I’m not looking for a job but that doesn’t stop me from looking at job adverts. I take a special interest in the adverts for senior posts in organisations I have previously worked for. This time three of my ex employers were advertising posts.
According to recruitment consultants it’s a candidates market as organisations struggle to fill their top posts. In a very competitive market you would have thought a special effort would have been put into creating an eye catching advert with a message that made you think, this sounds like interesting and exciting job in a very progressive organisation. Your interests having been sufficiently stimulate to click on the website address to find out more.
Not so these three. Despite these being senior posts in large organisations they were only quarter page, black and white, no colour and no pictures, minimum details not even the salary just a reference to it being,”competitive”. The thinking presumably was everything anyone would want to know could be found out by visiting the website, address displayed. The final touch in each case was the organisation’s rather tired logo in the bottom corner.
Why such a bland, unimaginative advert? I can only think this was the result of a restriction on the advertising budget, an economy. It was like watching a black and white t.v. in the age of colour. The logos hadn’t been updated in 30 years. The lack of photos was a missed opportunity to challenge some stereotypes that might still be around about these organisations. If I didn’t know any better I might think it was a deliberate attempt at being fashionably retro.
Job adverts particularly for senior posts send out a message about the organisation, the type of place and what it might be like their to work there. In this case the unintended message was ,”old fashioned”, “complacent”, and even “dull”. Which is unfortunate because I know from personal experience all three have some excellent people working for them and each organisation can point to some innovative and cutting edge work/projects.
