By: Mitzi Kent, RN, BSN | mkent@barlowmccarthy.com
There comes a time in every job postings life when it needs a reset. Usually, we would say that is at least every 6 months, if it is a high priority posting you might prefer to do it every 3 months or even every month. While we shouldn’t be reliant on job postings for success, as they are a passive tool, we should use them, and we should do everything we can to use them efficiently and effectively. If you have job postings that have been sitting out there for months on end it might be wise to take some time now early in the year and do one big reset and then get yourself on a reset schedule for the future.
So what does a reset of your job postings look like? The nice thing about this is we aren’t starting from scratch. In most cases we are going in to freshen things up, rewrite a couple of things (especially the headline) and make other changes to see if we can find an effective match for a few more physicians. Here are a few specific thoughts and ideas:
- Take inventory. Step 1 is just figuring out what you have out there! Job boards, large software vendors, indeed.com, your hospital website, etc. Get a handle on where you have job postings, how long they have been sitting there, and metrics for how successful they have been.
- Triage your postings. Based on the number of requisitions you have this could be a laborious process. Take a look at the postings that need the most attention, either due to lack of success or priority of the search. Go after those searches first. This is one of those tasks that may just need an hour or two of attention at the same time each week. Pick away at it and keep moving forward.
- Catch their attention. Remember that our subject line and the first few sentences in our postings are our most important real estate. Spend some extra time crafting a creative and effective subject line and then enhance the first few sentences in your copy. Don’t be afraid to step out of the box here and get creative. The doctor’s attention is our most important asset, how do we best capture it?
- Look for differentiators from your competition. Studying your competition is healthy but only to find ways to set yourself apart from them. Pave your own path forward. Look for the things that clearly differentiate you from the competition and then find ways to best capitalize on them.
- Copy that counts. Write job posting copy that is going to move the needle. Throw away the cookie cutters and get creative. Remember, your job posting doesn’t need to tell the physician EVERYTHING about your job! It just needs to tell them enough so that they want to contact you and learn more. Conversations are what sell doctors not job postings. So keep it short and sweet!
- Call them to action. Don’t forget your call to action. What do you want the doctor to do after reading your posting? Be specific and tell them what to do. Many times, we believe this should come at the bottom of our email. Don’t be afraid to call them to action early in the message. They may never make it to the end. A good crisp call to action can be a huge difference maker for your job postings.
With all the moving parts in physician recruiting the lowly job posting is easy to forget. While they aren’t our most prominent tool, they do have value and in most cases, they are a large part of our budget. So give them a little attention and a refresh to make them work hard for you.
Time is such a precious resource in the recruitment space. If you need a little shortcut for your team, you should consider our training tools. We offer in-depth training on writing job postings, emails and other content that makes a difference. I would love to discuss our training options with you and get your team on the right track. You can connect with me at mkent@barlowmccarthy.com.