Wanted - May 5, 2004

Designing an effective recruiting ad for hourly and management positions is both an art and a science. A combination of careful and specific wording, a bold and creative design, and a bit of fun can ensure that you draw the best candidates to your organization. And a small upfront investment in time and money will reap much larger savings in the long run. Here are some tips to help you develop a recruiting ad that gets noticed and gets results:

Visual Design
In a sea of cluttered classified, a good layout can draw attention to your ad. Use a simple layout, lots of white space, unique borders, and a high quality logo or illustration. projects the company's image and personality, and creates interest and recognition. If your logo is fuzzy, I would recommend skipping this negative reflection on your image, and just typing your company's name. To make the ad copy easy to read, avoid using all caps, white text on a black background, highly stylized fonts, lots of italics, and condensed typefaces in the ad's body copy.

And sell the benefits: career advancement, positive company culture, and a great work environment. Does your company offer mentoring and leadership training? Are you offering the opportunity for creativity, teamwork and fun?

Headline
The first question a job seeker asks when browsing through classified ads is "What's in it for me?" A good headline should give the reader a compelling reason to keep reading. For example, CKE Restaurants heads their ad in Nation's Restaurant News with "Fresh, hot careers made here." Ruby Tuesday asks "Are You Ready to Compete at the Highest Level?" But please... don't use those tacky lines that have nothing to do with the actual job...like "Free Car!" or "Get Paid for Doing Nothing."

Body Copy
Reinforce the initial attraction to the ad with job details, specific requirements, and unique benefits you offer, and other positive aspects enjoyed by your employees. This is your chance to "sell" your company to qualified applicants. Be concise and original. Whether your concept is down home mom 'n pop, a hip & energetic theme restaurant, or a refined white tablecloth establishment, use some of your ad space to project your company's personality as much as possible so that appropriate applicants will be attracted.

Next Steps
Even when hiring for entry level positions, ask respondents to submit a résumé and cover letter. This usually screens out unmotivated applicants. It also provides insights into the applicant. Look for typos, grammatical errors, or career patterns that show a lack of focus and inattention to detail.

Include your company name somewhere in the ad instead of those anonymous reply-to fax numbers and blind mailboxes. If you've set up the requirements and ad details effectively, you shouldn't be overwhelmed with unqualified applicants showing up at the restaurant. You might also want to put additional information about the position and an application on your restaurant's web site, or create a recruiting piece that can be picked up during business hours.

For Trade Secrets Members we've put some additional pointers on the next page. If you've designed a recruiting ad that's been effective, or have seen great examples that you'd like to share, email us!