As Care Friends job adverts will be viewed by people who have been pre-selected by your care staff, we recommend using a more friendly and conversational style.
Here are our do's and don'ts for writing a great Care Friends job ad:
Do
Make your ad stand out by adding your own job ad image and/or video. We recommend a ‘day-in-the-life’ style, or images and testimonials from your existing team.
Use our suggested job ad wording as inspiration and add your own organisation values, voice and benefits. Enable your reader to differentiate between your job ad and the rest.
Start by telling them they were hand-picked, such as “Someone you know thinks you would be perfect for this role…”
Avoid one way dialogue e.g. what your organisation needs and what your organisation wants. Instead, style your ad as if you are chatting with the reader.
Show your heart, it’s not all about business. Speak to people who have a heart, these are the types of people you are looking for.
Make your headline different and engaging, including:
Ask a question e.g. Are you [a nurse, a care assistant, caring person, people person]? Would you like….?
Hot buttons e.g. flexibility, engagement, recognition, communication, being part of something. Appealing at an emotional level compels people to act. Top tip: Think of things that candidates will want to feel – ask your existing staff for their input. Examples:
“Are you a caring person looking for a rewarding role with flexible hours?”
“Are you a care worker who wants to be recognised and appreciated as part of a great team?”
Split wording into bite-sized chunks, sentences need to be short with lots of white space in between.
Include at least one clear call to action to “tap the I’m interested button at the bottom of the screen”. If your ad is long, have one near the beginning and always one at the end of the ad. This will appeal to the various types of readers who will view your ad to catch their attention.
Don’t
Include a recruitment phone number, email or website address in your job ad. The call to action always needs to be “tap the I’m interested button at the bottom of the screen”. This will ensure you can easily manage all your referrals in your Care Friends portal and your referrers will receive their points.
Make the advert wording too long. Care Friends job adverts are mostly sent to contacts who know your employee and may well have a good knowledge of either the role or a good deal of trust in the sender. Write enough to convey the core elements of the role and the sort of person who will be a success, but you’ll have time to go into more detail after they have enquired. The objective here is to get them to complete and submit the expression of interest form. We can be confident they will be high quality candidates.
Be demanding eg “You must be this…”, “You must have a car”, “You must be this type of person” these show the frustrations of the recruiter and put people off. Instead let the reader know you need certain things from them, but also include how you can address their needs and cater to them at the same time.
Talk about money before you talk about benefits. If you lead with money, it’s a losing game. Appeal to things other than money.
Be general about the area that the job covers eg ‘Leeds’. Micro specify on the area of the job and have multiple ads to cover your area if necessary.
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