Whew, it is tough out there right now for employers, am I right? Every veterinary magazine is stuffed with help wanted ads!

We’ve been conducting independent market research as we piloted our recruiting methods, and below are some of the ways that are proven to help employers stand out.

Show your values, not your equipment or your adorable town

Job embeddedness is a term from careers research. It describes the level of commitment or depth of connection an employee feels to a workplace. When an employee or potential employee feel connected and aligned with the values of a workplace, they are many time more likely to stay, even when life is tough. Workplaces that can showcase their unique values are much more likely to attract a candidate who will feel embedded and want to stay long term.  If your clinic values that you’ve written down include “delivering high quality care”, I’m urging you to dig deeper!

How in heaven’s name do you do that?

Start with asking your employees these questions:

• What makes this workplace special?
• What makes them stay?
• What attracted them to the clinic, or what they noticed first?

This exercise helps themes come though! Maybe you value laughter every day, or getting every employee home on time, or being a flexible workplace.

Let them see your personality

Think back to the days of commercials on TV- you’d see an ad for a soft drink. The person in the ad would be having fun, and feeling so very refreshed drinking the drink, exhaling, “ahhh.”

Marketers want us to be able to see ourselves using a product, or enjoying the benefits of a service. Job advertising is no different. Help employees picture themselves within your workplace by adding video, photos, tours of the workplace, or a personal message. Don’t be afraid to show them what it’s really like day to day. Essentially, you want to attract your ideal employee by showing your special breed of awesome that your workplace is.  This is why every job ad listed with us on our recruiting platform allows video, photos, and unlimited text.

We love doing Interview the Boss features with workplaces for this exact reason; it’s a unique opportunity to have an intimate and personal conversation to show what it’s really like to work for you. ITBs have a 4x factor increase in candidates applying to their positions in our pilot in 2021-2022, and report higher quality candidates. With a professional facilitator to assist and tease out the best characteristics of your team, it makes connecting genuinely with candidates easier.

Show your full offering

Salary isn’t the whole package for employees, and while it’s an important factor, be sure to list all the perks/benefits of working for you to create a real picture of total compensation.

Private pension/401K/RRSP matches, loan repayment programs, paid time off/vacation time, number of stat holidays, be sure to list it all. Maybe you have some fun clauses like get your birthday as a paid day off, or you always pay for lunch on Fridays. Remember that in a global market, candidates are moving all over the place, and may not know the amazing perks you offer even the other side of the same country.

Conclusion

If these seem overwhelming right now, or you’re fresh out of ideas, we get it. It can be tricky to find time to ponder deep things like your workplace values and craft a jaunty ad after a 12 hour day. We specialize in helping workplaces identify their unique and amazing aspects and showcasing them to attract the right people. Contact us to get help crafting an ad and showcasing your job to a larger audience.