National Characteristics of Job Ads

At first, job ads seem to be uniform across the regions. Their components are pretty much the same: a short description of the employer, a teaser, a task list, a candidate profile, employer’s rewards to the successful candidate, and contact information. Yet, there are some characteristics of job ads that are unique to certain countries.

To circumvent scarcity of resources in human resource departments, many companies in Hong Kong, Poland and Great Britain opt for communication with shortlisted candidates only. Some companies will indicate their approach in the job ad by placing one of the following phrases:
* Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
* We regret only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
* We reserve the right to contact shortlisted candidates only.

Another line often included in job ads in those countries is
* All data collected will be used for recruitment purposes only and will be used strictly confidential.

However, in Poland applicants are also asked to include consent with personal data processing. For example:
* Please include the following clause in your CV: I hereby give consent for my personal data included in my offer to be processed for the purposes of recruitment, in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act dated 29.08.1997 (uniform text: Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland 2002 No 101, item 926 with further amendments).

By indicating the salary range, HR and recruiters in Great Britain attach great importance to efficiency of recruitment process. In Poland, this practice is coming about slowly. In Germany, it is completely unusual.

Next, while indicating a contact person and a phone number is very common in German job ads, it is rather an exception in Poland. However, an emerging trend among local recruitment agencies in Poland is to invite questions to the job ad by skype or gadu-gadu (Polish instant messaging system). Skype and gadu-gadu nicknames are included as a result.

A rather recent note appearing in job ads in all analyzed countries, but yet not aimed at job seekers is the request to refrain from resume forwarding by recruitment agencies. Such request accompanies ads by global players such as Google and companies with well staffed in-house recruitment departments or established agency relationships. For example:
* To all recruitment agencies: Google does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Google employees or any other company location. Google is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.