The Internet as a medium for recruiting has shown significant growth over the last few years. If New Zealand continues to follow in the footsteps of the US, we will witness an even bigger shift away from print to the Internet.

Advertisers must realise that advertising on the Internet is a whole new ball game to that of the print media world.

Tips for writing a good advertisement on the Internet

Advertisements should be written specifically for the Internet, not merely a reproduction of print advertisements. So important things to remember include:

• Use a heading/caption that encourages the candidate to click through to the job
  Really sell the position. You must capture the job seekers attention enough for them to click through to the full job description. For example if you list "receptionist" the position will be lost in a long list of positions with the same title. In this instance stating "CBD receptionist" will help make the job individual.
  
  
• Keep the job updated
  Job seekers will want to know how recently a job was posted. It could make a difference on whether they respond or not. Job search results are also listed in order of the most recently entered jobs. To ensure your job is seen and you receive responses remember to update the date on which it was listed on a regular basis.
  
  
• A job should be removed from the site as soon as the position is filled
  A job seeker that applies for a position and then receives advice that the position has been filled maybe reluctant to use the Internet for job seeking in the future.
  
  
• Key things to include:
  - employer details (including a link to your site if you have one)
  - information on the position
  - required knowledge/skills base
  - required experience
  - job status - permanent, contract, part-time or temporary. Include hours of work and expected overtime
  - residential qualifications
  - type of person the company is looking for e.g. team player
  
  "Experts say postings that attract the most attention are the ones that provide the most information".
  
  
• Salary Mentioning a salary will generally give candidates more of an idea on whether they are suited for the position. You may find that by mentioning a salary (even a broad range) you will receive a more suitable list of candidates.
  
  
• Use of capitals
  There is no need to place your advertisement in capitals. There is a tendency to do this thinking it will attract more readers, it just makes the advertisement harder to read.
  
  
• Don't abbreviate or use incomplete sentences
  With Internet recruitment advertising there is no limit on the amount of text that can be included in an advertisement. Therefore, there is really no need to use abbreviations or incomplete sentences. When there are a lot of abbreviations it can make an advertisement hard to read.
  
  
• Include all the skills in the body copy of the advertisement
  Some recruitment web sites only search the body copy of the advertisement in a keyword search. If you have mentioned a key skill in the caption ensure that it is repeated in the body copy.
  
  
• Spacing
  Leave a space between key skills. For example, if a candidate is searching for a programmer position and you have listed programmer/analyst some search engines will not pick up on this. Therefore it is more beneficial to list the position as programmer / analyst to ensure it will be returned in a keyword search.
  
  
• Effectiveness of Internet advertising
  Use real time statistics to measure the effectiveness of your advertisement. If you are receiving poor responses from your Internet advertisement ensure you change it immediately. The benefit of the Internet is that details can be changed instantly, there is no point leaving it for an extra day to see what happens, change it now. Remember that career.co.nz allows you to edit your advertisement at any stage.
  
  
• Use similarities
  Include several similar terms for the job title within the advertisement. Usually your job will be found by a keyword search and if someone searches on a term that is not in your advertisement, the available position will not be found. For example, if you refer repeatedly to salesman in you advertisement and a job seeker searches for sales executive, your position will not be viewed.