Competition among employers for both placement students and graduates is intense, making it vital for you to sell your opportunities to potential applicants.
The following Top-Tips will help you tailor your advertisements:
Salary: Terms such as 'TBC' or 'DOE' do not assist our students and graduates in making informed choices, and candidates are often wary of clicking on jobs where there is no salary information. Also putting the salary as 'Competitive' makes it tricky for candidates to judge whether the role is pitched at their level. Stating '£25,000 - £30,000 depending on experience' would be clearer and more attractive but be mindful that if you are offering a salary dependent upon experience this may discriminate against younger candidates who have not yet had the opportunity to accrue x years in work.
Salaries are subject to the national minimum wage and the requirements of equal pay and discrimination legislation. In general, a new employee should be paid at the same level as the previous incumbent unless there is a formal system for increments or length of service.
Salary Checker: Unsure of the average wage for a particular job? Prospects and TotalJobs can be used to compare average salaries for different jobs or industries within any location in the UK.
Deadlines: Many students will prioritise jobs which have a fast approaching deadline. If you want to receive applications asap, but the position is open for longer, it is better to set a more immediate deadline and extend it if you need more applicants.
Please add 'Remote Working Opportunity' at the start of the Job Title if that is the case.
Typical 'Virtual Internships'/projects include:
Undertaking background research to scope the viability of a project – Leading on the delivery of a specific project – Developing marketing materials – Management of social media campaigns – Designing website materials – Writing training material or online guidance – Event organisation.
Please note that government backed Kickstarter roles cannot be advertised on this portal, as students can't apply for them.
Graduates can, but will be given the chance to apply via their local job centre, not via other platforms such as ours.
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Tone, presentation and Content: Think of your job advert as a (restrained) sales pitch. Take the time to explain the opportunity and summarise your requirements. Aim for a professional yet friendly tone.
Know your audience: You may want to say that you encourage applications from candidates who meet most - but not necessarily all - the criteria. Skills can be developed if candidates have the right attitude and a willingness to learn.
Position Title: This is the first sentence students will see when searching for a vacancy so take care over your job title as this will often determine whether they click for further information. Make sure the job title describes the role, and if possible, the field of work. Make it brief but to the point and factual. Try to distinguish between a placement opportunity and graduate vacancy, for example: “Placement in the marketing team at XYZ Co”, “Graduate opportunity as a web designer in ABC Co”.
Employment Type: It is important that the correct category is selected as students will be searching using this criteria.
Summary: Can be up to 300 characters to expand on the position title. Try to include any location and company name if not used in the title. Location is often a deciding factor for candidates. If you are based away from one of the major towns and cities, it's worth spelling out where you are near - students and graduates are not always from this part of the world and their local knowledge may be a bit shaky.
Details: Give a list of the job responsibilities, company summary, what attributes you are seeking in an applicant, salary, benefits and progression. Remember that candidates will be comparing your offer against others. Tell candidates a little about your organisation and write as though your customers will see the advert. Outline what you do, say how long you have been doing it and outline the successes you have had. If you have won industry awards or quality marks, list them as these all help candidates to form a positive view of your organisation. Give an overview of your core values and the working environment; how many people work in the organisation, do you have other graduates working for you, how do you value and reward staff? Candidates like to get a feel for the company before they decide whether to apply.
Candidates also look for training and development opportunities so tell them what they can expect. It doesn't have to be a formal training programme but some indication of your commitment to training and development will attract candidates. It is best to represent all this text as bullet point lists where possible.
For more advice on putting an effective Job Description together including an example can be found here
Application Procedures: Make it easy to understand how to apply by keeping instructions simple. Bear in mind that some candidates may not have applied for a job before. Explain exactly what an application should include (for example, a cover letter or brief reason for wanting the job) and give the deadline for applications. If you are sending candidates to your website to apply, make sure it is immediately clear how to apply. Applicants can be put off by a broken link or having to search for information. If you can, give some indication of interview dates.
Attachments: You can attach any flyers or other documents to the job application.
Categories: Select the categories (Academic disciplines) that you want to attract. These are used in student preferences for targeting.
What happens next?:
After saving your job advertisement, it is forwarded to Bournemouth University Central Careers and Employability Service for approval. At this point you may be contacted for clarification.
Bournemouth University Careers & Employability Service takes all reasonable steps to ensure that vacancies are advertised in accordance with anti-discrimination legislation relating to sex, race, disability, religion, sexual orientation and age. Employers submitting job vacancies are required to take responsibility to advertise details in accordance with employment legislation that may be relevant to each vacancy (e.g. National Minimum Wage legislation).
By advertising placement opportunities on MyCareerHub the employer accepts Bournemouth University’s Expectations of Employers taking on a Placement Student (including Health and Safety) for placement students.
By advertising any other type of vacancy on MyCareerHub, the employer accepts Bournemouth University's Terms and Conditions (including Health and Safety) for students and graduates.
To assist our students Bournemouth University often adds a note to the bottom of job vacancies that reads:
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Top-Tips from CareersBU:
Don't wait for the deadline date to apply if possible.
Some jobs close earlier than planned (for example if they have received enough good applications).
Apply early to show you are keen (but don't make mistakes by desperately rushing either).
Don’t forget you can use the resources on MyCareerHub to help with your applications:
https://www.abintegro.com/u/201naz0z
You will find tools and videos to help with CVs, Interviews, Assessment Centres, Psychometric Tests etc.
You’ll also find details of our online events, 1:1 Careers Guidance appointments, and other activities.
You can use this CareersBU service from when you join BU all the way through to 3 years after graduating, including during holidays.
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Bournemouth University has the right to reject or change any vacancies it deems inappropriate.