Write Your Ads Carefully

A misused word in a job ad can be deadly to your recruiting efforts. Take a look at this recent job ad posted in New York by the FOX News Channel as detailed at the Chicago Tribune:

Freelance Fact Writer

New York

Requirements/Responsibility:

FOX News Channel, a fast-paced 24-hour television news operation in New York City, is seeking a Freelance Fact Writer for its information center.

Responsibilities include writing on-air facts and press conference quotes for daytime programming. Individuals must have strong writing skills, be able to handle multiple assignments and deadlines, and work well in a team atmosphere. Excellent communication and writing skills are also required.

What’s primarily wrong with this ad is the implication that the writer will be “writing facts and press conference quotes” as opposed to researching, re-typing or copying them. By calling this position a writer, it sounds as if the person will be making up these facts and quotes whole cloth, which I’m sure is not the intention of the producers.**

Lesson to be learned here? Check you ad with others to make sure it says what you want it to say and can’t be misconstrued. You’re liable to miss out on some stellar candidates

**Please, let’s not discuss the journalistic ethics of FOX news, this job ad came from the HR department and never crossed paths with the editorial department or on-air personalities. This blog has no opinion about the integrity of the stories on this channel because, quite honestly, we don’t watch it.

How to Rule Out Immature Job Seekers

A time of social networking has arrived. With networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace attracting approximately 115 million people to their respective sites a month, it’s easily assumed that a good percentage of people are frequent users. The main benefit of social networking sites is that they enable people to keep in touch or find friends. Rather than letting people know one by one that you’re getting married, you can post a bulletin informing everyone at once. Having a party? Send out a mass invite rather than calling every friend. These sites become your calendar, address book, and phone book all in one.

With all good comes bad, though. Some users assume that only their friends will look at their profiles so they post a number of unfortunate pictures and comments, things that can be quite incriminating. So what do you do as an employer?

Before hiring someone, search their name online and see what comes up. Are their profiles professional or casual? Are they clean and respectable, showing a smart person with a desire to further their career? Or are they showing drunken debauchery, a claim to being the best at skipping class, and a major in partying? If so, this person who may look perfectly suited for the work place when interviewing, may be exhibiting a very clever disguise.

The same goes for other various Web sites. Search their name on any search engine, such as Google. If you see a few links showing articles they had published in a newspaper on biochemistry, then, yes, hire them. If you see links to videos of them heavily drinking during Spring Break 2007, they might not be the most reliable applicant. There’s a difference between drinking in the privacy of your home and putting a video of it up on youtube.

After college, many people are go out into the work force for the first time. Although many are mature, highly educated individuals, some still live in the college mindset, one that doesn’t mesh well with a 9-5 schedule. Finding out information on applicants is essential. It’s smart to know who you’re hiring before it’s too late.