When it comes to recruiting, there’s a lot of work involved; from creating the advert and advertising the role, to screening incoming applicants, arranging and conducting interviews.
It’s therefore understandable that so many of us stick to familiar templates when writing job adverts. It saves time and effort, making it easy to fill in key information whilst maintaining a consistent tone. However, it can be beneficial to take a pause and review your approach to writing job descriptions to make sure you’re covering the topics that are most important to legal professionals.
Based on a recent survey, we’ve picked out some of the information that our candidates most commonly said they look for when searching for a new job. Take a look and see how much of this you may be able to incorporate into your recruitment!
Career paths
Candidates selected possible career paths as the second-most popular response when we asked them what they find most useful when deciding whether they want to work for a company. People who are ambitious and passionate about their careers will want to know they are making a move that will open up doors to new skills and opportunities.
If your firm champions training and development, shout about this! Even better, if you have any case studies showing how senior members of your team started out in a similar role, this can help applicants envision their future progression with your company.
Ethical policies
It’s more important than ever to promote your company’s core values and ethics in your job adverts, with candidates often taking the time to research this information to ensure a company aligns with their personal values.
Diversity and inclusion is a major factor towards making candidates from all backgrounds feel confident and comfortable applying for a role. They want to feel safe in the knowledge that the company is somewhere they can thrive and be supported. If you run any schemes to support and encourage diversity within your business, for example, make sure to include this information.
Other popular causes included environmental credentials, accessibility efforts, and awareness of social issues. Include as much information as you can about what your company does towards these causes. It is bound to be beneficial!
Salary information
This is a big one; in fact it was the most popular frustration chosen by our candidates when job searching. Although it’s not always possible to include a specific salary, it’s always a good idea to give a rough salary range wherever possible.
Including this information reduces the chance of taking candidates to interview only to realise their salary expectations don’t match up with what you are offering, wasting time for both parties. Money is a concern for many people right now, so it’s good practice to be up front about this.
Perks and benefits
Some of the most popular perks and benefits that our candidates said they want to hear more about when searching for jobs include:
- flexible / remote working opportunities
- pension arrangements
- parental leave
The last couple of years have prompted many people to re-assess their priorities in terms of work-life balance and ensuring financial stability, which is reflected in these responses. We suggest including as much information as you can about what your business is doing to support its employees in these ways, as these factors can really help you stand out as a truly great employer.
Your company’s personality and culture
This can sometimes be a tricky thing to nail in a written job description, but it’s important to try and encapsulate your firm’s personality in your adverts, to help candidates gauge whether it’s the right fit for them. You can do this by using the same tone of voice and level of formality that you would use in the rest of your marketing materials, establishing a consistent employer brand.
To go above and beyond, you can also provide candidates with a short bio of your company; how you started out, how big the team is, why you’re hiring for the role, and your main goals and objectives. This can allow applicants to get on board with your vision and imagine how they could contribute to your team.
What to expect next
Candidates marked lack of communication from recruiters as their second most popular frustration when applying for jobs, behind a lack of salary information. It’s a good idea to include some information within your job adverts outlining what your interview process looks like, and roughly how long the screening and interview process is likely to take.
This sets candidates’ expectations from the start, reducing the chances of your team fielding questions from candidates looking for updates before the process is complete. And of course, it’s important to get back to candidates within the timescale that you’ve laid out! Even if an applicant is unsuccessful, if they’ve had a positive experience dealing with you, they’ll remember this in future.
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We hope you’ve found these insights useful – keep an eye out for new updates and advice from us on a regular basis. To discover more about our candidates’ opinions and experiences, take a look at our Industry Review. And of course, if you’re looking to advertise a vacancy, we’re here to help! Simply head over to our post a job tool to get started and post your role in minutes.
