Do Your Physician Job Ads Pass the Squint Test?

More than ever, Americans are searching for jobs on their phones. According to a Glassdoor survey, 89% of U.S. job seekers use a mobile device at some point during their job search. We’ve noticed the trend at PhysEmp.com as well—in the last year, mobile traffic on our site has gone up 59%. In other words, physicians are increasingly using their smart phones to look for jobs.

Squinting woman

So how do you write an ad that will really catch a candidate’s attention while they’re in the break room, riding home on the bus, or getting ready to doze off at night? The key is to make sure your ad passes “the squint test.”

“When you’re writing for all screens—smart phones, tablet, mobile—the important thing is the squint test,” says Sepi McDonnell, CIO of THMED Executive Search and the host of our recent webinar, Help Wanted: Writing Physician Job Ads for a Digital Audience (watch the replay!). “What I mean is, if you squint, you should easily be able to see what the most important pieces of the ad are.”

Here’s how to ensure your next physician job post passes the squint test:

1. Front Load It

As with a newspaper ad, you want to draw readers in with the most important information first. As you can see in this example, the job features all the key elements of the position and location. Location is extremely important to include, as we explained in great depth in our recent post, “When Writing MD Job Ads, the More Details, the Better.”

2. Use Formatting

“Too many recruiters write in long paragraphs and don’t consider the effect of such a writing style on a smaller screen,” says Ms. McDonnell. “What’s the general rule? An employer or hiring manager spends 2.5 seconds looking at a resume. Well, job-seekers do the same thing with our ads. We need to write with the ‘skimmer’ in mind.”

Compare these two different versions of the same job. Which one is easier to read? What’s the most important information?

In the job ad on the left, it’s not really clear at a glance what’s most important. The job on the right, however, features bold font, different colors, and bullet points to guide the reader’s eye through key points. The title is in bold and features capital letters. The summary is in orange, and it offers more information on the company. The bullet points that follow highlight key aspects of the job and desired candidate. The salary is mentioned. This ad definitely passes the squint test! The ad on the left does not.

3. Be Descriptive, But Brief

This goes back to our recent article: When Writing MD Job Ads, the More Details, the Better. Be sure to touch on all the most important points in your ad, especially location. Aggregate sites like Indeed.com won’t even list your PhysEmp.com job if you don’t include the city. Read more.

But while you want to include salient information, it’s also important to be succinct.
Remember, if doctors are reading your ad on their phones, they’ll only be seeing the first quarter of it. Your job is to engage them so they scroll down and read the entire ad. Again, that’s why formatting with headings, bullets, bolding, and colors (if possible) makes such a big difference.

Interested in learning more of Sepi McDonnell’s tips on how to write physician job ads for the mobile world?