Write great job postings to attract top employees
You want to make your farm’s jobs easy to apply for, but hard to get. To make great hires, you want to choose the best of the best employees.
“In today’s business climate, plentiful labor is not the same as plentiful talent,” says Mel Kleiman, president of Humetrics, a human resource consulting firm. “Now more than ever, you need to attract, hire and retain top talent because the quality of your frontline determines the value of your bottom line.”
To attract all-star employees to your farm, you must nail your job postings. Here’s what to include, according to the experts at AgCareers.com.
Job Title: Make the title descriptive and acknowledge the seniority level.
Location: Include the city and state unless the job could be done remotely.
Company Description: Provide a description of your farm, with your mission, a brief history and goals. Does your company sound like a place you would want to work?
Skills, Experience and Training: Be specific about what the job requires in terms of skills, work experience, training and level of education.
Benefits: Vacation, insurance and retirement packages are important to job seekers. Don’t worry if you don’t offer a long list of benefits. Remember to include unique perks, such as flexibility, company vehicles or training opportunities.
Pay Range: Applicants may skip your posting if at least a general range is not included.
Sell the Job: What will the person be responsible for day to day? How does the position fit in the big picture? Why would someone want this job? Don’t just describe the position – sell it.
Clear Call to Action: Include directions on how to apply. Put a sense of urgency in the posting to motivate the candidate to apply.
Finishing Touches: Check spelling, grammar and eliminate jargon. Include keywords search engines might pull, such as mechanic, CFO or seasonal employee. Be sure your farm name, title and location are in the description.
Use Video to Recruit Top Talent
Here’s an interesting statistic: Only 1% of job postings have visuals. To showcase your work environment and attract top talent, use photos and videos in your online job postings, says Elena Valentine, CEO of Skill Scout, a company that specializes in employer branding.
“Content with video receives three times more engagement than text posts,” she says.
Don’t worry – you don’t need to hire a professional TV production team. Tap a young person on your team (or one of your children) and hand them a few simple tools: a tripod, microphone kit and smart phone. In a few minutes, you can show and tell why people should be on your team.
