TL;DR – Processing fluency It is the ease with which information is processed in the human mind. Keep it short, to the point, and in plain English/local language as the human brain prefers simplicity!
processing fluency theory – is a cognitive bias that suggests people tend to perceive information that is presented in an easy-to-process format as more true or valid than information that is presented in a difficult-to-process format.
Why does it matter in Recruitment? This could mean that interviewers may be more likely to believe information that is presented in a clear, organized, and easy-to-understand manner, regardless of whether or not it is actually true.
Company Name – It’s known that easily recognizable names resonate with customers: BMW works better than Bayerische Motoren Werke, Hoover took over from vacuum cleaner, VHS beat out Betamax (that may have been marketing over the name). We can assume that if a name adds value to a customer it will also influence a candidate. We can’t change our employers’ name but we can add value to it by making it resonate with repetition and branding.
Job Titles – An ambiguous, long-winded, cryptic, or vague Job title on an advert or JD will decrease the number of clicks to view the advert. Compare: “Customer Experience Enhancement Consultant” with “shop assistant” and see which gets the most suitable applications
Outreach – There is research that suggests names that resonate with us are perceived to hold more value and be more desirable. For this reason it may help to include your company name more than once in your outreach and ensure it is in the subject line on follow-up messages. Build your company’s brand.
Remember the recipient will be influenced by how easily their brain can process your message so keep your InMail and emails concise and easy to understand. LinkedIn recommend no longer than three paragraphs or 100 words. This is not just for processing fluency but also to respect the readers time and attention constraints!
Job Adverts – Putting in too much effort results in too much writing! It is generally accepted that 300 to 500 is the ideal advert length, however, a recent Linkedin post mentioned that ads receive 8% more applicants when they have less than 300 words. Keep your sentences short to keep peoples attention and make the content easy to digest.
The Science – I don’t have any credentials to back the above up! So did some market testing and found the below results with some basics adverts:
- Agency Sales Manager = 12 applicants with 8 relevant
- Sales Manager, Advertiser Solutions = 21 applications with 3 relevant