Job vacancies: attracting the perfect candidate

Job vacancies: attracting the perfect candidate
30th November 2007
Author: NES Group

An enormous pile of CVs to rifle through after a huge response to your job advertisement is all well and good, but how can you be sure that the owners of these CVs will actually have the skills required to do the job? How do you optimise the response to your advertisement so that you attract the perfect candidate?

Firstly, you must know exactly what the job entails. Knowing the title is not enough. If you want to attract the right candidate you have to produce a clear job description, detailing the position of the role within the company and expectations of the successful applicant.

Now ask yourself what your ideal candidate would be like. A person specification focuses on the skills, experience and qualifications that are needed for an individual to be successful. Consider what skills you are looking for in a candidate – would high academic grades be a good indicator of their suitability for the role or are soft skills more important?

When it comes to applicants’ experience, think about specific areas rather than the number of years they have acquired, as this will ensure that you don’t unintentionally eliminate those who have gained substantial experience in a shorter period of time than usual. A good indication of a candidate’s social skills and attitudes towards others is what their interests and achievements outside of work are, so asking for these details can also be useful.

Both the job description and person specification are of considerable value when using recruitment agencies, as the more information you are able to provide them with, the more successful they will be in putting forward suitable candidates for consideration. You can maximise the effectiveness of your agency by providing comprehensive job and person specifications so they fully understand your requirements.

Think about the level of response you would like to receive from your job advert. For junior or graduate positions it might be better to have a greater choice of candidates, whereas for senior and specialist positions it is often more beneficial to receive half a dozen excellent applications rather than hundreds of standard ones, which is where a recruitment agency can prove to be an essential resource.

After assessing the competition and getting an idea of what other positions you are contending with, you can word your job description or advertisement so that it stands out. Words such as ‘leading,’ ‘global,’ and ‘unrivalled’ will work well in giving your company greater appeal than others.

Finally, before you place the advert or contact your recruitment agency, imagine that you are the applicant and ask yourself whether or not the job is appealing. ‘Would I apply for this job if it were in my specialist area?’ Making sure you focus on the benefits for the candidate should help to attract the right people.
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NES is a leading global technical recruitment business providing professionally qualified contract staff to blue chip clients across the world in the oil and gas, infrastructure, rail, power and IT sectors. Founded in 1978, a committed workforce has facilitated the company's success and continues to ensure that NES experiences ongoing growth in terms of customers, geography and sector.
http://www.nes.co.uk