Job Posting Analysis & Best PracticesAugust 4, 2011

Nathan GildowStrategy Consultantnathan.gildow@monster.comPh. 513.546.4802Twitter: @ncgmonster

Discussion Overview

Job Seeker Behavior and Industry TrendsJob Posting Best PracticesRecommendationsQuestions

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Monster Intelligence

What’s New with Monster (and why that matters)

National Labor Trends

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The new Monster Experience is personal, relevant & customizable

= More engaged, more informed, more targeted seekers

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Job Posting Activity Online

About the Index: The Monster Employment Index provides HR professionals and labor market observers with a monthly snapshot of online job demand and employer recruitment activity. With traditional help-wanted advertising migrating online and nearly every Fortune 500 company utilizing online recruiting, the Monster Employment Index is uniquely positioned to contribute valuable data complementing official labor statistics. Tracking online job postings for positions to be filled within 30 to 60 days, the Index is an important leading indicator of labor market performance. Note that for each index series, the baseline value of 100 represents the average of the first 12 months of data. 

Job Posting Best Practices

What is typical seeker behavior? Are your postings effective? How do your postings stack up against the

competition?

Job Posting Best Practices

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Reach Engage Capture

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Reach

Source: Monster Internal Data, January 2010 – December 2010, Monster US

Seasonal spikes occur in March, August and October

On average, about 124 million Job Searches are performed on Monster.com each month

> Candidates searching for jobs are more active at the beginning of the year

> The majority of job searches are conducted at the beginning of the week

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Post Jobs Early for Maximum Exposure

How Do Job Seekers Search On Monster?

87% of searches contain a Location

38% of searches include a Keyword

24% of searches contain a Title

5% of searches contain a Category

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Locations (87%): 1. New York

10%2. Los Angeles

7%3. Chicago

4%4. Dallas

4%5. Atlanta

4%6. Philadelphia

4%7. Boston

3%8. Houston

3%9. San Francisco

3%10. Washington D.C.

3%

Keywords (38%): 1. Sales 2. Accounting 3. Customer Service 4. Administrative Assistant 5. Marketing 6. Part Time 7. Healthcare 8. Human Resources 9. Receptionist 10. Retail

Titles (24%): 1. Administrative Assistant2. Customer Service Representative3. Sales Representative4. Manager, Other5. Assistant Manager6. Project Manager7. Customer Service8. Executive Administrative

Assistant9. Office Manager10. Software Engineer

Source: Monster Internal Data, January 2011, Monster.com

“Classic Search” – How does it work?

Exact keyword match for the job will be returned in the seeker’s search resultsHigher relevance is given to postings with a keyword match in the job title and higher keyword frequency*> If keyword match is same on two jobs, job with newer date returns

first> If location is used, jobs closest to location returns first if keyword

match is the same

Reach Power Search Beta– How does it work?

Relevance is Key PowerSearch Understands the meaning of words and matches

concepts even when the exact word is not in the job description PowerSearch ranks title and description keywords equally Secondary sort is by date relevance

Best Practices Use specific and common titles with two or three descriptive keywords Make clear delineations between sections in job posting Required & Preferred skills will be critical to precision matching Weigh the pros and cons of dual or conflicting titles

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Consider:Food Server Or

Restaurant Team Member – Coffee Server

Keyword Relevance – Job TitlesReach

Ensure job title is relevant. Provide detail around coffee host/specialist within job description.

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Consider:

Retail Regional Manager

Keyword Relevance – Job TitlesReach

Provide detail on multiple business unit leadership within the description.

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Consider:

Restaurant Server

Or

Restaurant Team Member – Server

Keyword Relevance – Job TitlesReach

Most customer service positions at this level are non-exempt/hourly. No need to add to title.

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Consider:

Retail General Manager

Keyword Relevance – Job TitlesReach

Automated Media

Syndication

Targeting

Direct link to your

career site

Time/Cost Savings

Your Media Solution:Automated, Targeted, To Monster workflow.

Career Ad NetworkDrive Traffic to Your Postings on Monster

Automated Media

Syndication

Targeting

Link to Job

Posting on Monster

Time/Cost Savings

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Engage

Job Posting Guidelines & Best PracticesInclude key criteria within a job posting to attract candidates who are viewed as important to job seekers (in order): 1. Location2. Salary, Salary, Salary3. Quality & Security of the Company4. Corporate Culture5. What’s the Work Environment Like?6. Schedule/Hours – Could be PT/Flexible Hours

Structure job postings in the order in which job seekers/candidates read a posting: 1. Company Name (Logo/Picture)2. Job Title3. Summary Information4. Requirements5. Qualifications6. Benefits7. About the Company

Source: 2007 Study from BNA and Kennedy Information “Sourcing Today’s Candidate: What’s Working to Attract Top Talent” ; Webinar “Sourcing Candidates”

Eliminate potential barriers that job seekers/candidates’ indicate are their biggest frustrations: 1. Vague Job Descriptions

2. Inflated Requirements “Super Candidate Syndrome

3. Lack of Response From Employers

4. Omission of Key Information in the Posted Job

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Opportunity – Sell the Job

Requirements

Preferences

Benefits

Call to Action

Title – Relates to Specific Seeker

Company Branding (Big Picture Sell)

Good, brief summary of who you are as an organization.

Be sure to “bullet” out additional detail on job requirements/ qualifications

Hours/Pay?

Ensure that when candidates

apply for position, they know

what next steps/timeline will be.

Remember to keep to the structure of job postings

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Basic summary on the company. Do you have a common theme/breakdown you can provide to candidates?

Include steps on how to apply

Related Skills? Bulleted points on what is needed?

Why should I work for you?

Remember to keep the structure to the posting

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Tell me a story about this job Responsibilities Qualifications Skills

Bullet out the benefits/value proposition

What are the hours/pay?

• Retail Associate• Retail Associate

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Focused on the Seeker

Great alternative apply

Nice use of benefits & referral opportunity

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Seeker centric template

Interactive

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Lots of information about the company

Great branding

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Capture

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The Application ProcessCapture

• Make this standard if this is the process across all positions

• Expectation, timelines, what will happen next…

• Make this standard if this is the process across all positions

• Expectation, timelines, what will happen next…

Recommendations in Summary

• Create consistent & common titles• Build out relevant skills as needed

• Sell the best aspects of the opportunity and the organization to attract top performers

• Create clear, consistent & compelling job ads

• Set expectations for candidate

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Reach

Engage

Capture