by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting
Here’s a simple principle of marketing in the digital world: to be found by consumers, you must be visible in places where they’re searching.
Google built one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world on this ingenious idea, and the “search mentality” has now become the habit of most everyone who uses the internet.
The world of recruiting has been roped into this mentality as well. The consumers are candidates and the products are jobs.
This sounds like an efficiency match made in heaven, but there’s a problem. No one can agree on what to call the products (jobs). It quickly becomes a mishmash of ambiguity.
As a hiring manager, your goal is to get noticed by the right people. Here are some thoughts on how to make that happen more effectively.
Candidates are Searching for…
There’s a lot of job-related search data available from various companies and consultants. Here is one example recently published by Monster.com:
These are the most common job-titles in the minds of job-seekers. The first step to being found by the right people is understanding how candidates view themselves (“I see myself as a _______.”)
Connecting Your Job to How People Search
If you want to hire real estate agents, you could place an ad for a “real estate agent.” This may be the most direct way to communicate your desires to a group of people searching for jobs.
The problem? Your way of describing your job is not in the minds of the candidates. It only shows up in 1% of the searches.
By contrast, you’d have many more candidates (14 times more) looking for your job with various position titles and descriptions if you were hiring an administrative assistant (highlighted in gray).
Why do more people search with administrative-related words more than real estate-related words? Who knows. The facts are—they do it. As recruiters, it’s important to acknowledge this reality and respond appropriately.
Deception or Enlightenment?
One way to respond is to craft job postings more closely resembling the key words people use in their internet searches.
For example, candidates often search for marketing positions (#9 on the list). Since real estate agents perform many marketing tasks in their jobs, a job title such as Real Estate Marketing Specialist could be used to describe (in search terms) the real estate agent position.
Some people view this methodology as deceptive. I would challenge you to view it as enlightening.
The world of internet search has forced us to communicate in single words, abbreviations, and short phrases. This works when describing a pizza, but can create confusion when defining something as complex as an employment opportunity.
You could retreat and let the world of search define your company and your recruiting language. Or, you can leverage this framework to educate and enlighten job-seekers about the complexities of the real estate industry and working as a real estate professional.
Hopefully, you’ll choose the second option. The real estate industry has a lot to offer, and most people don’t know much about the possibilities that exist.