Veronica Yao | TalentEgg Trends

Author: Veronica Yao (page 4 of 4)

Job Postings For Students: Include These 5 Elements

You’ve drafted up a brand new job posting for a fantastic position aimed at students and grads. You check it for spelling errors, get it approved by management, and post it on every online job board you can find. Over the next few weeks, you find yourself with applications from all the wrong candidates!

Posting a job online can often feel like a shout into the void. There are so many people trying to have their message heard, and so many individuals missing messages that were meant for them. When posting a position meant for young professionals, it’s important to make it clear that this particular “shout” is meant for them.

So go back to your first draft and take a close look – chances are, your posting is missing a few of these key elements:

1. Is it easy to navigate?

Many students and grads click a posting, only to be hit with a giant wall of plain text. This can already be a dealbreaker for many young professionals, since the time taken to decipher a posting could easily be spent locating another well-formatted listing. Plus, candidates often know what information they’re looking for – they’re searching for key words and phrases, and requirements.

Candidates usually make the decision to apply to a posting within the first 10 seconds, so make your first impression count! Be sure to break up your text with clear headings, so it’s easy for your candidate to locate and scan through the posting that they’re looking for. Bullet points are much easier for a job hunter to scan through, and allow you to format your info in a clean, concise way.

2. Does it have personality?

If you’re looking to impress an aspiring young professional, you need to first show that you care enough to make your job look visually appealing. Every generation understands the impact of visual appeal, and millennials are no exception – so take some time to put some “punch” in your posting.

If the platform allows, consider adding a few images. Think outside the logo – students and grads want to see your company culture, your values, and work environment. Consider posting one or two appropriate company photos to add variation. If that’s not available, try stylizing your text (i.e. bolding important sections, using italics when appropriate, etc.) to make it more interesting to the eye. But be careful not to go overboard with these – the focus should never be taken away from your main written posting!

3. Does it show your “online” side?

Young professionals are looking for companies that are a match for them. A great way to connect with their interests is through technology, and it’s not enough to simply provide a link to your website. You have to communicate in the same fashion as them – and a lot of students and grads gauge this through how active you are on social media.

If you have a company Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, be sure to provide an easy-to-find link in your posting. This accomplishes two things: it will give them easy means to research your company and find out what you’re all about, as well as convey a clear message that you value the same things as them. It may not seem like it produces a huge impact right off the bat, but remember that the recruitment process is all about building small connections on many levels to build a relationship with your candidates.

4. Does it use conversational language?

Companies are sometimes so used to writing professional documents filled with legalese and industry jargon that they transfer the same style to their job postings. Complicated job postings can put off a potential job candidate. After all, no one wants to spend time sifting through text they don’t understand – they will likely use that time to find another posting they like better.

There is a simple trick to writing job postings – read it aloud. If you wouldn’t describe the position in that fashion to a friend, then you need to rewrite. Remember, you’re not “dumbing down” the text. You’re simply making it more relatable to your target audience. Plus, your candidate will find it easier to connect to the company on a personal level. After all, young professionals don’t want to work for you – they want to work with you.

5. Does it echo millennial values?

Many of these points so far have been rooted in the same concept: relate to your candidate! Each small thing you include in your posting that helps the candidate mentally connect with the company will eventually result in a strong rapport between the interviewer and those who make it to the hiring stages. However, not all of these efforts have to be so subtle.

Include a small section in your job posting that introduces your company to the candidate. Think of it as a dating profile – consider what type of candidate you want to attract, and what aspects of the company would fit what they’re looking for. For example, if you are looking for business-minded individuals who focus on targets and tangible achievements, talk about the fast-paced environment and the company’s financial success. If you’re looking for candidates who are passionate about their work and enjoy connecting with people on a social level, consider mentioning community events that the company has been involved in, and the company’s positive, supportive dynamic.

Remember that students and grads WANT to work with you for a long time – they value companies that are willing to invest in their skills through training and support. Help them see what a potential career path might look like with your organization, and you’re much more likely to see the responses you’re looking for!

Discussion: Do you think that Gen Y responds to job postings differently than previous generations?

4 Symptoms Of A Disillusioned Campus Recruiter (And How To Fix Your Perspective)

March 10, 2015 / Veronica Yao / 0 Comments

Do you remember your first day on the job as a campus or college recruiter?

It may have been a short time or perhaps years ago, but most people remember that feeling of excitement – being high on ambition, and pledging to do their very best to build their company or organization by connecting with great people.

Unfortunately, almost every professional goes through a phase where they become disillusioned with their job. It’s not that they stop producing great work, or the role itself lessens in worth. But people often forget to step back from the details of their day-to-day work and remind themselves of why they chose to pursue this career.

So the question is, are you going through a gray phase with your recruitment career? Here are some symptoms you might be facing.

1. You’re seeing names in your database, not people.

When you’re going through resume after resume, day after day, it can be easy to forget that there is a person behind each application. You focus on the text, but not the sentiment behind it.

Remember that every application takes time to craft – students and grads spend hours researching your organization, and thinking about how they fit best in your company. Behind every file in your database, there is an individual who genuinely wants to work with your team and demonstrate why they’re worth your time.

Take some time to look past their educational background and their previous titles. Think in terms of transferable skills – for instance, if they’re applying for an engineering job, but they only have door-to-door sales experience, consider the fact that many engineers benefit from presentation skills when working with clients.

2. Their seemingly obvious questions feel like a huge hassle for you.

If you are a campus recruiter, you know that you will often get the same questions all day long from many different students. From “what does your company do?” to “how much does this job pay?” you’ll have to answer and sometimes redirect both professional and unprofessional inquiries.

This can get frustrating, especially when you know that all this info is readily available on your website. Perhaps you feel you are interacting with people who are not committed to joining your company because they didn’t prepare or do their research first.

Always remember that there is not a one-size-fits-all explanation when it comes to why candidates ask what they ask. Some individuals might have attended the event on a whim, and perhaps some genuinely might not know that the question they asked was inappropriate. Use your discretion, and remember that most people are acting with their best intentions, and they deserve the benefit of the doubt when being considered for a role with your company.

3. Every interview feels like a re-run.

Being in the “driver’s seat” of an interview can be exciting – but after awhile, you can feel like you’re caught in an infinite loop.

You know what you’re going to ask, and you more or less know what the candidate is going to say. Sometimes, you may feel like they’re making up answers to impress you, using generic phrases like “go-getter” and “hard worker”.

If you’re getting the same answers all the time, it probably means you need to change it up. Don’t ask the same questions all the time – turn your interaction into a two way conversation. Get to know the candidate on a personal level beforehand, and base the questions on what you know about them. Think about the phrasing you’re using in your conversation, or use more scenario-based questions that will force them to draw from their own experiences.

4. You wait for them to impress you, and are let down when they don’t.

Have you ever seen one of those movie scenes where a court jester is tasked with impressing a stone-faced member of royalty? If your interviews are taking on this image, it’s time to make a change.

Students and grads often feel like it’s their job is to make an impression on the campus recruiter, which is absolutely true. However, if they are not receiving any feedback from the person they’re speaking to, their performance will likely be much lower in quality.

Don’t wait for them to come up with a stellar act – meet them part way by interacting with them during the interview. This can be something as simple as a nod, or even a phrase like “I agree.” You’ll find that when the candidate is at ease, they will naturally show what they have to offer.

Discussion: How much of an impact does a campus recruiter’s attitude have on a potential candidate?

4 Reasons Why Campus Recruiters Should Ditch Their Pre-Written Questions

March 4, 2015 / Veronica Yao / Comments Off

It’s important to be prepared. But there is such a thing as being overly prepared.

Don’t get us wrong – by all means, plan the campus or on-site venue to a tee, do your research on a candidate, and ensure you have all the proper documentation ready. But the one thing you don’t want to overplan are the questions you’ll ask a candidate.

Newer recruiters are the most prone to this. After all, the number one thing everyone thinks of when it comes to interviews are the questions. But overplanning the questions in advance can risk you not getting all the information you need out of your candidate – and more importantly, it may interfere with your efforts to connect with them.

If you’re still not convinced, we have a whole list of reasons why you should ditch the notes and add some improvisation to your interviews.

It’s not a Q&A. It’s a conversation.

The truth is, interviews today are changing – students are no longer tasked with coming up with the “right” answers, but rather, presenting themselves as a worthy candidate by creating a memorable experience. However, even the best young professionals can only do so much when their conversation partner’s mind is stuck in their rigid schedule of “which question to ask next”.

Conversations change direction, and so should you.

It’s important for interviewers to be flexible in what they’re going to ask next. After all, candidates can be unpredictable in their answers, and you need to be able to come up with a probing question to have them expand, or even redirect the conversation if the candidate goes off track. Focusing on a certain set of questions limits your “flexibility” in this sense.

The phrasing of a question matters.

There is a huge difference between asking “Why are you interested in this role?” and “Why are you interested in this career?” Both similar questions, but each will likely yield a different answer from your interviewee. This can be especially problematic for recruiters who are hiring a high volume of candidates, and have a standard set of questions they can rattle off the top of their head – you need to ask your questions the right way in order to get the type of information you’re looking for.

You need to validate their presence.

For an interviewee, there’s nothing worse than feeling like they’re just another disposable candidate. Even if you are hiring at a high volume, it’s important that each interaction is tailored personally to that individual – again, if you are asking “one-size-fits-all” questions, that’s not going to cut it for them.

How to conduct your interview questions (without pre-writing questions).

If you’re convinced, and ready to make the switch, we have some great tips for you:

Create a “road-map”.

A road map will dictate the points you want to hit. You may want to travel from Toronto to Ottawa, and you’ll know what cities you have to drive through. But you probably won’t make plans to stop at a specific gas station in a specific city at a specific time.

Use this analogy when planning your interviews. Know what topics you want to hit and what information you want to draw out of them. But you don’t need to plan the wording and the phrasing of each point. For example, if you know from their resume they have experience in customer service, and you want to know if they have experience hitting sales targets, make a note of it.

Keep a checklist, and review it at the end.

After you create your “roadmap” and you create a list of items you want to cover, create a simple checklist to bring with you to the interview.

During the interview itself, don’t check off anything. Let the conversation take its course, and do your best to steer that conversation to naturally hit as many points off your list as you can. At the end of the interview, take a moment and review your list while your candidate is still there. If you have missed anything, ask them those remaining questions then.

Listen to what they’re saying, and use it in your next question.

If a candidate gives you an answer, and you want to hear more, don’t feel pressured to come up with elaborate phrasing. Think of yourself as a “prompt” more than someone who comes up with impressive questions.

Try using simple phrases like “tell me a bit more about that,” or “Earlier, you mentioned X. Could you elaborate?” This will keep the focus on the candidate, and take the pressure off you so you don’t have to come up with a bunch of information-loaded questions.

Discussion: Do you prefer to conduct “freestyle” interviews or pre-planned interviews?

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