Finding the perfect person for a part time position is sometimes more difficult than finding a good full time candidate. Often, qualified individuals look for part time positions for scheduling reasons. They could be a student looking for a job that doesn’t interfere with their coursework, a parent hoping to find a job that lets them pick their children up from school on time, or a full time employee wanting to supplement their current income.
Regardless of the reason a prospective employee might choose to work part time over full time, employers looking for no-brainer employees can make their positions more enticing for applicants by marketing job postings in specific ways.
In this post, we note three things employers can include in their job posting to attract suitable part time applicants.
1. Clearly Indicate Part Time
This may seem like a no-brainer, but there are plenty of postings that fail to mention what type of position is being offered (full time, part time, temporary, or contract). Knowing what type of position you’re applying for at the outset is essential to most prospective candidates as it helps answer questions like “am I an employee or a subcontractor?” or “will I be able to work two jobs?”
Moreover, because the typical posting is for full time work, many people could wrongly assume your posting is for a full time position rather than part time. This confusion doesn’t benefit your company; it results in you or your hiring team interviewing more applicants who could potentially reject your Employment Offer Letter because it is for a part time position and not what they anticipated.
2. Expected Days of the Week
For potential part time employees, coordinating a schedule can be a lot of work, so, as an employer, you can assist potential candidates by indicating the days of the week your new hire would be expected to work. If there are no expected days and the position is flexible, that’s even better—let applicants know in your job posting.
Providing your expected days of work can help potential candidates know that they are a good fit for a position before applying. It also helps employers stay on track and not waste time by filtering out applicants that cannot meet specific job requirements (like being unable to work on weekends when weekends are required).
3. Expected Work Hours
Similar to providing the expected days of work, providing the number of hours you anticipate your employee will work is also helpful. Part time employment is typically determined by the number of hours the employee works per week and is generally considered to be any job where the employee works 30 hours or less per week.
The difference between a 10-hour, 20-hour, or 30-hour work week is huge, both financially and organizationally. Informing potential applicants of the number of hours they can expect to work can help prevent unsuitable candidates from applying, once again helping to reduce the number of resumes you’ll need to sift through to find the person you’re looking for.
Preparing Your Part Time Position Posting
Preparing a job posting can be a lot of work. For many careers, creating a job posting means simplifying a complex position into a couple of concise bullet points and turning that into a job advertisement. Employers looking specifically for part time employees can attract more job applicants by clearly indicating the job is part time and including the expected work days and hours.
