Briefcas EMPLOYMENT
Introduction
The veterinary nursing profession currently faces two long-term trends that are affecting the availability of veterinary nurses ( VNs ) in the UK and the ability of veterinary organisations to recruit them [ 1 – 3 ] :
• An increasing number of VNs are planning to leave the profession over the next 5 years , for reasons other than retirement [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
• There is a shortage of VNs , resulting in a lack of additional capacity to meet increased demand [ 3 ] .
As a consequence , veterinary organisations are having to adopt strategies to entice these scarcely available VNs [ 1 – 3 ] . One way , and an important first step in the recruitment process , is to ensure that advertisements for vacant positions are as attractive as possible to potential applicants .
Job advertisements are commonly used in recruitment marketing to entice people to job vacancies [ 5 – 8 ] . An effective job advertisement accelerates the decisionmaking process , and can deter jobseekers from searching for jobs elsewhere [ 8 ] .
In the early stages of recruitment , a job advertisement may be the only source of information prospective applicants can use to assess their fit with an organisation [ 5 ] . The amount of information provided in a job advertisement has been found to be important in facilitating recruitment success [ 5 ] .
In a study investigating the mediational role of credibility , satisfaction and attraction on applicants ' willingness to apply for an advertised vacancy , Acarlar and Bilgiç [ 5 ] proposed that the intention of prospective jobseekers to apply for a vacancy increased as the amount of information in a job advertisement increased . Ganesan et al . [ 7 ] support these findings , suggesting that the amount of information in a job advertisement positively affects perceptions of an organisation ' s attractiveness and job pursuit among jobseekers .
Acarlar and Bilgiç [ 5 ] and Feldman et al . [ 6 ] found that , in addition to the amount of information provided , the specificity of the information and its relevance were also important . When the information in a job advertisement is specific to the job description , the applicants ' attitudes towards the job and the organisation change with an increase in subsequent cues regarding the organisation [ 5 , 6 ] . Additionally , if the information provided is relevant to the position or the organisation advertising it , applicants find the job vacancy more appealing than those advertised with less relevant information [ 9 ] .
As the intrinsic motivators of an individual cannot be changed , it is important for veterinary organisations to understand the specific strategies they could use to encourage applications to job vacancies , such as designing more engaging job advertisements [ 10 ] .
The authors of this study sought to investigate the effect of the amount and specificity of the information provided in job advertisements on VNs in the UK . The outcome variables developed to measure recruitment success were as follows :
• the credibility of the information
• satisfaction with the information
• attraction to the organisation
• willingness to apply .
The study focused on three types of job advertisement :
• small-general job advertisement
• large-general job advertisement
• large-specific job advertisement .
Credibility of the information
Hong [ 11 ] describes credibility as ‘ believability ’. Accentuating this definition , recruitment advertising credibility refers to the extent to which the information receiver perceives the organisation and the job advertisement as a trustworthy source of information [ 5 , 11 ] .
Van Hoye and Lievens [ 12 ] propose communication credibility as an important element in recruitment advertising , with the ability to mediate the relationship between recruitment communication and jobseekers ' intentions to join an organisation . Acarlar and Bilgiç [ 5 ] support Van Hoye and Lievens [ 12 ] , stating that jobseekers are attracted to an organisation when the source of information is perceived as credible .
In coining the definition of credibility , Hong [ 11 ] used four dimensions – fairness , depth , goodwill and trust / expertise – to investigate website credibility . Not all of the four dimensions used to measure website credibility may be applicable to the credibility of job advertisement information , with depth and trust / expertise being deemed most applicable .
Building on the research proposed by Hong [ 11 ] , Allen et al . [ 13 ] measured the influence of recruitment communication media ( face-to-face , video , audio or text ) on communication outcomes such as credibility and satisfaction . Job advertisements can be delivered via these media and , of the 10 dimensions proposed by Allen et al . [ 13 ] , ‘ credibility ’ could be used to investigate the credibility of information in job advertisements .
Volume 40 ( 2 ) • April 2025
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