Non-wage benefits – should we mention them in the recruitment advertisement?
There is a lot of talk about how to write a CV to stand out among thousands of candidates for a job in a dream job. However, how to distinguish our advertisement from hundreds of other job offers and what to write so that potential candidates would like to work with us? Is it worth mentioning employee benefits at this stage? How to do it to make our proposal attractive?
Just an advertisement or a commercial of a position?
A recruitment advertisement is really a commercial. Exactly as in marketing reality, we have just a few seconds to make the recipient be interested in our offer. This time, however, we do not promote the product to potential customers, only the company and specific tasks for potential employees. The advertisement is to make them dream about working with us. They will try for it and want to devote their time to present themselves best in our recruitment process.
When creating an advertisement, it is worth empathizing with the role of the candidate and think about which information is important to them, how to describe the proposed position, how to find the right people and how to present our product – that is, an offer for an employee – to make them get tempted. What is surprising – even companies that have teams of copywriters or entire creative departments do not always ask them for support in the preparation of such a publication! Typically, they are written by the managers themselves, managers or HR departments, but it is worth using the experience of colleagues responsible for promoting products or brands. The announcement should be a joint work of people with different competences – this is one more place where the company presents itself to the world.
The most important information for the future employee
The company looking for employees knows perfectly well what is its mission, how it treats employees and what distinguishes it among the competition. The candidate usually does not have such knowledge, so if the announcement will interest them, they will try to find such information – on the Internet or among friends. We can facilitate the task a little, and at the same time strengthen the willingness to cooperate with us, describing in the headline of the recruitment advertisement what we do, in which industry we operate in, what we are the best in, or what clients we serve.
As in the bookshop, the cover and title attract our attention, so the key to the search for a new job is the name of the position. It is not worth complicating or fantasizing in this respect, because potential great candidates will not even reach our advert. However, you can indicate the department in which the person would work or the area for which they will be responsible – a slightly different approach and tools are used by the B2B marketing specialist than the marketing specialist in the e-commerce team.
Precise presentation of the position is especially important in case of unusual activities and specific industry and in the search for young employees for whom this will be the first job. We must remember that the recurrent or ineffective recruitment process is a huge loss for the entire company. Therefore, let’s use our announcement to best present not only individual tasks, but also the context that will apply to work at a given position.
Requirements and expectations of the employer
It is obvious that when we need a driver, he or she must have the appropriate license. However, even in this case it is good to determine what kind of vehicles and location we have in mind. Let’s remember that apart from the hard competences that can be supported by the proper diploma or certificate, mention also other expectations for the future employee. Let us be precise, however, and let us not include the same or accidental requirements in all advertisements – creativity is not the feature that we will be looking for among candidates for the accounting department. Performing duties with passion is very desirable, but it is not possible in every job.
Unclear or incomplete position information means that both parties simply lose their time. The candidate applies for a job which is definitely above (or below) his / her qualifications. As a result, only promil of all sent applications has the chance to result in an invitation to a recruitment meeting, and in the future a satisfying job. On the other side is an employer who has to look through hundreds or thousands of CVs to get people who can actually meet their expectations out of the crowd of people they do not know. Unfortunately, even after careful verification of the content of the applications received may be disappointed with the candidates invited to the interview.
Balance between requirements and offer
Candidates often pay attention to the lack of balance between requirements and the company’s offer – still common in job advertisements. The part concerning the expectations of the employer is usually long and contains many precisely defined requirements. The description of the proposal for a future employee is only a few briefly described points.
If we want our job offer to be attractive to potential candidates, we must communicate what we propose in exchange for a passionate, creative and creative work. In times of “employee market” and real problems with finding both qualified managers and regular employees, we cannot stop only on the contract and timely remuneration. The car, laptop and phone for a mobile service technician will not make an impression anymore. This part of the announcement is read the most often and is often decisive when making the decision to stand. Therefore, it is necessary to include such information that will distinguish us from announcements regarding similar positions. What recruiters are reaching for more and more often are non-wage benefits for employees. Among them, medical care and life insurance are very popular – in the announcement it is worth writing whether they are fully paid or co-financed by the employer.
Benefits for employees as a distinctive feature of the offer
By mentioning additional benefits, we can rely on the best known brands from the benefits market. There is a high probability that the candidate knows them, so we will increase the attractiveness of the announcement without extensive explanations. The most popular are the MultiSport program (sports card, allowing free participation in classes and the use of sports facilities throughout Poland) and the MyBenefit Cafeteria (a platform with thousands of tourist, recreational and cultural benefits, from which employees freely choose those that are the most attractive for them ). However, it is best to write directly what the employee will gain thanks to our benefits and why we want to give him. It will work on his imagination and make him want to have our benefits!
If we offer courses and trainings, let us point out that thanks to them, the employee will be able to acquire new skills and broaden knowledge about the projects or the industry in which he operates. Working remotely and at various hours emphasizes great flexibility and the ability to adjust work to other aspects of the employee’s life. Unlimited access to coffee and tea and co-financing for lunch are a valuable symptom of the employer’s concern. When proposing a sports card, the employer provides the employee with the information “you are important to me – I want you to care for yourself”, handing out tickets to the cinema and theater “have fun, and return to work tomorrow”. By making the benefits cafeteria available, the employer says, “I trust you, choose what is best for you, and I will not limit your choices.” This message is also very important for future employees, it proves the employer’s commitment and their respect for the people employed.
The benefit program for employees, well prepared and then well presented in the recruitment announcement, will be an excellent advertisement for us. It can affect the decision on the job of our dream candidate.
