Lou Adler’s article “How To Use Advertising To Attract Top People” shows how that is not only true in life, but in advertising as well!

The one thing to keep in mind is that your audience was not all cut from the same cookie cutter. Since the job description is your primary marketing tool, it has to be well-written and convincing. It has to reflect how different groups (age, race, gender) respond to advertising.

Some ideas to consider for more effective advertising:

1) STOP USING TRADITIONAL JOB DESCRIPTIONS AS THE BASIS FOR YOUR ADS. You can’t just put in a mundane listing of the job description. It needs to be compelling and challenging.
2) STOP USING A CLASSIFIED AD MENTALITY. The key here is to target the up-and-comers…not the down-and-outers! Get out of the ‘80’s recruitment mindset.
3) MAKE THE JOB COMPELLING. Your ad should clearly demonstrate the job stretch & importance to the company in the title and first paragraph. The up-and-comers in each group (age, race etc.) will decide whether to keep reading in the first 10 to 20 seconds!!!
4) DON’T START WITH THE PART NUMBER. Applicants will opt out of reading immediately!
5) THE FIRST TWO LINES ARE CRITICAL. Hello, hello.
6) TRACK YOUR RESULTS. You should be tracking your responses because if its not working; why bother?
7) USE INSTANT MESSAGING, PODCASTS AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION CHANNELS. Why not use the latest means of communications? Time to move on! Three year olds are using computers.
8) USE CREATIVE TITLES TARGETED TO YOUR AUDIENCE. “Stand Up and Be Counted” might work if you’re looking for an Accounting Supv…it’s better than “A/P Supervisor” in 10pt Center!
9) USE SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES. The best people sometimes use either Google or Yahoo! Search engines before career sites or job boards!
10) MAKE IT VIRAL. If you do all of the above, or at least some of it, people will refer other people to your jobs. Great ads describing great jobs that up-and-comers want to hear about delivered right to their doors are the key to hiring the right people.

So the key here is NOT to fall into the “black-hole” of recruiter technology. If everyone uses the same tools to find the same candidates, everyone will wind up finding average candidates! Use technology more creatively if you want to win the war on talent!