Your company might not have the global recognition of brands like Apple or Google, but that shouldn’t stand in the way of attracting top-tier talent. Often, the first encounter a potential employee has with your investment management organization is a job posting. This initial interaction is pivotal. The way your company presents itself in the job market can make a lasting impression.
Crafting a compelling job advertisement is an art. When done right, it lights a spark of interest in potential candidates. It provides answers to their questions, helps them gauge the pros and cons of the role, and motivates them to apply. The more high-quality applications you receive, the better chance you have of selecting an exceptional candidate rather than settling for “the best of the rest.”
On the flip side, a poorly written job ad can work against you. It may lead to hasty jobseekers skipping your posting or not reading it in full. Worse still, it could negatively impact your company’s brand and business reputation. Plus, such ads often garner a lower caliber of candidates.
How do you write a job ad that stands out in a competitive marketplace? How do you capture the interest of high-quality candidates and motivate them to apply to your investment management organization? In this blog post, we’re here to answer these questions. We’ll provide you with knowledge and tips to craft compelling job ads, designed to attract a wave of excellent candidates excited to make a meaningful contribution to your organization.
What makes a job posting great?
Your dream employee is one step closer to joining your investment management team when he clicks on your job ad to find out more information about the vacancy. But to push him there the data you provide in a job posting should be tailored to attract the right kind of people.
Most financial employers and HR managers can’t see the difference between a job description and a job posting. They think a job posting should include title, role responsibilities, skills and qualifications and some company info. Of course, effective job postings will contain an accurate summary of the daily tasks and responsibilities and provide a full picture of the skills and experience necessary to fill the position. Candidates can figure out whether to apply much easier if the investment company is clear about their expectations.
However, a detailed description of the main components of the job is just a part of what makes up a good job ad. After all, a job posting is a marketing tool that should provide potential candidates an idea of what it feels like to work for your organization in the open position.
Excellent job ad must answer the next questions:
- Why is this position opened? Why does the company need a new professional?
- How do the company see a perfect fit for the role, team, and its culture?
- Which are the clear duties and tasks of the job?
- What are the working hours? Is it onsite only, partly remote, or remote?
- How will this role collaborate with other roles in the organization?
- Which qualifications are essential, and which are desirable but not crucial?
- What kind of personality could be successful in this position?
- Is there room for career growth?
- What special advantages and perks does the firm provide?
- What is the most attractive aspect of your employment opportunity?
- What is the salary or at least how does the compensation package compare to that of other local competitors?
- What is the location and where can the applicant learn more about the company (links, contacts)?
7 tips to write an effective job posting
Tip 1: Choose the right title
When I say “right” I mean several characteristics a great job title should have. It must be:
- accurate
- role-specific
- attention-grabbing
- include relevant keywords
The main trick here is to keep a balance. Quite often, in a burst of creativity, hiring managers use non-standard titles for vacancies – Star Investment Officer, Portfolio Superhero, Private Fund Ninja. Of course, such titles are striking if the jobseeker carefully looks through all the advertisements in his specialty. But what are the chances that they will type in “manager” or “sales rep” in the search bar and your ad will pop up in the first few rows?
So that the job posting is not buried by search engines, use clear, detailed titles consisting relevant keywords. For instance, “Junior Credit Analyst” header reflects everything: position, industry, and specification. It doesn’t break the main keyword while optimizing your job posting for organic search. And you still can add some refreshing adjectives in the beginning.
Tip 2: Grab attention with a compelling intro
An introduction is the critical, enticing part of the job posting that is designed to hook the applicant and invite him to embark on a journey. According to Jobvite, 72% of candidates spend less than 5 minutes reviewing a job posting. Therefore, you have only a few lines to draw them in, or risk losing them forever.
Tell the most valuable, appealing facts about the open position. What will the candidate get? Why is this role so attractive (hint: it’s not always about money or perks)? How does it feel to do this job? This is the part where your creativity takes the stage. If you can’t answer these questions from the position of an employee and not an employer, I recommend you set up brief interviews with your staff to learn more non-obvious highlights about their work.
Speak to your applicants first and talk about the organization afterwards. Rather than using standard impersonal lines like “the ideal candidate will…”, use “you” and “we” as if you are speaking personally to the candidate.
Tip 3: Clarify your expectations
Providing clear instructions and expectations is vital to both save investment leader’s time and ensure jobseekers can understand the qualifications they need to apply. If a job posting is too vague or unrealistic, candidates won’t believe the job is worth it.
Start by making a list of the deal-breakers, such as the minimum but absolutely necessary requirements for the position (in terms of skills, experience, and certifications) and add your “nice to have” skills list in the end.
Be upfront and stick to the point but still encourage jobseekers to apply even if they don’t check all the boxes. According to the Hewlett Packard report, women believe they must satisfy 100% of a role’s required criteria to apply, while men think they must meet 60%. That said, a 95% role fit could be the star employee you’re looking for.
Tip 4: Designate the location
If your investment organization is not looking for a work-from-home professional, working department location is extremely important for a prospective employee. In fact, this is the third most decision-affecting factor after salary and perks.
Nobody wants to go through the application stage, company research and multiple interviews just to find out it will take 4 hours a day to get to and from the office. But it doesn’t mean there are no excellent candidates out there who live just around the corner or who were planning to move and just waiting for the final kick.
Be upfront about the working location. Add both text description and links to location-based information. Be sure to mention if the company will reimburse travel expenses or provide employees with company transport.
Tip 5: Use eye-catching media content
Chris Mulhall, the Head of Talent at PointClickCare, once said “From a candidate’s perspective, a boring and bureaucratic job description probably means it’s also a boring and bureaucratic company to work for”.
They performed independent research to study how different job description formats affect the results of a job posting. The usual text description, according to the poll, didn’t encourage applicants to assume the organization was interesting but catchy media content did.
A brief video is an excellent tool to provide prospects with a genuine look at the position and organization. A fun 2-minute day-in-the-life clip can give a candidate a taste of the role and the corporate culture or provide a portal into a department.
It has been discovered that the comic strip is the most engaging and effective media for the technical community. One should utilize it only as a hook at the beginning of the Q&A, which then moves on to more serious and informative questions. One advantage over more formal text descriptions is the entertaining, conversational tone.
Don’t forget to use logos, photos and branding colors and elements to make your job posting unique and memorable.
Tip 6: Include salary details
Compensation is one of the most important elements of crafting a successful job posting; every employer understands that. Nevertheless, numerous financial hiring managers waste their limited time interviewing candidates just to say goodbye after the final offer as the firm can’t afford them.
Jobseekers want to know upfront what the compensation may look like, and employers should be prepared to make this information available. Being transparent about salary details will help build trust between the jobseeker and employer, as well as give jobseekers educated idea about whether the role is something they should pursue further.
There are two working methods for an investment management leader to talk about compensation:
- State an exact number – the only option if you don’t have any leeway in the salary range, bonus payments or percentage of sales, for instance.
- Give a broad salary range – leaving you breathing space to negotiate with a candidate since you do not commit to a single lump sum.
Tip 7: Make it beneficial
Bonuses, perks, and other goodies can tip the scales of a hesitant jobseeker in your favor. Do you have a reimbursement benefit for the gym? Talk about it! You’ve got impressive medical benefits? Talk about it! You give extra week vacation for every employee? Just talk about it!
If you consider that your investment company doesn’t have any special perks to boast about, don’t hesitate to ask your staff why they like their working environment. The answers may be surprising: a convenient location with many close-by cafeterias, delicious coffee and free cookies, breathtaking views, or even cool office parties.
One strategy for attracting and retaining top-tier employees is to provide more compelling job descriptions. It’s a lengthy process but think of the time you’ll save by not having to sift through ineligible applications or waste your time interviewing bad performers. When candidates are properly positioned to self-select, everyone benefits.
On the hunt for top-tier, pre-qualified investment management professionals who will become integral to your organization? An effective job posting is your starting point. At Volar LLC, we can help craft a job ad that grabs attention and speaks to today’s savvy job seekers. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me or the team at Volar LLC. Let’s work together to find the perfect fit for your perfectly crafted job ad!
