Getting Noticed In A “Skip & Scan” World
by Debbie Hatke, MA, PHR

Have you had your 15 minutes of fame yet? Me neither; yet I’ve heard that it lasts only a brief moment and POOF it’s over as quickly as it started - just like the attention span of a job seeker. Not to demean job seekers specifically. As humans we are all known for our short attention spans (traditionally estimated to be somewhere around 15-30 seconds). It is in this short time frame in which marketers, sales people and employers must get their message to us quickly or risk losing our attention. That can be a daunting task when faced with the challenge of presenting a job, your company bio and reasons to work for you to someone you hope will be interested in employment – all within seconds.

Now factor in a new medium, online access (job boards), and you have even more challenges to face. I recently read that for online purposes the attention span of the average web user is 7.5 seconds. WOW! Imagine trying to advertise your job and get qualified respondents in that short of a time span. Readers (or for our purposes, applicants) who are using the web to find information (job postings) are utilizing a “triage” method of browsing – they look for snippets of what interests them, moving on to the next paragraph or topic if nothing interesting is identified. Gone are the days of actually reading our well thought out and carefully constructed (and expensive) job postings. Today’s job seekers are simply skimming the words we post looking for specific key words that attract their attention – hence a skip and scan method of attack.

How do you get noticed in a skip and scan world? I always say that knowing your challenges are half the battle. So armed with this information what can you do to ensure that the job postings you put out there will be noticed and, more importantly, acted upon? Here are some steps you should take to make sure your job postings are well thought out and targeted.

First – what is your objective? For most of us it will be finding applicants for job “X”. So what about job “X”? Do some research and find out what is the best medium for connecting with applicants for this type of job – newspaper ads, online postings, professional journals, etc. What are your competitors doing? Look at the job postings for a similar job on Monster or CareerBuilder. How are they written – what catches your attention?

Second - you’ve heard this a million times, know your audience. Who are you trying to attract and what will get their attention (based on your research above)? What does this applicant look like and what do they want from you? What is the best way to reach this type of applicant – where do they “hang out”?

Third – be prepared to tell your audience “what’s in it for them”. They want to know why they should contact you after their 15 (or 7.5) second scan of your job posting. Given them reasons! Make them want to contact you. Don’t be cryptic or they’ll ignore your posting and move on, but be intriguing and entice them to want to learn more.

Fourth – use a “hook” to get attention. This is typically the first statement of your posting. I find that cleverly written ads get much more attention than the traditional “job titled” ads – they are also more fun to write. Also remember point number two above – know your audience. If you are looking for applicants in the younger generations, hooks are very important for grabbing the attention of a skip and scanner. An ad for “Got Job?” (in reference to the popular Got Milk? ads) will be more interesting and attract more attention than an ad simply titled “Job Opening” or “Help Wanted”.

Fifth – keep the ad short and to the point. Don’t go on and on about the history of your company and how long you’ve been making widgets. Just because you have almost unlimited ad space for the dollar when posting online, doesn’t mean you should pontificate about your company endlessly. Provide the most pertinent information first - “why should I work for you”. If your audience craves a part-time work schedule with flexible hours and benefits, then state that up front to grab their attention. Then, if you must, provide a little blurb about how wonderful your company is. Not that your company isn’t wonderful, and you will likely have to “sell” your company at some point in the process, but leave that to the interview (when they are a captive audience in your office). For now you’re trying to efficiently and effectively use your 15-30 seconds to get their attention – not to get them to sign on (yet).

Six – be concise. Hey…isn’t this the same thing as number five (short and to the point)? Yes – but it bears repeating. In today’s skip and scan world you must write to a skip and scan audience. Pretend you are a search engine like Google or Yahoo!. Provide key words in your ad that will attract the attention of the reader, who as a skip and scanner is only looking for certain key words. I often use bullet points in my ads to highlight the important points of my job posting. It keeps the ad clean and points out important attributes of my job that might attract job seekers.

Seven – provide them with clear instructions on how to respond. Make it simple. If posting your job online, provide a link to your online application or your email address. Don’t post your job online and ask them to fax or mail their resume. Online job seekers want to do it all online and quickly - remember the 7.5 second attention span! Give them at least an option to electronically send their application or resume, even if you will eventually have to have something signed and on paper for legal purposes (they can fill out an application at their interview). Providing a cumbersome application process will only negate all the hard work you did above to get them engaged. If posting your job in print, provide both an address and an online option – many applicants will use the online option if provided.

Eight – don’t drop the (eight) ball. Getting qualified applicants to respond is hard enough; don’t lose them once they’re engaged. Be sure to acknowledge their interest by letting them know you have received their information and will respond appropriately.

By now you’re probably exhausted, and you should be. This is a lot of hard work and does take some time. But you’ll find after you get the hang of things it just comes naturally and doesn’t really add time to the process. You’ll automatically ask the pertinent questions that highlight your objective, identify your audience and create an effective hook, as well as provide a list of key words that will entice your readers to respond. You may even discover that this writing stuff is fun!

Debbie Hatke, MA, PHR is a Human Resources Management Consultant with Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (http://www.StrategicHRinc.com). If you have questions or comments about this article, you can contact her at Debbie@StrategicHRinc.com.