20 ENGAGING CALLS TO ACTION YOUR SMALL BUSINESS CAN USE TO BOOSTS APPLICATIONS + FREE PRINTABLE

The struggle is real when it comes to attracting good applicants. For real though, first you have to write a job posting. Then you have to choose how to promote the position from a very slim list of options. And finally the poor little job posting has to stand out in a sea of other company job ads. It’s a lot.

Even if you catch their attention, the battle isn’t over. The applicant has to be engaged enough, interested enough, see themselves in the job posting enough to decide to spend the time going through the motions to apply. And don’t get me wrong, I get it.
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{By the way, if you're at all interested in learning  how to  capture the attention of the very best job applicants on a budget  you may want to check out the Guerrilla Recruiting Workshop. Just saying.....} 

At some point we have all looked for a job. I personally had to be very interested to jump through the hoops some employers have set up to apply for a job (I don’t recommend a complicated application processes. But that’s another blog post.) I was very selective because it was a huge time investment to make to receive may a generic email response or worse; have your resume go into the abyss of resumes and never hear anything back from the company. That’s time you can never get back.

I say this to drive home the fact that applicants aren’t sitting around anxiously awaiting your job posting. And they aren’t going to invest the time to apply unless, you can nail making them interested. Ugh….it can all be so very frustrating. But I have a secret weapon for you. It’s called a Call To Action or CTA. (Just so you know...I’m going to use CTA from here on because typing out Call to Action may result in carpal tunnel.)
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If you’re familiar with marketing  then you’re more than likely familiar with CTAs and are using them in marketing your products or services. Recruiting is very similar to marketing your products and services. In your business you want people to buy your stuff, on the recruiting side you want people to want to work with you. So CTAs are smart to use in either case.
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Just for clarity let’s define a CTA. The folks over at Wikipedia define a call to action as: ​

"an instruction to the audience to provoke an immediate response."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_to_action_(marketing)

But wait, why isn’t “Apply” good enough? The short answer is because it’s boring and everybody does it. If you're truly going for the best talent you have to put your best recruiting forward to catch their attention and connect with them emotionally. Standing out from the crowd of other companies competing for the same people means you got to seriously step up your game. ​
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Today’s post isn’t about how to write CTAs though. What I have for you today is a little cheat sheet so to speak of 20 engaging calls to action that you can use for your job postings. Feel free to use any that you think would grab the attention of the candidates you’re trying to reach.
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However, I’m not going to leave you hanging about figuring out how to write your CTAs.  If you’d like more in depth teaching on how to write calls to action I have a great resources for you. My friend, Natasha Rector, an absolute marketing genius,  wrote an amazing tutorial all about CTAs. In fact, it's the only CTA source you'll ever need.  You'll learn all the details how to do this for free. So you can utilize this information for both marketing your business and attracting awesome employees. But for now, let's get on with the list of 20 engaging calls to action that you can use today in your job postings.

20 Engaging Calls to Action You Can Try in Your Next Job Posting

#1 So if you were waiting for the perfect time apply…..now is good.

Sometimes employees will drag their feet about applying for a job. Give them an extra nudge by reminding them that the perfect time is now.

 #2 Apply, you’ll like it here.

This is a fantastic call to action to use if your business has an amazing culture that your employees love. Why not use the fact that your business has a good work environment to your advantage? This could really speak to the employee who doesn’t like their current job.

# 3 Why not apply?

Present a challenge or a question. Let them debate it out in their heads. Why wouldn’t they apply after all the awesome things you just told them about your company?

#4 We’re waiting for your application. No seriously, we’re waiting.

Send the message that you’re interested in hearing from them and that their application won’t get lost in the application grave never to be seen again.

#5 Click apply now already and let’s do this!

This just convey’s energy. You’re going to do stuff and accomplish stuff. We don’t know what  but we’re excited!

#6 Come join all the cool [WHATEVER JOB]! Send us your resume today.

A little peer pressure and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) in play here. All their cool peers are there and they are missing out unless they click that apply button.

#7 So you’re in right? Apply now.

This CTA is like a friend asking you to go do something fun or take on a challenge. Of course they’re in!

#8 Don’t miss out on another free beer Friday. Well, that’s not true (HR won’t let us) but apply anyway.

A little humor goes a long way if it works for you culture and business. This another one to use if you have fun, vibrant and modern workplace. You can substitute free beer Friday for anything that works for you.

#9 Ready for something other than just another job? Apply today.

A CTA should appear to their emotions. This message would speak loudly to someone who feels that they aren’t going anywhere in their job or wants something more from work.

#10 Come build with us! Apply today!

Same theory as above. This message would resonate with someone who wants a job with growth opportunity. If you offer clear ways for your employees to advance, then this type of CTA is a good selling point and will help attract those go-getter employees.

These are some ideas to get you started.  Are you going to give them a try?  If you do let me know how they work for you.​ Oh but I did promise you 20 right? You can grab ten more engaging calls to action for your job posts here. Just leave your email in the box below. I’ll send them right over to you.