Top tips from our job advertising expert

Hi! My name is Sundus Mughal and I am a sales consultant in FINN job. I have years of experience writing and working with job ads, as well as working closely with our new customers. Below, I've gathered my top tips to help you get started on the hunt for your dream candidate.

Preparations

One or more job ads?

What's your company's ambition? Do you need one more employee, or are you looking to expand and hire more in the future? If it's the latter, I recommend setting up a Bedriftsprofil (Company profile) with us. With a Bedriftsprofil you can showcase your company with pictures and video, giving potential candidates the chance to get to know you, follow you and receive alerts when you post new positions.

Tydelig profil is a product that makes your ads more attractive and gives it a professional look. This product allows you to add pictures, your company logo and a button directing candidates to your own landing page. A large amount of candidates (35 %) think that ads with Tydelig profil is more attractiv compared to other ads.

Read more about Bedriftsprofil and Tydelig profil here (Norwegian only)

Expectations to the hiring process

I recommend that you reflect over your expectations – for example, do you have a specific candidate in mind? It might be useful to craft the ad text in a way that appeals to that exact candidate profile. Use techincal terms and concepts they recognize and understand.

More often than not, most hiring officers hire for industries they might not know that well. An HR representative doesn't necessarily know the ins and outs of the IT or logistics industry and their day-to-day-life. I recommend all hiring officers to get to know the industries they are hiring for, and learn about what these candidates might be interested in.

Ad layout and setup

Title

The title is the main object shown in the list of search results (where candidates see all positions they've searched for). Therefore, consider how you want candidates to perceive the position you're offering and your company; the title should leave a good first impression. Do you want to show your humorous side, or do you want to be perceived more seriously? Be creative!

A tip is to ask a question to your potential candidates, like for example: "Do you want to become part of an up and coming company?", or "Do you want to be a part of the best team in the world?".

Industries

You're allowed to add up to three different industries in your ad. Make sure the ones you add are relevant; you can add the actual industry, and associated ones. If you're hiring a seller for an IT company, a candidate might benefit from having experience from both sales and IT. Therefore, I recommend that you choose both "konsulent og rådgivning" (consulting) as well as "IT" as industries.

Job functions

"Functions" are also part of the filtration options for candidates. By adding this, you'll make the ad even more specific. You can add up to three job functions. For example, the job might require that the candidate is both a manager and a developer, or a seller and a consultant.

Tip: Can't find a suitable job function? Add the job function(s) as keywords instead.

Keywords

My recommendation is to add keywords in addition to industry and job function (not everything is covered by those two!). Keep in mind that candidates find jobs at FINN both through use of filtering and through search when looking for jobs, so keywords are very useful.

Put yourself in your dream candidates' shoes: what keywords would a programmer og a veterinary use when searching for a job?

If possible, avoid using jargon, abbreviations and language you use in-house. An exception is if you're hiring for a senior or specialized position; If you're looking for a senior system developer, you can use technical terms and concepts these candidates know, like for example "Java" or "SQL".

Qualifications

Be careful with adding requirements to education or experience. Instead, emphasize that the experience or education you want the candidate to have is an advantage. Many people, even relevant candidates, might shy away from even applying if they don't feel like they meet all requirements.

Bullet point lists can also be perceived as a checklist of requirements that must be met, so try to avoid them if possible.

“We are offering..."

Please highlight the benefits of working for you, e.g. insurance, annual salary or whether employees have access to company cabins. You can list these perks and benefits as bullet points in the job description, using "What we're offering" as the title. Be careful not to list them without elaborating – if you offer courses to employees, you should write "We offer internal and external professional development classes".

Company profile

About you

At the very end, include a description of your company, locations, work environment, core values and other relevant information that might appeal to a potential candidate. Many people consider benefits they have in their current work situation, so make sure to include everything you offer that makes your position and your company appealing. Why should they choose you? Why is working for you a great choice?

Pictures and video

Pictures are a perfect way to showcase your company and to get a feel of what working there will be like. We encourage you to use photos of employees who'll be working closely with the person you are looking to hire, or of your facilities. Perhaps you have an extra nice cafeteria, social areas with table tennis, or a nice gym?

I also recommend using video in your ads! Interview some people from the team so that potential candidates can get to know them, or have an HR representative talk about the work environment. Be creative and think about what you'd want to know before applying.

Company logo

People don't usually recognize company names, but logos usually stick to people's minds. Remember to include that in your ad as well. Your logo will be shown in the search results next to your job ad title.

Give your ad an extra boost

Reach passive candidates

It might be that your dream candidate isn't on FINN during the time your ad is active. My recommendation is to always use Effekt from FINN Job (this is a bundle containing different visibility packages and products).

Our effekt packages and products will display your ad in Norway's largest online newspapers like VG and Aftenposten, as well as Facebook. They'll target relevant candidates who have seen similar ads on FINN in the past year, but have not yet seen your ad. In other words, it finds and targets candidates on sites they usually visit during the day.

Read more about our visibility products and how it works (Norwegian only)

Finally ...

Read carefully through your ad and correct grammar and spelling before you hit publish. All candidates that have a specific job search saved will be notified when your ad is up, so make sure it's finished and includes text, pictures, logo, industries, contact information and all the above!