salaries and to close the gender pay gap.
Starbucks are one of the first major global brands to achieve this.
Over the past couple of years, Twitter introduced the #talkpay tag, encouraging people to talk openly about pay transparency.
It sparked over 40,000 tweets at the time.
Moving forward, don’t be surprised if regulations are introduced and more businesses get behind the movement.
As a business, you need to think about what’s important to you.
Would you rather receive less applications from a select group of candidates just so you can save a few quid?
Or does an influx of qualified and diverse applicants who produce better results for a slightly higher salary sound better?
We found that there’s absolutely no reason not to include the salary in your job advert.
You’ll have to tell them at some point anyway.
Plus, if the candidate doesn’t like what you’re offering once you finally have the conversation, you might have wasted days and months.
Why not try...
Enjoyed reading this? Then check out our previous posts about job adverts:
