How to get more people to apply for your job postings

By Darryl Stewart, Head of the Herd

If there is specific training for your industry, that you wish people had, it is tempting to reference it in your job ads.

“Disability Support Worker II training a definite asset”

A simple statement like this will cripple your recruiting effort. For two big reasons:

Those who don’t know what it is will very likely not apply.
Those who know what it is, but don’t have it, will generally not apply either.

Many front line jobs these days are filed with people who have no training in the field. If that is how your industry works, don’t reference the training you wish they had in the ad.

We need to write job ads that are as inclusive as possible and inspire as many people as possible to apply. You can then find the type of person you are looking for through the interview process. Which, by the way, should always start with a quick phone interview of each person you are interested in so that you don’t waste too much time on in-person interviews.

Here is my job ad for front line support workers:

Are you dependable and resourceful?
Do you have lots of energy, intuition and initiative?
Can you effectively manage and work with all kinds of people in all kinds of situations?

Being a front line support worker for our agency is all these things and more.

Do you want to:

Make positive change in your community?
Work flexible hours?
Be paid more than you would at Tim’s while doing something truly rewarding?

Our agency operates homes in the community for people with intellectual disabilities. Working with us is not easy, but for the right kind of person it can be very rewarding. You get to become a key person in other people’s lives, helping them to be all that they can be. If you think this sounds more rewarding than working at the mall, then our agency would like to talk with you.

Training is provided, including support to attend college courses, if you see this as a career you would like to pursue further.

IBEX Payroll extends our profound respect and immeasurable gratitude to all the ancestors and keepers of the land on whose traditional territories our work takes place. We acknowledge that we are on Treaty 1 territory, the traditional gathering place of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene people and the traditional homeland of the Métis people. This land is sacred, historical, and significant.

Every time we acknowledge this truth, we have an invitation and an opportunity to reflect on the wrongs of the past, what we do in the present, and what we can do to continually honour the people whose lands and water we benefit from today.

This statement only acts as a first step in honouring the land we reside on and its peoples, and must be paired with education, understanding and informed action.