Use You Copywriting Skills To Get Great People To Work For You

If you are not using your best copywriting skills (and you should have copywriting skills!) in recruiting new employees, don’t complain if the ones you get tend toward the mediocre.

Here are a few suggestions on making your “Help Wanted” ads work more strongly for you:

1. Write a great headline.

Make it grab attention.Write a great “lead paragraph.” The first few sentences of your ad should be just as strong as the headline. But they must do some additional work. They must make — directly or indirectly — a promise that will be appealing to your ideal prospect. The promise should be complex — not just money but also job satisfaction.

2. Establish credibility.

Unless yours is a very well-known company, don’t assume that the prospect will automatically respect you. Give him evidence that the job — like the company behind it — is substantial, reliable, employee-oriented, and growing.

3. Make the challenge a virtue.

Don’t apologize for your desire to get a superstar. Let the prospect know that’s what you are looking for. The right person will see that as a benefit.

4. Include a call to action.

Make the response as specific as possible. “Call a certain number at a certain time” is best.

5. Make it easy to apply.

(This is common sense.)

[Ed. Note. Mark Morgan Ford was the creator of Early To Rise. In 2011, Mark retired from ETR and now writes the Palm Beach Letter. His advice, in our opinion, continues to get better and better with every essay, particularly in the controversial ones we have shared today. We encourage you to read everything you can that has been written by Mark.]