Crafting job adverts isn’t just about attracting a large pool of applicants—it’s about finding the right fit. However, with the way job adverts and vacancies are written by some companies, one would think they are striving for the former. The key aspect of achieving this is simply through your Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
Firstly, what is an EVP?
If you don’t know the answer to this question, this is the first major step you are doing wrong. Branding is not only a job spec for marketing and sales teams. If you are in HR or a supervisor writing job adverts for your vacancies, you are one of the fundamental representatives for your company’s EVP.
Put simply, an EVP stands for the employee value proposition employers present to attracting and retaining talent. But in reality, it is so much more.
EVPs cover what employees get from their company and enable employers to market themselves as an employer of choice and differentiate over their competitors. Broadly speaking this includes: Total rewards and benefits; Career Development Opportunities; Core Values and Culture and Work Environment and Flexibility.
What does this mean for job adverts?
It requires job adverts to have a balance of skill alignment (i.e. the skills and experience you are seeking) with branding of your EVP. Where job adverts go wrong is that they are technically re-hashing a job description – that is incorrect. Incorrect in the sense it won’t convince that one highly-skilled professional you are wanting to hire, to read more.
The Significance of skill v brand balance:
a) Required skills for a role fit: Clearly outlining the required skills will attract technically-right candidates who possess the necessary qualifications to excel in the role. This reduces the likelihood of having to expense time for mismatched skills.
Clearly articulating skill requirements sets realistic expectations for candidates, leading to a smoother recruitment process. It empowers candidates to assess their suitability for the role and self-select based on their alignment with the job requirements and company values.
b) Integrating Skill Requirements with EVP
NOTE: If you don’t have a clearly identified and active EVP, you will struggle to complete this part of the process. BUT, if you have been on the journey of building your authentic and representative EVP, here’s how you can effectively integrate skill requirements into your job adverts while showcasing it:
- Start with a Strong Introduction: Begin your job advert by succinctly summarising the role and highlighting the impact it has within your organisation. Emphasise how the role contributes to the company’s mission and objectives, setting the stage for the skill requirements to come.
- Align Skills with Core Values and Culture: As you outline the required skills, connect them to your company’s core values and culture. For example, if collaboration is a key value, emphasise the need for strong teamwork and communication skills in the job description.
- Highlight Growth Opportunities: When discussing skill requirements, underscore the opportunities for professional development and growth within your organisation. This not only attracts candidates with the requisite skills but also those who are eager to further develop their capabilities in a supportive environment. This is why it is important to have an authentic EVP – you don’t want to be selling promises of development when you can’t clearly demonstrate the active L&D programs employees take part in and the clear progression pathways afforded to everyone.
- Emphasise Total Rewards and Benefits: Linking skill requirements to your total rewards and benefits package reinforces the value proposition for prospective candidates. Showcase how the acquisition of specific skills is rewarded within your company: incentives, bonus structures, annual pay increase, L&D budget, special leave, wellbeing days etc.
- Offer Insights into Work Environment: Provide insights into the work environment and how the required skills contribute to success within that setting. Again, if you don’t know your EVP, you won’t be able to articulate what kind of culture you possess. This section should talk to how you have an open & supportive culture, firstly with your open-plan office which features ‘chill zones’, lunch spaces and meeting rooms with complimentary tea and coffee, remote working plans and technology to support flexible working, quarterly celebration days with the team etc.
There is so much that goes into an EVP and rightly so. We are in a ‘candidate’ market, and what that means is companies are finding themselves selling their organisation to top talent in the hope to secure them over competition. Without a strong EVP, candidates will instantly become more attracted to another job offer.
By integrating skill requirements seamlessly into your job adverts while highlighting your EVP, you set the stage for attracting top talent who not only possess the necessary skills but also embody the ethos of your organisation. Remember, a well-crafted job advert serves as the gateway to a successful recruitment process—make it count by aligning skills with your EVP to attract the best possible candidates.