The Freelance Recruiting Bible: Placing Job Ads

• Specialist newspaper. Ideal if you want to get a specialist, however, costly. So costly they won’t tell you the price without applying for a quote (believe me, I tried). Be prepared to pay around £800 (┚¬1168 $1536 USD, $1984 AUS D) or more if you’re advertising with a specialist publication – however, the advantages are that the publication is around longer than the daily rag, and it also attracts the right type of reader – that is, people in the industry. Smaller companies may be able to take advantage of entry-level offers, it’s always worth asking, and some may have bargains for very small adverts.
• Word of mouth. This works similar to an ad in your shop – however, the drawbacks can be that you end up not wanting to offend your auntie/sister’s best friend, and employing someone completely unsuitable.
• Local colleges or training establishments. Each one of these will have a careers advisor, and will often be on the lookout for placements or work for their candidates. Get on the phone, explain that you’re a local employer, hoping to offer a local young graduate/trainee a chance, and see what happens!
• Agencies (be aware the cost of this might be ongoing). You will pay more than the cost of a specialist publication for a recruit through an agency, although this might be charged weekly/monthly or via a finders fee. There’s a reason you won’t have to do any of the legwork when using an agency to find staff – it’s because you’re paying someone else to do it.

Once you’ve chosen the place, just the content of the ad to sort.
Your ad will need to meet the demands of the method you have chosen to advertise, but in all cases should give the main facts of the position:

• What (the position is).
• Where.
• Who (are you looking for – what should that person’s experience and background be like?)
• How much (are you going to give them for doing the job?)
• When (they should apply by and how to do it?)

It’s normal to give about two weeks to allow any responses in from an advert, so any closing date should be around two weeks from the ad being run, wherever it is. If it’s just going to be on your premises, maybe ‘Help Wanted, Receptionist, Training given, Apply within’ will do what you need it to, whereas that wouldn’t do if you were running a newspaper ad or a net based one. Other considerations when placing an ad in a paper are based around format – make sure you know what sort of file the paper needs from you, and if they throw in anything for free (like taking what you want and turning it into a format they can use!)

So – make your choice, write your copy and wait for the next installment when shortlisting and preparing to interview are covered!