Situation vacant: advertise within

Recruitment advertising is often a wasted opportunity. We examine how some employers have maximised its effectiveness in attracting quality applicants.

 

Learning points Recruitment marketing agencies typically now offer clients a much wider range of services in addition to designing and placing job ads - such as internal communications, one-off research projects and employer branding. Although advertising in the national press can be expensive, it is often cost-effective, as the alternatives for senior or specialist vacancies may be the even higher price of a search or recruitment consultancy. Recruitment advertising provides a valuable PR opportunity, and the chance to enhance the profile of the organisation. The effectiveness of advertising as a recruitment tool should be evaluated by analysing the number of high-calibre applications elicited compared with other methods.

The recruitment marketing industry is worth around £1 billion a year. The latest annual recruitment study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development¹ goes some way to explaining the size of the advertising market.

The research shows that some of the most common recruitment tools used by employers are types of print media. Placing ads in local newspapers is by far the most popular approach, used by the vast majority (87.3%) of employers, while two in three (66.4%) advertise their vacancies in specialist journals and trade magazines. Internet advertising is undoubtedly in the ascendancy, however: three-quarters (74.9%) of employers now use electronic methods to attract applicants, such as their own website or dedicated job portals.

But recruitment advertising can be an expensive business. A modest, 10cm x 6cm job advert in the Guardian newspaper - the broadsheet of choice for many recruiters - can cost up to around £17,000, depending on the job sector and day of publication. Given that advertising in the media is one of the most expensive ways of attracting applicants, it is worthwhile ensuring that recruiters get the best return on their investment. This means weighing up a number of important issues, such as the most suitable media outlet, the design and content of job ads, and the cost-effectiveness of using the services of a recruitment advertising agency.

The industry

The rise of the internet, and with it the potential for cheaper, round-the-clock advertising space, has without doubt had an impact on recruitment advertising agencies. But there are much bigger factors at play.

The advertising industry itself has had a tough time over the past couple of years, being one of the first casualties of the loss in business confidence and the scramble to cut costs. The spring 2003 Recruitment confidence index² shows that employers' most popular recruitment methods between September 2002 and February 2003 were employment agencies, internal recruitment and word of mouth. The use of national newspapers declined during this period, and the Index predicts that recruitment spending on the national press for the six months from April 2003 will show a further decrease of around 24%.

The economic pressures facing advertising agencies have resulted in a restructuring of the industry. There has been a rash of acquisitions and mergers, with some of the bigger outfits becoming even bigger, and many agencies being forced to diversify so that they do not rely on advertising revenue alone. Internal communications, employer branding, online recruitment and one-off research projects are just some of the services now offered by an increasing number of agencies. Even the name has changed to reflect this change in emphasis, with most players now preferring the term recruitment communications agency.

Another response by some agencies has been to try and penetrate those areas that have not been so hard hit by the economic downturn, such as the public sector. Those agencies that already had a toehold in public services have been equally determined to maintain it: the industry is renowned for its fiercely competitive nature.

What's on offer?

The evolution of recruitment advertising agencies means that potentially they now have an even wider range of services and expertise to offer clients, and not necessarily at exorbitant prices.

Advertising agencies' core activity has always been developing and placing job advertisements in the appropriate media, and this remains a key function of their modus operandi. Their position in the marketplace means that agencies can usually buy advertising space on a more cost-effective basis than a lone organisation. It is therefore a mistake to assume that employers with a limited budget, and not necessarily wanting glossy artwork, have nothing to gain from approaching a recruitment advertising consultancy. Many offer a range of valuable services at the less glamorous end of the advertising spectrum, and their advice on wording, style and the placing of ads could prove invaluable.

That is not to say that an account to develop a new employer brand or mastermind a large-scale recruitment campaign would not run into thousands of pounds. As much as agencies appreciate the bread-and-butter work of drawing up and placing ads, they have in their employ teams of talented people who are keen to unleash their creative potential.

Imaginative skills and copywriting expertise are just some of the specialist resources that employers can draw on if they choose to do so. The best recruitment advertising agencies have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the media that is unlikely to be rivalled in-house. The larger agencies are likely to have a global presence that could be invaluable for international recruitment, and many agencies - including some smaller, specialist ones - have considerable experience of sector-specific recruitment markets. A third party can also bring a fresh perspective to the project, and offer impartial advice.

Big and bold?

There are several important decisions to be made when designing and placing a recruitment advertisement, one of which is the style and wording of the ad. There is much controversy on which techniques are most effective in attracting a good pool of candidates, but the bottom line is that there is no one best approach.

At one end of the design spectrum is the increasing trend towards using large, powerful graphics that may, on first glance, bear little resemblance to the job in question. In the right circumstances, a very striking ad can catch the attention of jobseekers, particularly if it puts an unexpected spin on the job.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has recently decided to take an innovative approach to attract applicants to its £80,000-a-year post for director of serious casework. Its recruitment ads, developed by executive resourcing firm Veredus, show a caped figure on a bike with the strapline: "Not all superheroes who fight crime in the metropolis are caped crusaders". The CPS has explained that the aim of the imagery is to shed the traditional, dull perception of detailed legal work, and to illustrate just how exciting it can be³.

Recruitment and retention expert Stephen Taylor, in his CIPD resourcing handbook⁴, advises that large and unusual graphics are more effective in attracting a large pool of applicants. By contrast, if an employer aims to reach a relatively narrow audience and encourage self-selection on the part of jobseekers, this means including a substantial amount of detailed information about the post and the kind of candidate being sought.

Another point to consider is how to communicate the vacant post. Some ads understandably take a very positive approach to try and attract candidates, but there is a strong argument in favour of portraying as realistic an impression of the role and organisation as possible.

Job ads already suffer slightly as a recruitment method compared with less formal methods such as word of mouth, because there is less opportunity for potential recruits to glean reliable and honest information about the recruiting organisation. New employees should be provided with a realistic impression of their new role before the selection stage if resignations in the first few months are to be avoided.

Some thought should also be given to whether the emphasis should be on the organisation as a potential employer or on providing as much information as possible about the job in question.

Again, there is no right answer and the decision need not be mutually exclusive. For some employers, with a very strong brand, the mere mention of the organisation in any advertising is enough to draw in large numbers of applicants. It is these organisations that probably have more freedom in their advertising approach, and have less to lose from taking a risk by using more abstract graphics.

Other recruiting organisations may not enjoy the same pull in their target labour markets, and have more to gain by promoting the benefits and challenges of the job itself. At this point, it is worth remembering that recruitment advertising provides a valuable PR opportunity, and the chance to enhance the profile of the organisation.

Whatever the eventual decision on style and content, the key point to remember is that the advertisement should be based on the needs of the organisation, the type of job advertised and the labour market from which the candidates are likely to be sourced.

Targeting the audience

When advertising in the press, there are three main choices to consider as being the best means of reaching the recruiter's target job audience: national broadsheets, such as the Guardian or The Times; local newspapers; or professional and trade publications.

To justify the expense of national advertising, the job should be senior or specialist enough, with a high enough salary, to attract applicants countrywide. The obvious implication is that the individual would have to be sufficiently interested in the career on offer to uproot and move to a new region.

Although placing job ads in national newspapers can be expensive, it is often cost-effective. The alternative recruitment option for this type of vacancy may be the even higher price of a search or recruitment consultancy.

At the other end of the advertising spectrum, regional newspapers can offer a very effective method of attracting a suitable pool of candidates for less senior positions. The advantage of a local media channel is that prospective job candidates are likely to live in the travel-to-work area or in a neighbouring one.

Another option for profession-specific or technical vacancies are the various trade or specialist journals - for example, People Management or Personnel Today for HR people and Accountancy for qualified accountants. Although the readership is, by the nature of the publication, narrower, the ad should reach the audience for which it is intended and could be the first port of call for jobseekers in that particular industry.

As well as the broad issue of determining what type of publication will best attract suitable candidates, advertising can be used to promote an employer's diversity programme, and encourage applications from underrepresented sections of the community.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has won numerous awards for its approach to recruiting black and minority ethnic (BME) and women firefighters, including the Diversity Excellence Award at the recent CIPD recruitment marketing awards. One of the job ads that impressed the panel emphasises the LFB's sponsorship of women's rugby by showing the similarity between the 'H' of a fire hydrant and the shape of rugby goal posts. The ad has been used in a range of advertising media by the LFB, and is specifically aimed at attracting women to consider a career as a firefighter.

David Cooper is manager of the firefighter recruitment team and has been at the forefront of designing award-winning adverts for the LFB since 1993. He says the goal was to try innovative ways of attracting women into the service by targeting those who were already into aspects of physical fitness. Other similar adverts have been placed in magazines with a predominantly female readership, such as Cosmopolitan, Company and Health & Fitness, and have all generated a successful response rate.

Anila Roohi, head of recruitment and development for the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, comments: "The recruitment department has been working very hard to recruit women and BME since the 1980s, and has a great commitment to diversity issues, and we want to reflect this in our fire service. Since 2001, there has been a 73.2% increase in women and a 43.1% increase in BME firefighters, and there are more to commence training shortly. To attract our target groups, we have a very productive relationship with the advertising agency TMP Worldwide, to ensure that our recruitment and diversity messages are reflected through our advertisements." In total, the recruitment team has won around 35 creative advertising awards over the past 10 years.

Selecting the right supplier

Choosing a recruitment advertising agency to work with can be a daunting prospect.

Recruitment advertising agency ThirtyThree Limited has attracted widespread recognition for its work with a number of different clients. The agency's managing director, Andrew Young, believes it is essential that any organisation thinking of approaching an ad agency should first think very carefully about its requirements.

"A very common problem at the outset of the process is that a potential client does not define what it needs in enough detail," he explains. "There is a huge range of different options on offer in the recruitment advertising industry. As a rough guide, if an organisation intends to spend less than £100,000 on recruitment advertising, a small to medium-sized agency may be more appropriate. Alternatively, a large corporate company or a public sector body may prefer the security of a larger outfit. From the agency's perspective, it is very important to be honest about what it can deliver."

In Andrew Young's view, an effective approach to selecting the right agency is to rely on personal recommendation, based on another organisation's direct experience. "As well as being a very good indicator of the agency's track record, the supplier will have a big incentive to live up to the referral," he says. "Also, do not be afraid to take an informal approach and ask potential suppliers to discuss their weaknesses as well as their strengths. It is a highly competitive industry, and agencies could make all sorts of promises in order to secure new contracts."

Pitching for new business is a big part of the advertising world, but he believes that the process can be counterproductive to choosing the right supplier. "Pitching does not always provide a sound basis on which to judge how effective the working relationship will be between client and agency or how good the agency will be on a day-to-day basis", he argues. "Ultimately, the rapport between client and agency is vital, and the client organisation needs to be prepared to put time and effort into the relationship to reap the benefits."

Working together

Without exception, all the employers - and agencies - interviewed for this feature cited the close working relationship between client and agency as the pivotal factor in the success of any advertising campaign. This does not happen overnight, and the partnership takes time to mature and reach a stage where the agency understands the culture and business objectives of the client organisation.

For its part, the employer needs to develop a good deal of trust in the agency, while keeping in mind that the relationship is a contractual one, with specific obligations built into it that need to be monitored at every stage.

Andrew Young's company ThirtyThree Limited has won two top awards this year for its work with the Greene King Pub Company, coming first in the "retail, hospitality, travel and leisure" category in the Recruitment Advertising Awards organised by Reed Business Information and winning "best campaign" in the CIPD awards.

Stewart Goold, one of the agency's directors, is quick to point out that recognition does not come without a lot of effort first: "The award-winning work we have done with Greene King is the result of a two-year relationship, and it takes a great deal of bravery on the part of the client to reach this stage," he explains. "The client needs to be confident that the agency can get under the skin of the organisation and reach its target job audience."

The ad campaign developed for Greene King takes the theme of charity appeals and gives it a humorous edge. The advertisements portray unhappy, frustrated managers working for other pub chains, such as one showing a pub manager slouched behind his bar with the strapline: "For Steve, harassment was part of his working life, not just at Christmas."

"Our aim was to appeal to pub managers in competitive organisations that did not provide their managers with the freedom to express their own creativity," explains Goold. "The message we wanted to communicate was that Greene King pub managers have the freedom to run a pub their own way, with the support of a large organisation if they need it."

Does the end justify the means?

There is no doubt that well-thought-out and innovative job ads can act as a powerful draw for job applicants, but their effectiveness needs to be monitored, as with any recruitment or selection technique.

The basic test for evaluating the use of an employer's advertising practices is the same as for any part of the recruitment process: do the job ads attract a large enough pool of high-calibre candidates, and could such a pool be generated by using less expensive methods?

There are various measurement techniques, the most common of which is the job reference number that applicants are asked to quote when responding to an advertisement. This enables the employer to compare the success rates of different recruitment channels, not merely in terms of numbers of job candidates but in the quality of the applications received.

¹Recruitment and retention 2003, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2003, available free from www.cipd.co.uk.

²Recruitment confidence index, spring 2003, Cranfield School of Management and the Daily Telegraph, www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/rci.

³"CPS widens net to snare new director", Personnel Today, 1 July 2003.

⁴Employee resourcing, Stephen Taylor, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 1998.

1. Advertisements and the law Advertising is one of the main areas where discrimination can creep into the recruitment and selection process. It is for this reason that recruiting organisations need to have a clear understanding of the law and be extremely vigilant when placing ads in the public domain. In general, job adverts must comply with the British Code of Advertising, which applies to all advertising. This means that advertisements must not be illegal, misleading or dishonest; there must also be a genuine vacancy and, if salary details are disclosed, they must be accurate. Sex and race The key issue for HR practitioners when designing or placing job ads is being careful not to fall foul of discrimination law. It is unlawful to publish an advertisement that shows an intention to discriminate unfairly on the grounds of sex or race. In many cases today, however, the discrimination is completely unintentional on the part of the employer, and it may appear that gender or race have not even directly been mentioned in the ad. Many organisations are now familiar with the need to use non-gender-specific job titles, such as "firefighter" instead of "fireman". Care must also be taken to ensure that any graphics or pictures used are non-discriminatory, and avoid stereotyped images. For example, the Equal Opportunities Commission recommends that any photographs or graphics should be balanced in their portrayal of the sexes. Another important consideration is where to place the advertisement. If the job ad appears exclusively in a publication that is read only by men, for instance, this potentially excludes many women from applying for the post. The law takes a different approach for disability discrimination, as it is not unlawful in itself to place a discriminatory advertisement. However, an unsuccessful candidate has recourse to an employment tribunal if they believe that they were not offered the job because of a disability. Another area that will increasingly be in the spotlight is non-ageist job adverts. To comply with the European timetable, age discrimination in employment must be outlawed in this country by December 2006. The Employers Forum on Age (EFA)1 has launched a campaign to encourage employers to avoid using ageist ads, and to raise awareness of the age discrimination risks. This goes further than simply removing reference to age ranges in job ads and extends to language that implies a recruiter is looking for a certain age of candidate, such as "bright", "lively" or "ambitious". A statement included in a job advert to the effect that applications are welcome from all individuals, regardless of race, colour, nationality, sex, disability and age could go a long way to reinforcing the perception that applications will be treated on their merits by the employer. 1. Employers Forum on Age; www.efa.org.uk.

2. Case study: Hertfordshire Constabulary recruits to a life less predictable The Bernard Hodes Group (BHG) is a major recruitment advertising agency, employing around 100 people at its offices around the UK. Its work with Hertfordshire Constabulary netted the top "grand prix" prize at the CIPD's recruitment marketing awards this year and was praised by the judges for its "creativity, originality, clear objectives and excellent results". The recruitment advertising campaign run by Hertfordshire Constabulary encompassed many different elements and included direct mail, radio ads and display advertisements on the steps of football grounds and bus and railway stations. The key message is simple but effective, and underlines the unpredictability of life as a police officer. For example, one life-size poster that appeared on bus shelters in the region states: "Two will turn up at once", followed by the strapline that features on all the job ads: "For a life less predictable, become a police officer." Another equally apt advertisement features a weather map of Hertfordshire, complete with the predictable black rain clouds. It has the caption "bank holiday weekend weather . . . cloud and showers", again followed by the same strapline. As Joy Hill, the account manager at Bernard Hodes who worked on the recruitment initiative, explains: "We wanted to juxtapose the predictable side of life with the career of a police officer that is out of the ordinary." The agency undertook extensive research to develop the recruitment theme, both inside and outside the force, and even shadowed officers on the beat to understand both the job and the motivations of those in the post. "The fieldwork established that serving officers rated the variety and unpredictability of the role as the most attractive aspects of being a police officer," explains Joy Hill. "These features also had a high profile on jobseekers' wish-lists, which gave the campaign its theme of 'A life less predictable'." The constabulary's personnel services manager, Gail Boulter, was keen to distance the force from its competitors, many of whom use hard-hitting messages. The brand created for Herts was therefore intended to be "warm and inviting rather than solemn and intimidating", and headlines used humour and irony to "add an unexpected twist". Hertfordshire Constabulary's original goal was to recruit more than 300 new police officers by 2007. The force had experienced tough recruitment problems, but, as a result of the campaign, it achieved its target quota four years early, by March 2003. From November 2000 to March 2002, the constabulary's average monthly intake rose from 13 to 30, and the campaign has been so successful that the constabulary has had to scale down its advertising. Joy Hill and Gail Boulter both emphasise that a strong working relationship was a key ingredient in the campaign's success. "We have built a great working relationship with the client," says Joy Hill. "The constabulary is receptive, quick to listen and take things forward, and willing to be innovative." And as Gail Boulter says: "This advertising campaign takes a very different approach, and the trust I have in the agency meant that I was prepared to take risks and follow a campaign that has been so successful."

3. Case study: Happily ever after for Tesco Pharmacy's recruitment strategy The key focus of Tesco Pharmacy's recruitment for pharmacists and pharmacy managers working in major Tesco supermarkets is its powerful advertising campaigns, which are outsourced to resourcing specialist Bernard Hodes. This successful partnership has scooped a number of accolades, including the "best recruitment advertising" award at the 2003 Business to Business Advertising Excellence Awards. The most recent campaign has a "fairytales" theme and focuses on Snow White and other fairytale characters to communicate Tesco's career opportunities and employment benefits. The beautifully depicted fairytale images link cleverly to "benefits you can believe in" when working for Tesco Pharmacy. For example, the "Sleeping Beauty" ad promotes the flexible working options on offer and begins: "Long, long ago there lived a pharmacist who could choose the hours she worked. She could start early and finish late or start late and finish early . . . the company she worked for throughout the land was known as Tesco". The full-page ads that lead the campaign are placed only in the Pharmaceutical Journal and are followed up by regular quarter-page advertisements promoting specific regional vacancies. There is fierce competition for qualified pharmacy staff, and Carol Trower, recruitment and training manager, believes that it is the company's job ads that generate the overwhelming majority of applications from pharmacists. "Since its launch in July 2002, this campaign has successfully recruited over 70 high-calibre pharmacists and pharmacy managers, reducing our overall in-store vacancies by 16% compared with last year," she says. The company has worked with the same account handler since the start, which, in her view, has helped its recruitment advertising consultancy develop a keen understanding of what it needs. Every campaign involves close collaboration between Carol Trower and Bernard Hodes, with every detail of the artwork and wording of the designs being agreed before production. "We have worked with Bernard Hodes on at least six campaigns now, most of them back-to-back, and it has definitely been cost-effective for our recruitment," she comments.