Posted by Seth Burgess on Mon, Jul 12, 2010 @ 03:27 PM
The most common mistake made by equestrian employers is to let bad experiences in the past color their search for new help. Let's face it, having employees can be a can of worms at times. The list of things that can go wrong in an employer-employee relationship in a horse job is long. Employers can be burned, cheated, and taken advantage of by their equine help. Frequently this leads to employers going into "prevention" mode. Instead of trying to be positive and work on attracting the best possible applicants, many equine employers seem to go negative and start warning applicants about all the things they DON'T want. This approach tends to warn off the good applicants and result in continued difficulty finding and keeping good help. We see this tendency in the wording of equestrian job ads every day. Here is an example of a job ad that suffers from the "negative, fair warning" syndrome:
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Equestrian Teaching-Training-Boarding barn needs ethical, reliable and hard working person who cares deeply about horses and wants to provide premium care for them; must have a positive personality, good people skills, and a well developed sense of personal responsibility. Must be productive with minimal supervision. Responsibilities include daily horse care, stall cleaning, barn up-keep, horse prep, tractor operations, basic record keeping, supervision of part-time staff. Do some teaching and/or riding if capable. Be prepared for hard work and long hours. Only serious applicants need apply.
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Now, do you think this employer has been burned in the past? You bet! You can just imagine the trouble this employer has had with lazy, dishonest, and careless employees, and you can see how much this employer wants to avoid ever hiring that kind again. Unfortunately, posting an ad like this will just about guarantee that this employer will end up with the same kind of employee again. Good help-wanted advertising is written to ATTRACT the best possible applicants, NOT to ELIMINATE the undesirable applicants. Here is my rewrite of the same job listing.
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Equestrian Teaching-Training-Boarding barn with solid reputation and happy clientele has great opportunity for experienced horse person to excel in daily care of horses, facility maintenance and other essential tasks. Your teaching and riding skills will be utilized. We know that good employees make a successful business, and we can provide you with on-the-job training from a successful trainer and coach. You will have the opportunity to advance to your maximum skill level. Build a future with an employer who appreciates good help. Contact us today.
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Will this kind of advertisement attract undesirable applicants? Of course it will. However, unlike the first ad, it will also attract the good applicants. As an equine employer, your job will be to sort out the applicants as they come along. Don't let your past experiences with equine help affect your ability to attract good applicants. Be sure your ads are written to attract the best and see that your entire approach to hiring follows suit.
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Posted by Seth Burgess on Sun, Apr 18, 2010 @ 12:38 PM
When you advertise for help, job seekers will screen your ads. They will search your ads for reasons not to spend the time and effort to contact you. In general, the more information you provide in your ad, the greater the chance that a job seeker will find some reason to reject your job without even contacting you.
If the tone in your ad is negative or focuses on warnings about the job, the duties, and the requirements; you are giving people reasons not to contact you. If you go into detail about the specifics of your philosophy or your techniques, you give job seekers a reason to reject your philosophy or techniques and not respond. If you provide a link to your web site in your ads, you may open the door to so much information about you that most anyone can find something they don't like.
The primary objective of job advertising is to entice people to contact you. The most effective way of accomplishing this is to give a few pertinent facts about the position and word them in such a way that they invite job seekers to ask questions. Your ad should be the bait that job seekers can't refuse. It should arouse their curiosity and invite them to contact you for answers to their questions.
Here is an example of a well worded advertisement.
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Trainer
REINING
Nationally recognized full service operation located in Colorado has opening for experienced trainer with successful show record. Established clientèle are waiting to benefit from your skills and experience. New customer inquiries every week. Opportunity to train horses, compete, and be part of our management team.
Contact Seth Burgess - 303-555-1212 or
seth@equimax.com
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This ad makes the job sound wonderful, but gives almost no information about specifics. The job seeker is left wondering 1) Who are these people? 2) How big is their operation? 3) What do they pay? 4) How many employees do they have? 5)Do they provide benefits? 6) Do I have enough experience to qualify? 7) What are their facilities like? 8) What kind of show record are they looking for? 9) Exactly where are they located? 10) What kind of clientèle do they serve; beginners, advanced, or both? 11) Where do they compete with their horses on a regular basis? This ad does not give enough information for a job seeker to reject the job. The only way that the job seeker can get answers to the questions the job seeker is curious about is to make contact with the employer. The ad has done it's job.
For more tips on attracting, hiring and keeping good help, see this article.
Posted by Seth Burgess on Tue, Feb 09, 2010 @ 03:14 PM
Here are some words and phrases that should never be used when advertising a job or writing a resume. Can you figure out why?
Self-Motivated
Hard Working
Dedicated
Organized
Reliable
Dependable
Good with People
Expert
Detail-Oriented
Responsible
These words and others like them describe "subjective qualities." They represent qualities that are definitely desireable in an employment relationship. However, advertising for these qualities or including them in your resume can backfire. Subjective qualities are just that, subjective. If you are an employer, you should not care if an applicant thinks they have some of these qualities. You should care whether YOU think they have these qualities. As an applicant, you need to let employers draw their own conclusions about your subjective qualities from the relationships you build with them.
When it comes to subjective qualities, your opinion is the ONLY opinion that counts. You will form that opinion as you get to know each candidate. Don't try to screen for subjective qualities with your advertisement. It won't work!
The best job seekers know that when an ad contains words like these, the employer probably has trouble hiring and keeping good help. All horse industry employers have trouble finding good help from time to time, but you don't want to advertise your failures, do you? Write your ad to attract the best people. Give them a reason to work for you instead of for someone else. Draw your own conclusions about each person's subjective qualities after they respond to your ad.