We hear it all the time: “How can I get more applicants?” While we know all it takes is one awesome applicant to fill the role, we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to get the ad in front of that unicorn that we are looking for. Accomplishing this goal comes back to one thing. Competition.

When you’re writing your job ad, you might be thinking “This is better than any job I ever saw advertised, the candidates are going to come flooding in,” and you may be right. But, you can’t know for sure unless you know what the people around you are offering in their positions. The current market is candidate-driven, meaning more jobs are being offered than there are candidates to fill the roles, meaning they have a lot of choices in their next position. You want to make sure that you are their top choice in their area to ensure you get those top performers to add to your team.

So what do I need to do to make sure I’m the best? Easy. We’re going to check out the competition around you and review a few different criteria to determine how competitive our job is.

Depending on what role you’re hiring for, you’ll want to search terms like “Sales Representative,” “Customer Service Representative,” “Office Manager,” or even “Sales and Customer Service Representative” to see how many similar jobs are being advertised in your zip code.

Tip: Make sure your job title is clear and concise, using commonly searched terms such as the ones I listed below. Industry terms such as “Producer” or titles like “Sales Superstar” often don’t appear as efficiently in keyword searches.

The more matching jobs in your area, the more competition you have. Find out what you’re up against. This number can also help you to determine if additional sponsorship could be beneficial. If there are less than 30 jobs in your area, you have a competitive salary and offer great benefits, sponsorship may not be necessary. However, if there are 100 or even 500 similar jobs in your area and you have a competitive ad, sponsorship could be beneficial in getting your ad seen by more candidates.

Candidates are going to be using filter options to narrow their search to find more specific results. The salary filter is the first filter used by more than 85% of candidates according to Indeed. As you can imagine, 40 results are much easier to digest than 120 results. To be competitive in this area for Sales Representatives, you would want your salary to match the $60,000+ salary filter for the best visibility and to be considered competitive.

Remote isn’t for everyone and that’s okay! Just keep in mind that it may take a bit longer to find a great candidate for an in-office position if there is a large majority of remote positions available in your area.

Many candidates focus their search on the first page of results because those are the first jobs they’ll see in their search. I recommend clicking through each job on the first and maybe even the second page to see what common benefits are offered by your competitors. If you offer the same benefits, you want to ensure those are listed in your ad, along with any additional or unique benefits you have to offer.

Now that you’ve taken a deeper dive into the competition in your area, you’ll have a better idea of how you match up in terms of salary and benefits compared to other positions being offered in your area. Make sure your ad matches up or is even more competitive than the other open positions around you for the best results when it comes to attracting great employees.

If you have any additional questions regarding this article please feel free to reach out, we are here to help.

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