Don't make it hard for candidates to find your listing on Idealist. A few tweaks can make a huge difference! (Photo credit: Will Valnue via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Organizations post hundreds of jobs on Idealist.org every day, and we often hear from job posters who want to make sure they get the best applicants for the job. But why do some job listings attract a flood of high-quality applications while others seem to get overlooked?

We recently explored how organizations can craft job listings that stand out. Now we’ll dive into something equally important: making sure your job listing shows up when candidates start searching!  If more people see your job, more people will apply for it, so it’s important to make your listing as searchable as possible.

So before you hit “publish” on your listing, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Broaden your area of focus.

Your job listing includes the areas of focus listed on your organization’s page (youth, the environment, poverty, etc.).  The more categories you select, the more candidates are likely to see your listing when they search. To add more areas of focus to your organization’s page, log in and go to your organization’s page by clicking on its name on the left side of your homepage. Then click on the blue Edit button. Select as many areas of focus as possible that relate to your organization. You can choose multiple items by holding down the “control” key and clicking on a PC or by holding down the “command” key and clicking on a Mac.

2. Include additional job responsibilities.

The site also allows job seekers to search by the responsibilities of the job.  Like areas of focus, the more job functions you select, the more job seekers will likely see your listing when they search, so be sure to include as many selections from the job functions list (writing, management, fundraising) as you can in your listing.  You don’t want to miss out on someone because they’re searching for “public policy” and you listed your job only under “advocacy.”

These last two bits of advice may seem counterintuitive: don’t you want to narrow the categories you select so you only get people truly interested in your work and mission?  This makes sense in terms of hiring, however when it comes to searching, being too narrow can actually eliminate candidates who aren’t using the same terms you’re using.  And remember, while the categories you select will bring more people to your job listing, a well-written job listing is what will encourage great candidates to apply!

3. Add your own search terms.

You’ll also want to make your job searchable by including related keywords. Think of your perfect candidate, and imagine that person is searching for a job on Idealist. What kind of words would they use? Make sure that your job’s description includes those words and phrases. You can also add keywords in the additional keywords field near the bottom of the form for any words that don’t fit organically into your description. You can add as many additional search terms as you’d like to help people find your job.

4. Pretty please: include a salary range.

Users sometimes search by salary range, and many prefer to apply to jobs that list one. We’ve found that job postings that include a salary range get a much higher response, even if the range listed is relatively low. Including a salary range will also help narrow your applicant pool to those who are more likely to accept an offer at your organization.

5. Choose the best location.

Most job seekers are looking for jobs in a specific location, and it’s the first item they enter when searching. The most common reason why no one responds to a job listing is because there’s a typo in the location field, so make sure that you enter your city and state correctly. You’ll also want to make sure you use the most common name of your city – a job in “Foggy Bottom, DC” is harder to find than one in “Washington, DC.”

Also, if you’re in a small town very close to a larger city, you also might want to consider using that city as your location. For instance, let’s say your organization is located in Darien, CT, which is an eight minute drive from Stamford, CT (according to Google Maps). While you might choose Darien, CT, there are five times as many registered users in Stamford as we have in Darien. Though we do have the option to search with a radius, if a job seeker searches only in Stamford, he won’t see a job just eight minutes away in Darien.

When it comes to optimizing your listing for a search, a few small tweaks go a long way.
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Do you have more tips? Questions about the site? Leave a comment below. And thanks for posting jobs on Idealist!

Citizen Schools made a few changes to their job listing and saw amazing results! What can we learn from them? (Photo: Citizen Schools)

Organizations post hundreds of jobs on Idealist.org every day, and we often hear from job posters who want to make sure they get the best applicants. But why do some job listings attract a flood of high-quality applications while others seem to get overlooked?

The answer is twofold. The most successful job listings on Idealist are ones in which the job is 1. appealing to job seekers and 2. easy to find. In this two part series, we’ll give you some tips to make sure your job listing attracts more of the right candidates.

Today, let’s tackle the first challenge: appealing to job seekers. We’ll start with the story of a recruitment team, a marketing team, and a “less is more” philosophy. Let’s call it “Extreme Makeover: Job Listing Edition.”

Case study: Citizen Schools

Citizen Schools has been posting jobs on Idealist for years and this winter they posted an AmeriCorps fellowship position.  While the response rate was steady, they weren’t getting the kind of applications they wanted.

Here’s the original description of the 2012-2014 National Teaching Fellowship position at Citizen Schools:

For those of you keeping track at home, that’s three pages and 1,100 words.

The reason why I didn’t include the full text is because you won’t read it. And neither will potential candidates.

But one sunny morning in March, the Citizen Schools marketing team stepped in to help. Working with the recruitment team, they trimmed that very detailed listing down to a clear and concise one, focusing on the most important information and referring applicants to the website for more information. In half an hour, they crafted this delicious piece of recruitment splendor:

Short and sweet at one page and 330 words.

Yum. But did the change produce better results?

It did! Of the 59 applications received, 30.5% of the candidates have been hired or are currently being interviewed. Additionally, the Citizen Schools website received 1,500 more visits from Idealist.org than it had during the same three month period in 2011, indicating that people wanted to learn more about the organization and its opportunities.

In short: a concise yet compelling job listing increases both the quality and quantity of applications.

Five steps your organization can take

Each organization has its own needs and challenges when it comes to recruitment. However, based on the Citizen Schools example and our own experience talking with hiring managers and job seekers, here’s how to create a job listing that gets the results you want.

1. Briefly describe your organization.

A sentence or three should do it. You want your applicant to have an idea of your organization’s work, but you don’t need to go into too much detail. They can go to your organization’s page on Idealist for more information, or you can refer them to your organization’s website.

2. Make sure the description of the work is clear and concise.

Job seekers prefer to apply to jobs that they understand. When crafting a description of the work:

• Include basic responsibilities, but not minutiae. A job seeker needs to know that part of the job will be “coaching community volunteers”; they don’t need to know that “Fellows support and coach Citizen Teachers – community volunteers who share their professional skills or personal interests with students through ten-week hands-on learning projects called apprenticeships.”
• Use common, standard terms to describe the work, like “community volunteers,”  rather than your organization’s internal language, like “Citizen Teachers” and “apprenticeships.”
• Consider bulleted lists, which are easier to read and less intimidating than blocks of text.

Not only will a clear description of the work attract more eyes, it will also help candidates tailor their resumes so that you’ll be better able to see how their experiences match what you’re looking for.

3. Be thoughtful about the qualifications you list.

When you list the qualifications of a job, you’re telling the applicant what’s important to you. Think about your deal-breakers versus what would just be extra helpful. If you won’t consider anyone without a Masters degree, say so. If you’d prefer your new teammate speak a certain language, but you’re willing to hire someone who doesn’t, include something like “Fluency in Cantonese a plus.” Candidates don’t want to spend time applying for jobs they’re not qualified for any more than you want to spend time sifting through their resumes.

4. Talk about the benefits of the job.

And no, we don’t just mean health care and vacation days (although it’s cool to include those in the listing as well!). What makes Citizen Schools’ new job description so popular is that they talk about what the candidate will get out of the experience. Besides the gratifying work (“inspire children,” “build the school of the future,” “connect education to kids’ dreams”), the listing also emphasizes how the fellow will benefit professionally (“learn how to make lessons,” “get real-world experience,” “unlock your potential”).

Sell your opportunity to job seekers. Why should they be excited about this? Will they work with interesting people or learn a lot about the charter school system or develop a new skill? Whether the position is on the front lines of your organization’s work or is back in the office making sure the lights stay on, every employee at the organization has an important part to play; make it clear to applicants what their part would be.

5. Be yourself.

Treat this as a PR piece. Your job listing might be as public and widely read as your organization’s newsletters, and it could be the first impression your applicant ever gets of your work and culture. So choose a tone that reflects your organization’s culture, whether youthful and trendy or thoughtful and welcoming.

Citizen Schools’ marketing department did a great job of promoting the mission, emphasizing the importance of the work, and making it sound overall like an organization full of passionate, driven people. Even if a job seeker chooses not to apply, it never hurts to leave a good impression.

Whew!

At Idealist we’re out to help you connect with the people and resources you need to make great things happen. We hope this helps you find fantastic candidates to join you in your work.

But creating a strong listing is just the first step in attracting those folks; you also have to make sure they actually see the listing once you post it on Idealist! Stay tuned for the second half of this series, where we’ll offer tips on how to do that.

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Special thanks to Sara Kelleher, Talent Recruitment Specialist at Citizen Schools, for all of her help with this post.

Have a story about how you’ve used Idealist to connect with stellar candidates? Leave a comment below and maybe we’ll blog about your story, too!

Girl Scout volunteers plant trees on Earth Day. (Photo: vastateparkstaff, Flickr/Creative Commons)

Last week was National Volunteer Week. If you got swept up in the spirit, we’ve got some great tools to get you started any week of the year:

• Want to volunteer, but not sure where or how? Our volunteering resources can help define what you’re looking for.
• Or dive right in and search through thousands of volunteer opportunities.
• If you’re looking to get away, be sure to take a look at our International Volunteering resources.
• And if you are or want to be a professional volunteer manager, don’t miss this.

Volunteering can take lots of forms, from helping out at a one-time event to serving on a nonprofit’s board of directors. Here’s a little snapshot of what you’ll find if you search Idealist for ways to get involved:

13,179: Current volunteer opportunities on Idealist.org

3,962: Opportunities outside the U.S.

11,163: People whose profiles say they’re looking for a volunteer opportunity.

Volunteer whenever you can:

184: Opportunities that take less than one hour, one time

3,560: Opportunities to help out during the weekend

8,362: Volunteer opportunities with a flexible schedule

817: Late night volunteer opportunities

Enjoy the perks:

4,891: Volunteer opportunities that provide training

3,158: Opportunities that provide housing

3,022: Opportunities that provide language and cultural support

Volunteer full time:

431: Americorps volunteer opportunities

Help people help out:

19: Volunteer Coordinator jobs

72: Volunteer Coordinator volunteer opportunities

Find something for everyone:

92: Opportunities that involving hiking

24: Opportunities that involve clowns

1: Opportunity that involves line dancing

129: Opportunities that involve singing

443: Opportunities that involve Facebook

Volunteering is a great way to expand your knowledge, help out your community, and apparently spend some time on Facebook in the name of the greater good. There’s something for every skill, interest, and schedule, so take a look at the needs in your community.

What’s the best volunteer experience you ever had? Looking for something specific we can help you find? Let us know in the comments!

Howdy! It’s Kim and Diana, your friendly neighborhood Community Support Team. Last month we debuted our new column and uncovered just how many of you self-identify as “geeks,” “nerds,” or “geeky nerds.” We’re back now with some freshly crunched numbers for you:

301: Number of organizations that joined the site last week.
1,195: Increase in jobs posted in February 2012 vs February 2011.

18: Percentage drop in visitors to Idealist on Valentine’s Day as compared to the previous Tuesday.

Well, at least we have each other.

15: Percentage increase in visitors the next day.

That's better. (Photos: Staff retreat, March 2012)

3,837: Users whose profiles include the word “passionate.”
4,450: Users whose profiles include the word “love.”

18: Idealist Grad Fairs we have planned for 2012.*
225: Graduate school programs that will be represented at our largest fairs.
2: Days it took our entire Grad Fair season to sell out.

10: Portland, OR Idealist staff members. (Apply to be #11!)
0: Land line telephones in the Portland office.

6,369: Members of our LinkedIn group.
1,569: Idealist LinkedIn group members who describe their work as entry level.
1,463: Idealist LinkedIn group members who describe their work as senior level.

80: Kilowatt hours of energy used by Idealist.org’s NY office last month according to thinkeco.
2.3: Kilowatt hours of energy used by Kim yesterday.

*While we’re here, we want to thank all of the graduate admissions folks who plan to participate in our 2012 Idealist Grad Fair season! Our offices have been abuzz these past few weeks as we launched the fairs and you rushed to join us. We can’t wait to see you all there.

That’s all for now. Have a question, or is there a certain number you’re curious about? Leave a comment below.

Hi there! We’re Kim and Diana, Idealist’s Community Support Team. We read and respond to all the messages you send us, monitor the site’s content, and generally help you get the most out of your Idealist experience.

Got a question about Idealist? Get in touch: idealist.org/contact-us

We learn all kinds of fascinating things on the site and in conversation with you. Here’s our first-ever Idealist Index (inspired by the old Harper’s feature), with a bunch of things we’ve spotted recently:

185,831: Number of people who registered on Idealist.org in 2011
9,590: Organizations that joined Idealist in 2011
10,430,742: Unique visitors to Idealist in 2011
20: Percent increase in number of jobs posted in January 2011 vs. January 2012

3,266: Current number of listings including the word “exciting”
2: Listings including the word “exciting” in Buffalo, NY. (Kidding!)
10,622: People whose profiles say they’re looking for a volunteer opportunity
24: Volunteer opportunities that involve diving
110: Internships that involve dancing
19: Volunteer opportunities that involve knitting
1,107: Museums listed on Idealist

65: People who describe themselves as a “nerd” in their profiles
55: People who describe themselves as a “geek” in their profiles
8: People who describe themselves as both a “geek” and a “nerd”

28,575: Friends who “like” our Facebook page
36,082: Followers of @idealist on Twitter

5: Babies born to Idealist staff members in the last year
0: Pencils in the Idealist.org NYC office

12: Listings on the site that include the word “ukulele”
1: Number of those listings located in Hawaii

One final number: 9,237. That’s how many messages we received through the Contact Us page in 2011. We love hearing from you, so please let us know what you think of Idealist, if it’s helped you connect with any geeky-nerdy Hawaiians, or if you have questions about any of these numbers. Leave a comment below or connect with us through our Idealist profiles: Kim’s here and Diana’s here.

No need for a magnifying glass. (Photo: Mads Boedker, Flickr/Creative Commons)

Yesterday we released a new set of features to make it easier to find the people, organizations, and opportunities that matter most to you. Play around and let us know what you think!

Click on any of the listing types (Jobs, Volunteer Opportunities, etc.) in the header on Idealist.org, or start a search based on type, keyword, or location.

To better locate the opportunities relevant to where you are or want to be, we’ve refined our radius search to including listings from your choice of 5, 10, 25, 50, or 100 miles from any location. You can also search by region. Try a search for jobs in Eastern Europe or Western Africa, for example.

When searching for jobs:

• Select Job Function, and narrow your search results by degree and experience requirements and whether you’re looking for something full or part-time.

When searching for volunteer opportunities:

• Easily find opportunities based on how much time you want to give and when you’re free to give it.
• Filter down to opportunities for groups and families, and if you’re looking to go abroad, tune-in on which organizations provide support to international volunteers.

To locate people:

• Tap into our database of hundreds of thousands of individuals that are searching for friends, collaborators, clients, and volunteer opportunities.

We’ve also made our Info Centers more accessible. Now when you search for different topics, your results might include links to our Career Center or Grad School Resource Center. We figure if you’re searching for a job, you might also be interested in ways to score your next interview, for example.

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Questions for us? Leave ‘em below.

Ideas for more improvements to the site? Add your suggestions to our GetSatisfaction page.

Image via Gavin Llewellyn, http://www.onetoomanymornings.co.uk/ (Flickr/Creative Commons).

12.12.2011: The bullets in this post have been updated to include the percentages of social media jobs (out of all jobs posted on Idealist) each year.

Fellow Idealist Jeremy and I recently ran a little test to see how frequently “social media” appears in job postings on our site. Here’s how many listings have included the phrase over the last several years:

• 2007: 25 jobs, o.01 percent.
• 2008: 125 jobs, 0.27 percent.
• 2009: 507 jobs, 1.67 percent.
• 2010: 2,115 jobs, 4.98 percent.
• And in 2011 so far, 3,467 jobs, or 7.7 percent of all jobs posted this year.

Curious what the very first jobs to include “social media” were? Reaching all the way back to November 2006, we found four jobs from three trailblazing organizations: a Content Producer at WGBH Educational Foundation; a Social Network Designer-Manager at Games for Change; and two web developer jobs at Feminist Majority Foundation.

When I was hired in 2006, there are at least a few people on staff who were creating social media, but I don’t think they would have called it that. For example, our editor Eric checked all of the copy on our site, but he also served as a curator of news about the nonprofit sector and posted articles from around the world every day. He was blogging before we had a blog. Now social media weaves naturally into the jobs of many folks here, whether they’re writing emails for multi-channel campaigns, blogging here, or using social networking sites to learn about and grow our community.

Questions for you, dear readers:

• What has this evolution looked like at your organization? Is your organization so new that the majority of your work takes place through social media, or have you spent a lot of time convincing people of the value of this type of engagement?
• Are blogs, social networking sites, and other social media included in your job description? How much of your work time do they consume?
• If you’re a hiring manager posting one of those 3,400+ jobs, what matters to you with regard to filling those roles? How do the best candidates showcase their experience in this area?

Photo via A. Zarmeen

You may have noticed some differences to Idealist.org today, especially if you logged in to your account. Here’s a rundown of some of the updates that will make your experience on Idealist easier:

• We’ve added quick links in the header (at the top of the page under our logo) to search for jobs, organizations, people, internships, and other listings.

• Your account menu has moved to the upper right-hand corner of the page, where you’ll always have quick access to your bookmarks, saved searches, profile, and preferences.

• Your saved searches are now more accessible too! Just hover over the arrow on the green Search button and you’ll see a list of your saved searches. Want to turn your saved searches into Email Alerts? Simply hover over your name in the upper-right hand corner and click on “My Searches.”

• If you administer an organization (or two or three), you’ll notice that you have quicker access to your org’s page, notifications, preferences, and invoices.  Hint: it’s right next to your name in the upper right-hand corner.

Enjoy, and let us know if you have any questions.

Have too much canned corn at home? Consider donating to a food drive. (Photo by Bernard Pollack, Flickr/Creative Commons)

If you’re anything like me, you have a stash of clothing that you swear you’re planning to wear any day now, but that you haven’t touched in years. Or your organization has a pile of old laptops in a back closet. Or you have some medicine you’d really rather not throw away but don’t need. So many of you have contacted us (including a staffer’s beloved grandma!) asking where you can donate these goods that we decided it was time to put together a resource.

Take a look at our Community Support Team’s Resources for making a noncash donation page and visit Charity Navigator’s site for more great tips.

Here are a few highlights that we’ve compiled:

• Donate items that are new, unused, or nearly new; a charity probably can’t make use of old junk any better than you can (…and may have to use valuable resources to do it).

• If you are looking to donate medicine, it must be unused, unopened, and unexpired. Laws vary state to state, so make sure you check here or ask your pharmacist for more information.

• Consider selling your items and donating the money you receive to charity. Try Craigslist, Ebay, or get offline and organize a garage sale!

• Look for a local charity to maximize your impact. This cuts down on transportation costs for you or for the charity. Make sure you get in touch with them to insure your donation will be welcome and useful!

• Not all donations are tax-deductible. Take a look at IRS publication 562 to see if your donation qualifies, and if so, consult IRS publication 561 to correctly determine the value of your donation. (We found Donateguide.com’s Tax Informations on Donations page to be a friendly way to access this information.)

Check out our full resource here. Of course, you can also use Idealist to search for organizations in your area, and get in touch with them directly about your items to donate.

If you work with or know of an organization that we should add to our list, please contact us here!

By Julia Smith and Diana Hsu.

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum is just one venue seeking volunteers. Photo via magnify.net (Flickr/Creative Commons)

Earlier today, we tweeted, “Wondering: How are you spending September 11th?” Replies ranged from interning at a hospital (@dva136) to supporting a fundraiser in Portland (@GeezerGallery) to attending a film festival in NYC (@thepete).

What about you? Maybe you’re opting for quiet reflection this year. Maybe, like Baratunde Thurston, you’ll celebrate a birthday. Maybe you’re leaning toward volunteering in your community.

If that last idea has been on your mind, here’s one thing to consider: This year, to mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, MyGoodDeed and HandsOn Network are organizing the largest day of service in United States history.

Below are just a few of the events and volunteer opportunities listed on Idealist for this weekend. For more ideas, visit 911dayofservice.org, the official website of the September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance.

Events

• Sept. 9-Sept. 11, New York, NY: Director Sheryl Oring and an organization called I Wish to Say will lead a public performance piece called Collective Memory
• Sept. 10, Tempe, AZ: United Blood Services/Arizona will host a Blood Drive – 9/11 Memorial @ Tempe Healing Field
• Sept. 10, Mound Bayou, MS: Lindsay Vaughan will coordinate healthy packages for troops in Iraq as part of her 9/11 Service Project – Healthy Food for Our Troops Raffle
• Sept. 11, Fort Collins, CO: United Way of Larimer County will host a 9/11 Day of Service & Remembrance Event
• Sept. 11, Garrison, NY: The Garrison Institute will screen a film and hold a discussion at Rebirth and Resilience: A 9/11 Observance

Volunteer opportunities

• Sept. 10, Washington, DC: City Gate will host “a day of service and fellowship” – see Volunteers needed to commemorate 9/11 on 9/10
• Sept. 11, Charleston, WV: An individual named Heather is gathering neighbors for Appreciating Our First Responders -Service Project Volunteer Opportunity
• Through October 1, Bay Area, CA: In San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, and other communities, you can join HandsOn Bay Areas – from Remembrance to Change – a Season of Service
• Date TBD, South Sioux City, NE: The City of South Sioux City needs help planting trees for a 9/11 Day of Service and Honoring a Fallen Soldier
• Ongoing/long-term, New York, NY: The National September 11 Memorial & Museum seeks 9/11 Memorial Volunteers – On a Mission of Honor & Hope

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For more ways to get involved this weekend and beyond, search Idealist.org. And please let us know how you’re planning to spend the weekend.