Veterinary Voices – Episode 259

Why Better Job Ads Don't Work

Julie South [00:00:05]:

Welcome to Veterinary Voices, culture storytelling conversations for forward-thinking vet clinics. I'm Julie South, and this is episode 259.

Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobs, helping forward-thinking vet clinics build recognition so they attract vets and nurses — not just post job ads and pray someone will apply one day.

Last week we talked about why posting everywhere just doesn't work — why multiple platforms create noise and not results. This week we're going to talk about what happens next in the recruitment cycle. We're talking about month 2, when posting everywhere has failed and you start thinking maybe it's the ad. Maybe it's the words.

Stay with me to the end, because I've got a question about how many times you have rewritten the same job ad.

Julie South [00:01:14]:

You're three, maybe four weeks into advertising. You've posted on maybe multiple platforms. You've had perhaps a handful of applications, and most of them were nowhere near what you were looking for. Most of them were not suitably qualified.

And you start thinking: maybe it's how I'm saying it. Maybe I need to be more specific — or less specific. Maybe the headline's wrong. Maybe the benefits aren't compelling enough. Maybe I'm not highlighting the right things.

Julie South [00:01:48]:

So you rewrite it. You add more detail about your mentoring programme. You emphasise work-life balance. You mention your modern equipment. You talk about your supportive team culture. You get more specific about the kind of vet or nurse you're looking for. You refresh the listing and you wait.

Most clinic managers — or the people responsible for recruitment — don't realise what they're actually doing when they rewrite their ad.

Julie South [00:02:22]:

They're optimising words, tweaking headlines, adding benefits, trying to find the magic combination that will make people stop scrolling and apply. And this feels productive, because you're doing something. You're not just passively waiting. You're actively improving your ad — making it better, more compelling, more specific.

But vets and nurses scrolling through job ads aren't analysing your word choices. They're not comparing your benefits to the clinic three listings down. What they're doing is pattern matching.

Julie South [00:03:03]:

They've seen mentoring offered hundreds of times. They've read about supportive teams in ad after ad — because nobody's going to say they don't have a supportive team, right? They've seen work-life balance claimed by everyone. Your carefully chosen words trigger the same automatic response as everyone else's carefully chosen words.

Unknown clinic making familiar claims equals keep scrolling. That's the pattern. And better words won't break that pattern.

Sometimes you'll ask colleagues what they think. You show them the rewritten ad. They read it and say, "Yeah, that sounds really good. That should work."

Julie South [00:03:49]:

Sometimes you look at other clinics' ads to see what they're saying. You notice they're using similar language. Maybe you try to differentiate — use different words, stand out somehow. Sometimes you even pay someone to write it properly.

Julie South [00:04:12]:

A copywriter, perhaps. Someone who knows how to make ads compelling. They send you back something polished and professional. And it still doesn't work. Not because the copywriter wasn't any good. Not because your words weren't compelling. But because the best written ad in the world can't create recognition.

Recognition is what makes people stop scrolling.

Julie South [00:04:41]:

Not clever headlines. Not compelling benefits. Recognition.

Think about your own behaviour when you're scrolling LinkedIn, or social media. What actually makes you stop? It's when you see a name you recognise. A face you know. A company you've been watching. Something familiar catches your eye and your brain says, oh, I know them. That's not about the quality of their headline. That's about recognition.

Now think about when you scroll past things.

Julie South [00:05:25]:

You're not consciously evaluating each post thinking, not compelling enough. You're just scrolling, filtering automatically. Unknown equals not relevant, and you keep moving.

The vets and nurses seeing your ads are doing exactly the same thing. They're filtering automatically, unconsciously — and unless they recognise you, they're filtering you out. No matter how well you've written it.

This is particularly frustrating because you know your clinic is different. You know you actually have a supportive team.

Julie South [00:06:10]:

You know your mentoring programme is genuine. You know your work-life balance isn't just a claim — it's real. But how do you communicate that in a job ad? How do you make them believe you when everyone else is saying the exact same thing?

So you try different approaches. Maybe you get more specific: our mentoring programme includes weekly one-on-ones and quarterly professional development reviews. Or maybe you try being more personal: we're not perfect, but we genuinely care about our team. Or maybe you try being more honest.

Julie South [00:06:51]:

We're a busy clinic, but we protect your time off.

And none of it works. Not because these aren't true. Not because they aren't well written. But because the job ad is simply the wrong tool for creating the recognition you need.

Job ads exist to do one thing, and that's to announce there's a vacancy. That's it. They're a trigger — a signal that says, we're hiring. For people who already recognise you, that trigger means something: oh, they're hiring! I've been watching them. I should apply. For people who don't recognise you, that trigger means nothing. Just another unknown clinic making familiar claims.

Julie South [00:07:45]:

The job ad isn't where recognition happens. Recognition happens long before someone sees your ad. It's built over time, through visibility — through vets and nurses being able to watch you, to follow you, to build a picture of what you're actually like.

When you're rewriting your ad for the third or fourth time, you're trying to compress months of recognition building into 200 words. And it can't be done.

Right now, as you're listening, somewhere a clinic is rewriting their ad again. They're convinced that if they say it the right way, finally someone will see them. Finally a vet or a nurse will understand what makes that clinic different. They'll refresh the listing, they'll wait, and in two more weeks they'll be rewriting it again.

Julie South [00:08:52]:

Meanwhile, another clinic just posted their ad. They didn't labour over every word. They didn't hire a copywriter. They didn't spend hours trying to make it compelling — because it doesn't matter. Not to this clinic, because the vets and nurses who see their ad already recognise them. They've been watching them for months, following their team stories, building trust over time. So when they see the ad, they're not evaluating the headline. They're thinking: finally. I've been waiting for them to have an opening.

That's not better copywriting. That's recognition built long before the ad went live.

Julie South [00:09:44]:

I promised you a question, so here it is.

How many times have you written the same job ad? How many different ways have you tried to say basically the same thing? How many hours have you spent trying to find the magic combination of words?

Because the problem isn't your words. The problem is that you're trying to create recognition where recognition can't be created — in a job ad, in 200 words, to strangers who are scrolling past hundreds of other job ads saying the same things.

Better words don't solve a recognition problem. They just create better written noise.

If you're listening to this and wondering what you can actually do differently, get in touch — I'd love to have a chat to see where you're at and what you can do next. My email is julie@vetclinicjobs.com.

Next week we're going to talk about what happens in month three.

Julie South [00:10:55]:

What happens when rewriting doesn't work either? When you start thinking maybe you need to spend more money — premium features, boosted posts, upgraded listings, maybe even a recruitment agency. And why that doesn't work either.

This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self. And remember — when vets and nurses can see you're their kind of people, you stop hiring strangers, because you're welcoming people who already feel they belong.

Until next time.