249: How to Write a Job Ad
Brought to you by Pet Sitters Associates
Summary:
Have you ever posted a hiring ad? In the current job market it’s more critical than ever to nail the ad posting so you get what you need out of your hire. With more people switching jobs and careers than ever before, your ad has to connect with what they’re looking for and help them see a future with your company. We break down the ads we’ve placed and what you should consider before you post yours. Then, Natasha O’Banion answers, “How do I set good goals?”
Main topics:
Matching your needs with job seeker expectations
Know the advantages of your position
Educate on the industry
Setting appropriate expectations from step 0
Ask a Pet Biz Coach
Main takeaway: Before you post your ad, be crystal clear on what you’re looking for, so both you and the potential hire know what to expect.
Links:
Episode 247: https://www.petsitterconfessional.com/episodes/247
What job seekers want https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmorel/2021/06/17/jobseekers-are-calling-all-the-shots-heres-what-they-want/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, hiring, job, pet, business, dogs, clients, ad, position, pet sitters, employee, goals, big, company, flexibility, helping, set, updates, hiring process, needed
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Meghan 00:10
Hello, I'm Meghan.
Collin 00:11
I'm Collin and this is Pet Sitter confessional
Meghan 00:13
an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. If you are looking to hire, this is an episode that would be great for you.
Collin 00:24
It's a continuation from our series that we started last week, where we talked about our reasons for hiring and some questions to ask for yourself.
Meghan 00:32
Yeah, that was episode 247. So if you need some instruction on if you should be hiring, or what that looks like, go back and listen to that episode. We also want to thank our sponsor, pet sitters Associates, and our wonderful Patreon members, like Claire, Alicia, and Laura for sponsoring today's episode, we have started adding some awesome benefits to being a Patreon member. We have our monthly meetups that we do over zoom, and we
Collin 00:58
have our ongoing series on podcasting for your pet business. So from basically interested in podcasting to published it, we cover everything in between and give you lots of insight along the way.
Meghan 01:08
And we are also working on a merch store as well.
Collin 01:11
Oh, no, yes, we are. Yep, we are in that time where we are looking at things to add and want to get that nailed down soon. So if you have any recommendations or things that you want to see, please don't hesitate to to let us know.
Meghan 01:26
So this episode is going to be covering the hiring ad itself in the job market that we are currently experiencing. And thanks to the pandemic, this is definitely a step to spend a lot of time and consideration on, it might seem like it's really easy to just put out a job ad, there's a lot that you need to think about beforehand, as well as exactly what you're going to put in the job ad. And that's kind of what we're going to talk about today. Not only are there a lot more people switching jobs, but they are being very particular about exactly the kind of job that they want. We talked about the great resignation a few episodes ago, and that's continuing on, the vast majority of people are looking for higher pay, they're looking for remote work, a lot of flexibility as well. And then shared values with their employer, they want to feel like they believe in the same things that their employer does. So how does Petcare fit into this? How does my company your company hire in this job market? First, this is where understanding what you're actually looking for in the job in the person is a huge advantage, you have
Collin 02:31
to match your needs, and your company's needs, to the needs of those that are looking for a job. So think back to why you're hiring and what kind of position this is for your business and what you want it to be. Who would be your dream hire,
Meghan 02:47
it could be the college student who is only able to do the morning visits, or a retired person who can work 10 to four every day. Or it could be someone who already has a nine to five job and you need them to just do the night drop in visits because you don't like them. So think about what is this position? dog walker? Is it a pet sitter? Is it a social media person? Is it a combination of some of those or none of those? What do you want them to do?
Collin 03:17
Well, and this is where many people can get caught up and can kind of be a little bit dangerous for you. Because a lot of people try to duplicate themselves, they try and hire a mini me. But that's, that's dangerous, because it's unlikely to happen, you'll end up pretty dissatisfied with anybody that brings on and nobody will quite be able to meet your standards, because they're not you. And we have to embrace that difference we have to embrace that the people who we are bringing on will be unique and can help shape and mold the business in the position in their own way. And that should be something that we should actually seek out for and look for.
Meghan 03:53
But that's not to say that you want somebody that that is not a good fit that doesn't match your company culture and your company values.
Collin 04:00
But you can have somebody who meets that, but is also not a mini me. You have to embrace that difference. So are you looking for one person to fill all of your hours? Or maybe hire multiple people to fill in the holes? And that way? You have a little bit of redundancy? Yeah,
Meghan 04:15
as well. Somebody gets sick or tire goes flat, you're able to have multiple people potentially fill in for that one person.
Collin 04:23
Yeah. And that can get kind of where you can get hung up with a lot of how do I staff My company is do I want one person that may be harder to find than two or three people who want five to 10 hours apiece, that we can kind of overlap and see where people can fill in those needs.
Meghan 04:39
Your ad needs to speak as much about your company as it does on what skills the hire needs to have. So for personally for our job ad, we wanted somebody who was very part time we were hiring remotely two hours away, basically starting from zero had no clients. And so we needed somebody who this was not their fault. High Income who was okay with it being very part time, you know, five hours a week, you can have an employee be part time very part time. Because a lot of times we think of the employee is full time 40 hours a week. But that's doesn't have to be the case. We were also looking for somebody who has experience in pet care, not just caring for pets, you know, we're two hours away, we can be there on short notice. But we need somebody who is more independent, who we don't necessarily need to be holding their hand every step of the way. So somebody who just owned a dog or just owned a cat, that was not good enough, that was not good. For our criteria, we needed somebody who was a pet sitter in the past or had a lot of experience handling different types of dogs and cats and giving insulin shots. We also wanted somebody who was creative for creating social media posts, and blogs, and helping us think about different ways that we can market our company. So we really wanted somebody who was very multifaceted. But we also needed excellent written communication and verbal skills as well. And they had to be personable as well.
Collin 06:08
Yeah, we recognize that these are people that are going to be doing meet and greets, they're going to be going to community events that we are not going to be attending these people have to be able to engage well, and I think the communication aspect is something that Megan, I really feel so strongly about, that they have to be well spoken, they have to be well written in all of their updates, because we can't be spending our time spell checking, doing grammar doing those kinds of critiques of them.
Meghan 06:35
So before you even start writing this job ad kind of make a wish list of what you want in your person. So I know a lot of times, women will do this with men to try to find their soulmate.
Collin 06:47
How did I do? I didn't make a list anyway. Oh, no,
Meghan 06:51
you did fine. Anyway, so write down a list of things that you need or want in this person. And they may not be able to fill all of them. But know what is a deal breaker and what is not.
Collin 07:06
And once you do that, you can then look at your understanding of your local job market. So when we did that, we saw that people were looking for flexibility and better balance in their lives. They wanted to as Megan said, be connected to the values of their business, they want to be part of something bigger, and that there was still this connection to having an importance of benefits and support, really from the company. So now that we know the needs of our company, and we know the needs of those in the job market, we can start putting these together to make our app,
Meghan 07:38
we use the free version of indeed, there is also a paid version, but we use the free one. But it's a little tricky, because they make it seem like you have to pay for it. But just click Post without budget, and you won't have to pay for it.
Collin 07:52
Yeah, that seems so counterintuitive, because it sounds like oh, if I post this, they're just going to charge me a million dollars to get this ad out there. But basically, it means you are not putting any money towards sponsoring that ad.
Meghan 08:03
And so we titled our ad very originally petsitter slash dog walker, to capture people really searching for anything to do with a dog or pets, we set our wage the way that we did, because we still want it to be attractive to people, we want it to recognize that this is a strenuous job, and it takes a toll on your body and your mental state. So the pay should reflect that. And we also included that there would be bonus pay for client referrals, and that they would get to keep 100% of the tips for a visit, we clearly communicated the schedule to them. So we needed it to say weekend availability Monday to Friday and holidays because that's what we have set up for our company. We know that weekends are pretty busy. And we would like them to work holidays as well, because those are also busy times.
Collin 08:49
Well indeed, also has this little spot for you to talk about the benefits, what benefits you provide to your staff. Now we're not big enough really to provide health insurance or things like that. But we knew that people were still looking for benefits to come along with the job. So one of the benefits that we included was a flexible schedule. And importantly, here workers compensation. We'll cover more on workers compensation in a subsequent episode here, but just know that it really doesn't cost hardly anything at all, it does cover you it covers your business, if your staff hurts themselves while they're conducting your business for you. So it's another protection that you can say, hey, look, if you come on with my business, you will be covered by workers compensation, it might not be required. I know that many states say as soon as you hire four people or five people you have to offer workers compensation, but really look at your numbers and do your best to try and offer that to them as a benefit to them because it's going to make you more attractive. We also set up a training schedule for our new staff and we communicated that to them what time points they would get certain training. The longer they stay on the more training courses we will pay for them to attend and we gave that schedule again, because we want to let them know that we're going to be investing back into them that we want to see them succeed, tell them the as best as they can do for our business,
Meghan 10:09
indeed, also has an option to have them answer questions on the application with a voicemail, you definitely want to use this this was gold. I mean, it really was for both the good responses and the bad responses, the bad responses, we just kind of laughed at and then deleted and the good responses, we really took those to heart because the people were able to effectively communicate the answers to the questions and we could see that okay, this is a personable person that is able to effectively communicate Yeah,
Collin 10:44
you get a great feel for those skills that they have, without having to waste your time with a phone interview, it helps cut through a lot of that. Now, we didn't make it mandatory for the job, because we know that there are various technical abilities and really accessibility concerns when it comes to this. But again, it really helped and we really appreciated when people did answer. And we just set up three really simple questions that had very short response times we weren't looking for a long dialogue on a particular topic, just something really quick for us to get a little sneak peek into somebody so that we could move them forward or not.
Meghan 11:19
Those are all indeed.com specific things that they asked for. But what about the actual meat of the ad? Before we do that, let's hear from our sponsor, pet sitters associates. As pet care professionals, your clients trust you to care for their furry family members, pet sitters Associates is here to help for over 20 years they have provided 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance. Since you work in the pet care industry. You can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom in running your business. Learn why pet sitters Associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote today. At pets@llc.com. You can get a discount when joining by clicking membership petsitter confessional and using the discount code confessional at checkout to get $10 off today, check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again at pets@llc.com. So
Collin 12:07
what did we actually write for the ad? What was the text behind it. But we opened with a summary of everything we wanted to give a really quick snapshot for people to kind of catch their attention and really help them assess whether it would be right for them. So we had, if you love dogs, cats in spending time outdoors, then this is the perfect job for you. Working at funky Munch is a great fit for people who are looking to have time flexibility, spend time with animals and be active and happy and have a rewarding day to day experience at work. At Funky Bunch we treat pets like family, we are expanding and excited to offer even more dog walking and pet sitting services. As a dog walker and pet sitter, you'll also be cross trained on social media and administrative duties. We
Meghan 12:49
really wanted something that would capture their attention and give them some idea of what we were looking forward to see if it was a good fit for them. Maybe not everybody read this, but at least we had it out there setting expectations. It also lays out some of our company values. So we treat pets like family that is crucial and essential to who we are as a company. But you could even be more explicit and list out your company values. What is your mission statement, include that in there as well. And we'll definitely do that in the future.
Collin 13:18
Yeah, I think that'd be a really great way to help set it apart too.
Meghan 13:22
So then we gave a description of our company and what we do, it was something like this, we are in the peace of mind business, we provide peace of mind to pet parents who are busy working or traveling, we visit your home and take care of your pets and your home. And this includes taking dogs for walks on the sidewalk or trails, letting them out to play fetch, scooping litter boxes, providing medications and lots of TLC and belly rubs. For traveling clients watering plants and collecting mail may be necessary as well we ask that you drive to these appointments, check in and out of appointments using our mobile app and write nice informative updates with pictures to let clients know how their pets are doing. So this is all about expectations, we expect you to drive to these appointments. So you obviously have to have a reliable car that gets you from point A to point B, we expect you to check in and out of appointments. So you are reliable, you are trustworthy, you are able to download a mobile app, then you are writing nice informative updates. We expect that that is a core value of our business that we provide peace of mind. And we do that through updates that send clear pictures and a good update of how the visit went.
Collin 14:33
Yeah, because the pet care industry is basically unknown to most people. We have to give them some idea of what we do what it looks like to work for our business. And we'll remind them of all of these aspects throughout our application and hiring process. Initially, when we started putting out this ad, we made the mistake of asking for, quote, pet care experience wrong and don't don't say that people will simply say they have 10 years of experience Because they'd had a dog for 10 years, when we changed it and asked for, quote, petsitting experience, we got more people who mentioned caring for friends and family Spats while they traveled, or that they did this as a side gig in college or at a later point in life, basically, they gave a lot more relevant information and experience when we change that wording. So watch your wording, you know what things mean? But your applicants don't?
Meghan 15:26
Even words like drop in visit? What is a visit? How long is it? What does it mean to drop in? What do you do during that time? Or if you're looking for somebody who will house it? What does that mean? Are you just taking care of their house? Are you taking care of the pets and the house? How long is that? So even simple terms that we know as pet sitters who do this day in day out and have our own businesses may not translate well, to somebody who is looking for this job?
Collin 15:53
That was a question that we had throughout the entire hiring process, does this person actually know what this job is? And we spent a lot of time thinking about that and mulling that over. And that's why we kind of chose the words that we did. And then even later on in the processes, bringing it up again, and again, trying to hammer that point through. So they really got it because we didn't want to bring somebody on to have them go, oh, this is what you do. I don't like that. And then and then bail on us. So we really tried to prevent that as much as possible. And another really big one that we just was hard for a lot of people who applied to understand was our scheduling. If we said, Okay, we could provide you up to five hours a day, we then had to try and get them to understand that that was in 30 minute increments, that may change from day to day and may not be consecutive. So they may have a 7am that goes from seven to 730, and then an eight to 830. And then an 11 to 1130. That kind of schedule is not familiar to a lot of people. Well, especially
Meghan 16:51
since a lot of people that we got said, shifts, they use the word shift. And we're not a restaurant, we don't schedule in shifts. So it's even that kind of terminology, we were having to really kind of break people's mold of what they thought it was
Collin 17:05
exactly. And that that's something that just takes a little bit of time and really making sure that you're communicating that as effectively as possible at each stage. We then
Meghan 17:13
listed what we were looking for, and gave advantages to our job that maybe they hadn't considered before. So we said, we are looking for a part time staff that was very key to make sure that it was part time to remind them a lot of people that answered our questions said they wanted full time hours, which is not true. So they did not read this part. Anyway, we said we're looking for part time staff who have trustworthy and hands on experience caring for pets with provided references, are able to travel within our service area, are willing to commit at least six months of working with us undergo a background check and training, have availability to work weekends, evenings, and most holidays, because that's our busy time are willing to treat furry clients like they are your own. Again, we mentioned the the being part of the family that's very important to us. And then are interested in creating social media posts and booking clients as well. Then we listed some advantages. So lots of room to grow into management and leadership positions. We wanted them to feel part of the company that they weren't just going to be stagnant in one position forever. Although if that's what they wanted, that's fine, very flexible hours. Again, the great resignation, people are looking for extreme flexibility, they don't want to be tied down to a nine to five anymore. So they can run errands or go to class and between appointments as long as it works within the timeframes needed. Another advantage to this job was streamlined communication. So you can manage your whole job and your route from your phone. That is huge. And then a relaxed work environment as well. Obviously, we're not dressing up in suits and dresses to go to work every day, we are in comfy clothes, and there's no need to dress up. And then the last advantage was with us you are an employee, not an independent contractor. So you are fully protected by our liability insurance, our bonding and our workers compensation.
Collin 19:04
Yeah, we really wanted to make sure that the applicant knew that they would be supported and equipped by us. That's why that list of other advantages was important for us to have on there. You know, communication is a big thing, not just for us, but our staff. They need to feel like they can communicate, they will be able to communicate. And then the insurance, the training, the bonding the workers compensation, we want to make sure that they feel protected and secure in their job while they're out working with us. And so think through what are the advantages that your company your position can give to somebody that another position can't. It's different for everybody. I mean, flexibility is kind of a big thing and pet care industry, but helping them understand why it's flexible and what they can and can't do with that flexibility is is a big leap that we may have to take. But your business does things in a certain way. You're going to have support you're going to have training you have all sorts of opportunities that you can provide to your staff. and you need to tell them that you can provide those opportunities to them.
Meghan 20:03
For the actual job requirements, we were able to say all of this, because we were hiring an employee, we can require them to do training, we can require them to wear specific T shirts when they're out on the job. And so with that some of the job requirements that we had on our application are they must be based within or willing to drive to our service area on a daily basis. And the reason we said this is because the closer that they live, the more profitable you are going to be as the business owner, and the more practical it is for the employee, they're not having to run all over God's creation,
Collin 20:34
well, the more beneficial, the job is going to be for that employee and helping them understand why that is.
Meghan 20:39
So that's why it's super key to have a small service radius, either have a small service radius, and just a couple employees or have a big service radius and have a bunch of them. Because you don't want them driving all over. That's not efficient.
Collin 20:54
We also ask that they have their own reliable registered and fully insured vehicle again, helping them understand we will not be providing vehicle insurance for them while they're traveling. And a valid driver's license they will need to travel to and from client's home and transport dogs, when needed, because of how our business is based. And that we can run everything on an app. And we need our employees to send updates and photos, we did require that they have a smartphone with both Photo Video and GPS capability and be able to really operate one and know how to use it. Because the employees are using an app for scheduling sending updates to clients and communicating with us as well.
Meghan 21:32
And so we really needed somebody who was teachable, who needed to be able to use multiple apps and be able to learn them efficiently. Yeah, we also needed somebody who was available year round. So as you know, this position is not really seasonal, there are busy seasons, but it's all 365 days a year if you want it to be. So we needed somebody who was going to be able to work no matter what.
Collin 21:54
Yeah, so we had it please only apply if you can commit to all 12 months of
Meghan 21:59
the year, we also needed someone who was going to be able to walk dogs in all types of weather, rain, snow heat, within reason, of course, but we are a year round service, and dogs still need to be taken out and exercised.
Collin 22:10
We also let them know in the ad that we have restrictions and safety measures for extreme weather for both them and for the dog safety so that they didn't feel like we would just be putting them in harm's way for the sake of the dogs.
Meghan 22:22
And then probably at the core of the job application and yours to is they must adore animals. We're dealing with them day in and day out. If you don't love animals need not apply here. We have pet care training, we have CPR and First Aid training for them. And so we are equipping them so they can take better care of the animals. Last but not least, they must be able to pass a background check. Employment offers are contingent on a successful completion of a background check. This was non negotiable.
Collin Funkhouser 22:50
And that's it. I know that sounds like an awful lot. But it reads pretty quick on the on the job application. But you see a lot of themes come through in there, we're looking for support, we're looking for people who are passionate about this, we are looking for people who have experience and understanding. And we are trying to also educate them a little bit about our company and how we do things helping to tap into the fact that they are looking for connections to bigger things and that they can associate their values with our values as well so that we make a good connection.
Meghan 23:21
And I will say that not every job ad that you put out is going to be the same, the position might be different, the region might be different. So we had put out two different job ads. And they were two hours away from each other. Right, we were hiring in different regions. And those ads looked different. One was more social media and blog posts versus the other one that was just strictly pet care.
Collin 23:43
So again, assessing your needs for each and every single position. If you put out the same job posting for different positions at different times with different groups of people that you have on your team, you're going to not understand why you're not getting the people that you want, curtail it for that position, we ask. And we expect that every single person who applies to this position has curtailed their resume their CV to this position to make it most apparent of how they can stand out, we need to do the same thing with our job ads, we need to make sure we understand who we're after the skills that are required for that position, and what we actually want how it fits in with everybody else that's already on board, and then put that out there. So that we know as Megan mentioned at the top of all of this, what are my must haves for the positions? What will tell me if I don't see x, y and z, then I'm going to say no, that's where you get all of these nice things clearly lined out.
Meghan 24:37
We only posted on indeed.com Since we like a simplified setup, and we didn't really want to have to manage multiple sites. But there are a ton of sites you can list on like Facebook, monster, LinkedIn, there's a ton more and you can even tell your clients that you are hiring and see if they know anyone that would be a good fit. On episode 251. We will break down our actual multi step hiring process. It's more than just an application Why we chose those steps and questions that we did.
Collin 25:03
On this week's Ask a pet biz coach segment with Natasha Albanian. She answers the question How do I set good goals,
Natasha 25:09
I try to set attainable goals measurable goals, SMART goals. So I don't like I have my big grand goal. Of course, my one before I started, my big grand goal was to love all the dogs work, you know, multi states and travel the world, right? That was my grand goal, like, Okay, if it's not in alignment with that we're in doing it. But you should set the your grand goal, but then you should set many goals to get there. So I always talk about planning to GPS, you know, you're not going to get to your destination, you know, in a minute, but set your checkmarks Hey, we're going on this GPS, we're going on this journey in our business, what's going to be our first marker? Where are we going to stop to take a break? Where are we going to stop? You know, to re up on gas and to recharge is the same way in your business? Where are you going to stop to set small goals? So for me, my first little checkmark, is okay, how can we improve our team? How can we create more jobs? And so that was like my mini goals as I started to go throughout the business, because when you kit those meals, those propel you to the major goals. Okay, great. My first mini goal was just not to be a solopreneur just to hire, you know, measure my team, make sure they're trained in the exact way that I was doing. Once I trained them well, okay, great. Now I can open up more territories. Hey, guys, we're getting closer and closer to that grand goal of me scaling to multiple territories, right? So you want to set many goals that complement your major goals. So I would just say two or three, two or three things each quarter is enough, you don't have to act crazy about it. But guess what, two or three things each quarter is 10 plus goals for the year. I think that's pretty good.
Collin 26:48
And I think as you're when you're doing these in small chunks and doing them on a quarterly basis, it really becomes a lot more manageable. And not these, these big scary things that we may feel like we can't accomplish in one step because we're doing them in little tiny steps that make them easier to work through.
Natasha 27:05
Yeah, it's like having a to do list for the to do list. Like we tend to just write everything out and then we're like, okay, now I got this big list. Now I'm not going to manage this. Get in the habit of just putting one thing on your list like for me my to do list per week is usually two items. Two days a week, four days a week I'm off and then I'll put two items on my list per week. And I feel successful in my monthly agenda because I'm most likely going to have accomplished again the four eight things and I feel fine versus just looking at my to do list of long and exhausting that's going to go over to the next month and then over to the next month and never gets done. Be realistic with yourself I think really get all this stuff done. Now this do two things for a week that's fine.
Meghan 27:56
If you would like to partner with Natasha in your pet business and have her coach you can do so at start scale sale.com and use the code PSC 20 for 15% off her coaching if you are currently in the season for hiring and have recently placed a job ad or just don't really know where to start. Hopefully this episode has been helpful to you and we would love to know if you have been successful in hiring. Let us know how that process is going for you.
Collin 28:20
Thank you so much to pet sitters associates for sponsoring today's episode as well as our Patreon supporters and really for you for listening for showing up every single week. We can't tell you how much we really appreciate it.
Meghan 28:31
Thank you very much
