The Internet Job Posting

  How To Write A Successful Internet Job Posting?

The key to a successful Internet job posting is first recognizing that it is not a print classified advertisement. An Internet job posting is interactive and requires a good understanding of interactive marketing. One of the greatest challenges contractors face when posting jobs online, is recognizing that they must change their traditional job posting habits. An online job posting will not do well if written like a print classified ad. It must be thought of more like an interactive marketing campaign for the entire firm. The Marketing Department rather than the HR Department should write it.

Update the Company Web Site

The company website is rapidly becoming the first point of contact for most job seekers or prospective clients. Contractors should update their corporate website so that it provides a professional and interactive presentation of the firm, its goals, key personnel, corporate culture, top achievements, and business philosophy. Every marketing resource available to the contractor should be utilized to make the corporate website the best it can be. Although most job boards provide hot links to company websites, some do not. Either way, job seekers are likely to independently surf the Internet to locate a contractor's website, relevant press releases/news, before submitting their resume.

Keywords Rule

In the fast-paced world of Internet surfing, most job seekers will only take the time to view the top 20 search results. Making it to the top usually is about keywords. They often make the difference between a successful job posting and a waste of time. Contractors should put the right keywords in the right place so that the right people can find their job postings. Online job postings are not viewed the way print classified ads are viewed.

Online job postings are hidden within databases containing thousands of records, and they must be called up for a job seeker to view them. This process may take the form of keyword selection in a search engine or any number of methods with point and click directories. Contractors need to study the job posting and keyword guidelines of the hosting job board since they will differ from site to site. Many job boards will rank or prioritize job postings within their database by title, membership status, date, keywords, or other less obvious means. Adding keywords properly assures that a job posting will find its way to the top of the job board's search results. Adding keywords improperly may result in having the job posting deleted by the hosting job board or simply lost in the volumes of database records that job seekers never find. While identifying the best keywords for a job posting, contractors should determine which words the job seeker will select in utilizing the job board's search engine - and include all relevant occupational-specific terms (i.e. Hard Bid Estimator or value engineering).

To cover all the bases, It is a good idea to use multiple words or synonyms that may mean the same thing. For example, if the job location is in a lesser-known town such as Maitland, Florida but near a well-known city like Orlando, Florida, then Orlando should be added as a keyword. Most job boards require keywords to be added in a special field, in a particular fashion (using quotes, commas, etc.). Job postings that do not offer a special field for keywords usually require the contractor to add keywords to the Job Description, Job Requirements, or other searchable fields. When adding keywords to a Job Description, contractors should write the keywords into complete sentences so that the content flows as a logical composition.