Posted on September 19, 2012 by BardenInsurance
There are hundreds of thousands of contractors available
to tackle whatever job you need to hire for. But you don’t want thousands of
workers — you want one stellar one who offers the best combination of
experience, reliability and affordability. But as the employer you are
competing for the attention of those top contractors and you’ve got to write a killer job description to
ensure that their applications head to your inbox.
The best contractors aren’t throwing themselves at any job
that comes along. They’ve have two priorities: work that is interesting or challenging
and work that can turn into longer projects. This way, they can spend more time
billing hours and less time applying for positions that may not be a fit.
When you get to the point of conducting interviews with
hopeful applicants, you’re in control. You’re doing the hiring and you can ask
detailed questions to make sure you’re hiring the right candidate. In writing
the job posting, the reverse is true. The contractor is choosing you, your work,
and the future opportunities a working relationship with you may present.
Here are three steps to make your job posting
attract those top contractors:
1. Say what you want. Use one to
three sentences to define exactly what positions you are hiring for and
what experience/tools/style are must-haves for success in this role. This makes
it easy for contractors to see at a glance if they may be a good fit for your
job and if an application would be worth their time.
Example: Looking for a stellar WordPress
professional to help redesign our blog. Must have experience in designing/implementation
for business blogs, a familiarity with social syndication tools, and samples of
previous work done in a ultra-modern style. Ability to educate our team on
using the most current version of WordPress, recommended plug-ins for spam
management, and advice on formatting for multiple topic categories a plus.
2. Define the role. Now that you’ve set the
stage, provide more detail on the position and the type of working relationship
you expect to have. This sets clear expectations, and lets
contractors know before applying if your job will fit their availability.
Example: This is an hourly position that will be
limited to 3 months, though there may be an opportunity for ongoing
engagement for the right candidate. This role reports to the Marketing
Communications Manager and will work closely with the existing team of bloggers
and in-house designers. We expect this position to entail roughly 10-15
hours/week.
3. Help them help you. By
asking for a specific type of response in applicants’ cover letters, you are
giving contractors a way to show that they can follow directions and give you a
stronger sense of their abilities for this role. You’re also giving yourself an
easy way to quickly weed out those folks who did not carefully review your job
posting. This is a chance for you to reiterate the important criteria you need
to address in filling this position. Be clear that whatever you are asking for
is something that applicants can pull together in a few short minutes. You’re
not asking for free work, just for clarity on why you should consider one
contractor over others.
Example: Interested in applying? In your cover
letter, please provide a link to a sample of work that shows your ultra-modern
design style, and tell us in 2-3 sentences about your experience with social
syndication tools.
By writing a job description that is clear, compelling, and
gives contractors the ability to effectively market themselves to you, you’re
making it that much easier to hire right the first time.
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