How to craft a clickable job posting

Excerpted from page 42 of the September/October 2019 edition of AOA Focus.

Attracting a qualified candidate to your practice begins with a job posting. Bob Kehm, the managing director of AOAExcel^®, has overseen Optometry's Career Center—AOAExcel's of­ficial career center—since 2015. AOA Focus spoke with Kehm about effective career center postings.

What is Optometry's Career Center?

Optometry's Career Center is an online service that connects employers and practices with doctors of optometry who are searching for new opportunities nationwide. Employers post an overview of their opening for a fee (AOA members save 50%), and seekers can apply for open opportunities.

What is the goal in the posting process?

The goal should be to get the conversation started with potential seekers. Subsequent conversations will help you narrow down potential candidates. Your posting can help cast a wide net, so it's important to use your post to give the candidates a taste of what the opportunity encompasses. Also, take a moment to visit the Optometry's Career Center website to review what other practices have included in their postings. This can help drive ideas for your own posting.

What can employers do to help maximize their chances of connecting with seekers?

Incorporate personality into your posting while also providing a high-level overview, including the culture of the practice, compensation bene­fits and a snapshot of your community. Within the compensation, be sure to also list other benefits you may offer, including retirement savings plans, student loan reimbursement, health and dental insurance, malpractice insurance, paid AOA member dues, and vacation time. Get creative and try to list at least three benefits. If you don't include bene­fits in your posting, seekers will likely assume they're not offered.

Why is mentioning the culture of your practice important in a posting?

This can help an applicant visualize what their day-to-day work life will be and how the available position ­fits into the overall practice. Include details such as the structure of the team (how many physicians work at the practice, size of staff, etc.), a description of your patient base and any equipment that stands out in your practice. This will provide the applicant a better understanding of the work environment.

Any other pointers?

The more time and effort you put into a quality posting, the more you're going to get out of it. Help the applicant envision themselves working at the practice and how the daily interaction will play out between patients and staff. The posting should make the applicant excited about the opportunity and want to connect with you.

Career Center fast facts

AOAExcel has resources to help you create a better posting, including a robust software platform that shares with employers a number of analytics, as well as provides them with access to the seeker resume database.

AOA members save 50% on their posting; there is no cost for seekers to apply to a posting on the career center.

AOAExcel can help review the posting and provide feedback on best practices.

The career center also features several job enhancements to increase the amount of activity you receive on a posting, including featured postings, a range of posting packages and the spotlight e-newsletter that targets passive seekers.

Visit AOAExcel's Career Center to get started.