Advertising Your Job Vacancy—How to Write a Classified Ad

A classified ad can be a successful and cost-effective way to let candidates know about your open position and the great benefits your clinic offers. However, you need to know how to make the most out of this small piece of advertising real estate. Here are some helpful tips on writing a successful classified ad.

+ Find the right audience

Placing your ad on Monster.com will likely get you results, but also consider more targeted publications and services, such as local papers, discipline-specific publications (e.g., association journals or Web sites); or organizations with a similar mission (e.g., National Health Service Corps, National Association of Community Health Centers, or National Rural Health Association, to name a few).

+ Use the Internet

More and more professionals are going online to look for jobs. Plus, it’s usually more cost effective to run your ad online than in print—you get more bang for your buck.

+ Use online career sites, such as Monster Healthcare or Yahoo! HotJob

+ When running an ad in a print publication, check to see if the cost includes running the same ad online; many publishers run their advertisers’ ads in both the print and online editions of their publications

+ If possible, launch a Web site for your clinic, even with a few simple pages, so that potential candidates can check out the site and get information about the surrounding community

+ Look at the competition

Investigate the publication in which your ad will run and design your ad to stand out from the rest. For instance, if all the ads around you will be plain text, make yours bold or put it in a box. If most of the ads are small, make yours big. The key to getting attention in a crowded classified space is to differentiate your ad.

+ Negotiate

Call the advertising department listed for the publication, and talk to them about what kind of deal you can get. Especially if you’re on a tight budget, explain what kind of work you do, and the advertising representative may be willing to work with you to reduce the price.

+ Use your space wisely

More than likely, you won’t have that much space in your ad because of cost limitations, so you need to be short and sweet. Try to keep your ad uncluttered. Give enough details about the job so that the right people will contact you, but it’s not necessary to list out all the fine print. Use keywords like "primary care physician," "small community," and/or "team-oriented."

+ Think fast

Job seekers will scan the page quickly for something that applies and appeals to them, so you want to grab their attention with the first few words.

+ Don’t forget the “call to action”

That’s "marketing speak" for including text in your ad that will get job seekers to take action. Get them motivated to contact you, and then tell them to contact you! Include a phone number,Web site, e-mail, and/or fax number.

+ Stand Out!

If you have the budget, pay for bolded words or a box around the ad. Also, the larger the ad, the more it will be noticed.

+ You don’t have to be an artist

If you decide to run a display classified ad, there is some design involved. However, a lot of publications will do the design for you, although sometimes it costs extra.