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Your headlines should not
be an afterthought ? research indicates that around 80% of those reading ads
only look at the headline, and if it doesn’t appeal to them immediately, they
move on. Your headline is critical ? its objective is to catch the attention of
those you want to reach. You have just a few seconds, maybe less, to snare this
interest.

Writing great job advertisements is like any other
marketing activity. According to the statistic above, this applies to the
headline even more than any other aspect of the ad. You are putting yourself
out there, selling your business, this time not to customers, but to good
quality individuals who you hope will want to work for you and help you drive
your business forward.

Review the headlines of your former ads. Do they
jump out at you? Are they captivating? Is the text persuasive? Does the job
sound interesting? Does the job appeal to the desires of your potential
candidates? Do you really know what your candidates are looking for?

Thus, the
headline is by far the most important part of your ad. It should be
emotive, stirring up excitement in the target audience and it should get them
motivated to apply for your job.

Writing a headline that
will appeal to your target audience will set the bait for your potential
employees ? captivating them, reeling them in and making them want to read more
about what you have to offer.

Your headline has to
stand out, and it has to do this amongst a sea of similar looking ads, whether
in a newspaper or online. In printed form this is more challenging as costs are
exorbitant and you want it to look good and be unique but most likely, in a
small space. Your headline should be short and sweet, no more than 15 words,
otherwise the reader will quickly lose interest.

In many cases the
headline can be the job title itself. However, this can be spiced up with perks
that won’t fail to attract your target audience. For example, the title Public
Relations Director could have a sub-heading (or strap line) of Overseas Travel.
This will instantly appeal to those with a desire to travel and highlights a
genuine and very strong draw for a certain subset of individuals who you are
hoping to attract.

The headline has to be
short to grab the attention of the audience. It’s best to go for black text on
a white background, with plenty of white space surrounding it. You can use
abbreviations that are well known in the trade, e.g. PR for public relations.

So in the case of the
example given above, you could shorten your title and make it stand out as
follows:

PR Director

- Overseas Travel ?

This will stand out a lot
more than Public Relations Director

which takes up about the
same column width, but does not have the same presence or appeal.

You want your ad to stand
out on a crowded page. The abbreviated version of the job title, with the employee
benefit directly underneath stands out a lot more than the full job title.
Think about the short forms you can use, for example:

-        
Sales Mgr rather than Sales Manager

-        
BDM rather than Business Development Manager.

-        
Ops Manager rather than Operations Manager

A BDM knows what BDM stands for. It doesn’t really matter about those
who don’t know what BDM is, because if they don’t know what it is, you probably
aren’t trying to appeal to them anyway.

Sub headings can be longer if necessary, and emphasize words that you
want to stand out by using bold or larger font. A general rule to follow is
that the heading and sub headings should take at least a third of your ad
space.

Despite the temptation, beware of capital letters.
They are less readable than mixed case, for example:

PR Director is easier on the eye than PR DIRECTOR.
In this situation, you are presented with a series of solid rectangles. Recognising
words becomes more challenging on the eye.

With online ads, you have just the first 150 or so
characters to grab the attention of your target audience. If these characters
don’t appeal, you will have lost these potential recruits. Your upfront summary
has to be spot-on, so that you don’t miss out on these people.

The bottom line? Every character counts. Choose
your words wisely and target them directly to appeal to your key audience. If
your headline isn’t right, you will be missing out on high quality , great
candidates for your company.

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