Carol T. Kulik & Elissa L. Perry

Undercover Manager 

Activity 2.1 

Employment Advertising

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Job ads remain one of the most popular employee recruiting methods. Start this activity by collecting a small sample (5-10 is a good number) of your company’s recruitment ads. If your company hasn’t advertised lately, you can identify a job of personal interest (e.g., a job related to your own career aspirations) and source  small sample of ads from the Internet.

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First, analyze the quality of the ads, identifying content that is too vague, too long, or too gendered. Then try rewriting the ads from an applicant’s perspective, with the goal of highlighting your company’s unique brand. Table 2.2 can be used as a template. Drawing on the news articles below, test whether your job ads are accurately describing the remote work opportunities and work/non-work boundaries that operate at your company. You can return to this activity when you read Chapter 8 (Rewarding Employees), to consider the value of including pay and benefits information in your company’s job ads.

 

Contemporary job ad challenges:

Ellis, L. (2022, July 5). Is that remote job opening really remote? Check the fine print. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-that-remote-job-opening-really-remote-check-the-fine-print-11656961532  

Ellis, L. (2022, September 29). Bosses promise jobs with a coveted perk: Boundaries. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/jobs-quiet-quitting-work-life-balance-boundaries-11663556326  

Smith, R. A. (2022, September 13) ‘Work hard, play hard’ and more phrases than can scare away job applicants. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/work-hard-play-hard-and-more-phrases-that-can-scare-away-job-applicants-11663073081  

York, J. (2022, December 6). The workers lured into oversold jobs. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20221202-the-workers-lured-into-oversold-jobs   

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