How to Avoid Sloppy Online Recruitment Advertising

Since the boom of the Internet, online advertising has become an integral component of all recruitment efforts. It is not only an extremely cost effective form of advertising, but less demanding than print advertising particularly in regards to ad size, the amount of words used, and quality of the entire copy.

As a result, some companies slack off here and delegate the drafting and posting of online recruitment advertising to junior HR staff without further supervision. Over time however, this approach leads to various design formats with inconsistent copy and numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes. More troubling is the fact that these ads seldom portray the job in an attractive and engaging manner and regularly continue to live on and on somewhere in digital space long after the position has been closed; very careless indeed.

So, to reverse this negative cycle and harness positive public relations, prepare a thorough online recruitment advertising policy. Begin by answering the following questions:
• Who is authorizing the advertising of positions?
• Who approves the final draft of the online recruitment advertisement?
• Who determines placement of online recruitment advertisements (which Internet sites are used will likely depend on the nature of the position and an expected ease or difficulty of securing an adequate field of Candidates).
• Who is responsible for assuring the quality of the company’s agreed to branding, style, and standard design format?
• What are the specific guidelines for the content of the online recruitment advertisement (e.g. to be consistent with the position description/person specification with non discriminatory criteria as sex and age, whether to indicate the salary range of the position, etc.)?
• Does the online recruitment advertising need to be in English or in Chinese or bilingual?
• How do we track the effectiveness of the online recruitment advertising by recruitment portal (e.g. effectiveness of the response rates to the advertisement [Applicant Tracking], the percentage of appointments made after the first round of advertising, or the number of applications processed within standard timeframes)?