The Happy Relationship Between Job Advertisement Copy and Context

Starting today, I have decided to write in a slightly different way than I have before. Speaking of my past self...

◆ "Advertising Book Reading Record"... An introduction to "advertising books" by an active copywriter, which started with a client's remark, "Is there any book that can help me get better at copywriting?"

◆ Random Essays... When I share those advertising book reading records on Facebook, I feel it's a bit unfriendly to just share them silently, so I write some trivial text every time. I have now transferred those to note.

With these two pillars, I was spending my days thinking, "note is fun!"

And then, as it happens, I decided to start another series. No one asked me to, but I decided to start a series called "Various Stories About Job Advertisement Production."

Why?

As I read many "advertising books" and output them in the form of book reviews, I realized that there are surprisingly few books about job advertisements.

In my reading records, I have only introduced a collection of works called "Half a Century of Job Advertisements" multiple times in the past.

Also, it seems that many of the books on job advertisements in the world are written by people in sales, and although I read a few, they didn't seem to touch much on the sensitive parts of creativity (perhaps my reading comprehension is just lacking). Or they were just very difficult to understand.

I have always thought that it would be nice to have something written about job advertisement creativity that is a bit more interesting, or rather, more accessible.

While thinking that way and writing articles a few times a week in the two directions mentioned above, some people started to like and comment on them (which I am grateful for), and very happily, I received a request to write about the process of how I became awakened to writing copy.

I thought about doing that in the random essays section, but when I held an internal editorial meeting in my brain about what kind of content I could write, I realized that I could create a decent amount of content. Then I wondered, is it okay to mix that with random essays about themes like "Truck Guys" or "Chef Ajihei"?

So, I decided to just write one article every week on the theme of "Job Advertisement Production." However, from the reader's perspective, since it is one account, I think it might be a bit confusing.

For now, I plan to divide it into "Various Stories About Job Advertisement Production" on Mondays, "Random Essays" on Wednesdays, and "Advertising Book Reading Record" on Fridays. I don't know how long it will last, but thank you for your support. So, the first installment is about "The Troubled Relationship Between Job Advertisement Copy and Context." This is a fresh story that I was agonizing over last week.

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Ah, I did it again. I lack courage. I lack resolve. I lack decisiveness. What am I talking about? It's about copywriting in job advertisements.

I call myself a "copywriter who doesn't make advertisements," but I have been involved in the production of job advertisements for a very long time. Strictly speaking, it's copywriting for job advertisements. About 14 years in total? Well, I've been stuck in the swamp of job advertisements for about half of my career.

For the past few years, I have consciously kept my distance, and I only create them a few times a year. When I am asked because they really need me, or when a project involves posting on a job media site, I get asked, "Well, you know, please take care of it!" What is this "well, you know"?

So, back to the "I did it again" at the beginning.

There is a web media I am currently involved with as a creative director. I have been sticking my neck into their editorial department. And then, a hiring need for an editor-in-chief candidate arose. While receiving consultation from the representative, it turned into a situation where I had to write it, or rather, let me write it.

I'm creating a job advertisement for the first time in a while, and this time it's for an editor-in-chief candidate. This type of position tends to see a surge in applications, and no matter how high you set the bar, the applicants just keep coming. Last year, when we recruited for a staff-level position, we received 400 applications.

So, I decided that this time, I would adopt a communication strategy focused on suppressing noise—in other words, increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the applicant pool. Rather than welcoming experienced candidates, I'm limiting it to them. I'm announcing to those with publishing and editorial experience, such as in books, that we have an editor-in-chief position ready for them, even if it is for the web.

I imagine there are many editors in the print world who are worried about their future. My ad design aims to appeal to them by highlighting the future potential and possibilities of the web, the open atmosphere, and the career advancement that this position represents.

The concept is 'Advance your career as an editor by becoming an editor-in-chief for a web media outlet.' There are many other things I want to say, but for this recruitment of experienced professionals, I've decided to lean heavily into the 'position' aspect out of the classic 'mission, position, and compensation' triad.

The problem, then, is the catchphrase. This is always tricky. I believe the strength of job advertisements lies in their high readership rate. Usually, advertisements involve disseminating information from a negative starting point, but job ads are not negative. In fact, the reader is actively seeking them out.

It's different if they are appearing in newspapers, magazines, or broadcast media. But most job ads are posted on job boards or recruitment websites. If that's the case, the user is someone who is already looking for a job, and since people with that motivation are naturally visiting sites that contain job information, I believe there is no need to touch upon that fact at all.

In other words, the premise—the context—that 'someone looking for a job' is coming to see information from 'a company looking for people' is already established. Since the context is already set, isn't it a bit low-level to go out of your way to use words like 'We are hiring,' 'We are looking for people,' or 'We are waiting for you'? I feel like that's a very low-dimensional approach to communication.

But, and this is a big but, it takes real courage to actually try this. I get nervous, wondering if the communication will really hold up. Even though I was just saying such bold things a moment ago.

Let's take this catchphrase as an example. Based on the concept I mentioned earlier, I created the following catchphrase.

'An Editor-in-Chief with Many Demands.'

The editor-in-chief this time will have to do a lot of things. Media management, determining direction—specifically in the business domain—building an organization, taking on new content challenges... In other words, I wanted to create a sense of exclusivity for the role by intentionally bringing to the forefront the fact that there are many things we will be asking of them—many 'demands.'

The base for this phrase is Kenji Miyazawa's 'The Restaurant of Many Orders,' which I hope every experienced editor has read. Those who know, know. And it's a little satisfying when only those who understand, understand. That's the effect I'm aiming for. If this doesn't ring a bell, then that's just a lack of sense on their part.

However, after writing this catchphrase and letting it sit overnight, a sense of unease began to creep in. Will this be enough to get the message across? Will it actually work as communication? My cowardly side starts to emerge. And so, I end up revising it like this.

'Recruiting an Editor-in-Chief with Many Demands.'

It's nothing special, just adding 'recruiting' to the end of the sentence, but I find myself feeling relieved that this will somehow get the message across. The catchphrase that felt so awkward before now seems to be properly established. Without the word 'recruiting,' I feel like no one would have any idea what it's about.

I can't help but feel that way. Even though I was shouting so much about the importance of context! What kind of sickness is this? If anyone involved in creating job advertisements knows, please tell me.

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I'd like to continue writing in this vein, however modestly. Since note also allows for uploading videos and images, I will make use of that freedom of expression as I write, so I hope you'll stick with me.