The End of the Sandwich Ninja
Let’s face it, it’s really hard to hire today, especially for entry level and hourly positions.
Unemployment is very low at 3.6% (or 5.9 million people), and the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that there are about 7 million job openings as of September 2019
There are more than one million more job openings than there are people to fill them.
No wonder hiring is so tough!
Today we are focusing on how to make your job easy to find, which is different from how to make the job stand out in a sea of similar jobs.
The Problem With Trendy Job Titles
We have all seen the ways in which hiring managers try to make their jobs look more appealing:
“Exciting new concept looking for sandwich ninjas who want to go to the next level“
While exciting to read, that job title will lead to very poor performance in today’s internet-centric job search world.
Let’s break it down.
This job has zero keywords that job seekers would actually search for!
Mayyyybe sandwich would be something a small minority of candidates would gravitate to, but job seekers are NOT going to a search engine and typing “ninja”, “concept”, or “next level”.
The Solution – Keyword Optimized Job Titles
There are three essential elements to a job title when looking for entry level and hourly workers:
1. Localize it: Put the location in the title
2. Part-time: People are searching for part-time/full-time work regardless of the industry
3. Compensation: Yes this matters… you are competing for attention, and this will get attention
If you are looking for a certain cultural fit (or, ahem, a particular martial arts affiliation), put that in the job description.
The purpose of the job title is to make the job easy to find. Period.
Example of a good, findable, effective job title:
“Part-time Food Prep ($15.50/hr) for Northampton Restaurant“
This works because almost every word of the job title is a searchable keyword and the salary near the beginning of the title improves the chances of the job standing out on mobile search.
Bonus Tip: Make your title easy to read on Mobile. Test it out by mailing it to yourself.
Here are some popular job description words to avoid when hiring for hourly and part-time talent:
Job Titles To Avoid
Sandwich Artist
Team Member
Associate
Crew Member
Teammate