… and how Textmetrics helps you get more applicants
‘The number of female applicants is still too low.’ ‘We receive almost no responses to this job posting’. And “The ideal candidate might just not exist”. Do you ever hear yourself saying things like this? Then know that you are not the only one. These are the common challenges of job market communication. Because it is not that easy to appeal to your target group with your job postings.
Why is that? Because you have to think of all kinds of rules while writing them. Are you writing? You have to:
write gender-neutral (so you appeal to all genders);
optimize your job posting for SEO (so your job posting can be found easily);
incorporate the right employer branding;
add the right job motivators;
and write at high quality (so you motivate the reader to apply).
Add to that a tight job market with lots of other job postings to compete with? Then you know: it is not crazy at all if you are struggling with your job ads.
Marcel Leeman, CEO of Textmetrics, is the face of Textmetrics and specializes in developments in the recruitment market. How do you communicate in such a way that you appeal to your entire target group and do not exclude anyone? Marcel knows the answer to that. We asked him a few questions on this topic.
What are the advantages of Textmetrics for recruiters?
“As a recruiter, you get access to our recruitment module, among other things. This allows you to write a personal, appropriate and motivating text that will convince the reader to apply quickly. You get suggestions for writing in a more inclusive way. In certain sectors, we see that a more masculine tone of voice can often be an obstacle to attracting female candidates. You also get advice on optimizing your job posting for SEO,” Marcel says.
He continues: “But that is not all. The recruitment module offers more. There are the job motivators, aka pull factors. What do we mean by that? Because of market research, the module knows what motivates candidates to apply for a particular job. Think: good salary, good working atmosphere, travel allowance, possibility to work from home and flexible working hours. Do you include these job motivators in your job postings? Then you motivate candidates even more to press that application button.”
Why did current users of the recruitment module choose Textmetrics?
“At Arcadis, mainly men work and apply for jobs. That had to change. That’s why we wanted to write more inclusively, to motivate women to apply as well. It turned out to be a golden move. The number of female candidates increased by no less than 10% through the use of Textmetrics,” says Marcel.
He adds, “At Randstad in particular, the number of applicants had to be increased: ‘To attract the ideal candidate, you have to communicate your core values clearly. But it’s not that easy.’ The quality of vacancies needed to increase and a branding check was needed. Vacancies had to be findable (SEO and Google for Jobs) and contain the right job motivators. And recruiters needed instant feedback and suggestions while writing. Let that be exactly what we offer at Textmetrics. And with success: the number of applicants increased by up to 18%.”
What need does Textmetrics meet with the recruitment module?
“The stories of Arcadis and Randstad show it clearly. Writing good, high-quality job ads is both difficult and time-consuming. There is so much to consider. And there are often several recruiters writing vacancies. Just try to keep it consistent. With Textmetrics’ smart AI writing software it can be done. It helps you while writing, but also makes you a better job writer. And that is reflected in the responses to your vacancies,” Marcel explains.
These two stories are just some of our clients’ experiences. Curious about more stories? You can read them here.