How your aviation job ad can (and should) attract top talent

Advertising a job is not just an opportunity to get a great hire. It's a way of building brand presence, informing potential employees about your company culture, your ethos, and much more. A job advert is the first insight a candidate will get to your company - so if you're not a big name airline or company, you'll need the right elements if you want your ad to attract.

So with this in mind, if you are considering leaving posting a job, here are a few helpful tips you'll need to get started:

The guidelines

Remember, you’re not just posting a job advert to recruit, you are posting it to attract - and this is the part where many of us slip up. Don't be too modest when you are advertising for a new role - look at your job ad, and ask yourself the following questions:

• Does my job ad include the specifics of the role?
• Is my job ad relevant to jobseekers in the industry?
• Does my job ad answer the questions candidates ask?
• Why should they apply to my job ad over any other company?

Salary band

Ever wondered just how essential a salary band is for jobseekers? We can confirm it's very important to them.

We ran a survey with over 300 aviation professionals in 2019, to see if including a salary band on a job advert affected their decision to apply for a job.

• 59% of professionals said they wouldn't apply for a job if a salary was not displayed.

We also asked them if they preferred all job adverts to disclose the full salary details.

• 95% said they preferred job adverts to disclose full salary details 

Finally, we asked them ‘Would you prefer if job adverts displayed a salary range (for example, £40,000 – £50,000) or the exact amount (for example, £43,355).

• 50% said they would prefer an exact amount displayed (e.g. £35,000).

We must also consider the reasons why salary is so important to jobseekers and how including key pieces of information can attract more interest:

• Professionals won't leave their job for one that pays the same salary: Those looking for career progression take salary into account too, so anyone looking for a new job will likely be on the hunt for a better salary too. Offering a more competitive salary to other companies could increase your talent pool.
• A more competitive salary will make your job listing stand out: As we mentioned in our previous point, offering a more competitive salary means you have a better offer for similar roles to other companies, so you are likely to receive more applications from professionals that want the most attractive one. It's a stand out offer for many if you can offer better than the average pay.
• It saves time: Including a salary in your job description now saves any ambiguity or questions asked about it later on, for example at interview stage etc. Candidates know what to expect, and clarity in both the role and surrounding aspects plays a huge part in making a decision to apply to your role or not.
• It promotes a fair culture: It's more common to discuss salary today than in previous years, and more professionals are open to discussing it than ever before. Many people feel that organisations not displaying salary are being dishonest in some way. While the reasons are likely due to encouraging negotiation, or shielding information from competitors, many candidates prefer to have something to go off. After all, if jobseekers can see a listing of 30 B1 Licensed Engineering jobs, all detailing a salary, they're much more likely to click on the job advert that has a salary, than the one that doesn't.

Length

Candidates skim-read a job advert before they read it properly, to check for keywords that might  be skill related, experience requirements and to get a general feel for the job. Jobseekers will spend around 30 seconds skimming a job ad, before they move on to another. So keeping your job advert clear and concise, with a neat layout is definitely important.

You have to capture their attention quickly – give them a reason to continue reading. Whether it’s boasting your excellent reputation, worldwide presence, company culture, or the benefits you can offer - if you know you have a strong offer, don’t hold back on revealing it until interview stage - you could miss out on top talent to another company who took the time to target their job ad.

What’s in it for them?

Similar to our previous points, candidates want to be given a reason to apply. Yes, an outline of the role is necessary, but there is so much more that you can add to your job ad to attract top talent. Ask yourself the following:

• What makes you different?
• What are the benefits we can offer? E.g. travel discounts, perks etc? Overtime available?
• What holidays can you offer?
• Salary!!!
• Good working hours? Don’t leave that out!
• Location - can I be clear on where it's based?
• Company culture - will candidates be interested if we mention our positive environment and friendly staff?

What are you looking for?

It’s very important that you outline your requirements clearly and concisely. Being direct means you are more likely to attract those with the right skills. Vague job descriptions that don't detail the role will only attract generic applications, which likely won't fit the bill. Take some advice from the number 1 aviation job site in the UK – being niche works, and you're much more likely to receive quality over quantity this way. The more targeted your job advert, the better the chances you have of attracting top talent. Particularly if you require individuals with specific qualifications or industry experience 

Company culture

Jobseekers want a positive environment they can thrive in. Ask yourself, why should someone apply to my role? A percentage of that answer will be surrounding the job on offer itself, but it should also boil down to the type of company you are, and why everyone enjoys working there.

Candidates respond to information about motivational, career developing environments they can thrive in – large team? Great. Work hard, play hard? Even better. Appeal to human nature and identify the key reasons why a candidate would love to work for your company, and more importantly, stick around.

Make it sound like you

Generic job adverts that provide no insight to your company do no justice. Is your company great - is it recognised worldwide? Prove it, with a unique and creative job advert. If you were British Airways, you would likely boast your popular, professional brand, but even if you’re not, there should be something about your job advert that no other job advert could compare to.

Is your company energetic? Fast-paced? Ahead of the curve? Tell them what it's all about, and already you have a uniquely developed job advert that reads totally different to the other generic job ads on job boards.

Just one more piece of advice – before you post your job advert with us, remember that the first sentence is most likely to sell. Make it strong, attractive and unique. Then, once you have them reading, all you have to do is make sure the rest of your job ad delivers!

If you have any questions about how to improve your job advert, we’re just a phone call away on + 44 1772 978085