For many specialty businesses at least half of the top 10 listings on Google are job recruitment type listings. This is because the job listings are often on high-authority websites (e.g. monster.com) that include the company name in the title tags, the header tags, and anchor text. In many cases these ads link to the main site, often nofollowed, using the name of the business in their links. These are “in the face” of someone doing due diligence on your company – so is it wise to hand off the writing to a hurried recruiter without guidance?
From my experience, most companies don’t worry about the writing – letting the admin in HR do it, or just asking the recruiter to slam something together…and it shows. The resulting listings may pass from a database management point of view, but to the reader, they often feel mechanical. It seems clear to me that many corporations have forgotten these listings are presented, in all of their dispassionate glory, alongside their corporate website in the SERPS.
By way of example, take this part of a listing I found (slightly altered to protect the company, but the flavor is intact)
“Oversight of marketing plans to multiple channels. Creation of plans for executive team. Coordinate with marketing dept. for rollout of appropriate collateral.”
Is there any reason the company couldn’t insist that the recruiter post this?
“ABC Corp is involved in multiple channels to serve our international customers. The marketing plans we use to reach those customers must be accurate, expertly written and effective. Writing such plans will be a primary responsibility of this position”
“Essential Jobs and Duties” definitely needs to be part of any job listing, but is there anything wrong with aligning the message with the story you want to tell possible customers? I recommend that companies take control over their recruiter messages (whether they’re on your site or on a job site) and polish them for double-duty for potential candidates as well as customers, investors and partners.
