Realistic Job Preview

Overview

What is a Realistic Job Preview?

Offer a realistic insight into all aspects of the job and organisation to set expectations, positively impact the candidate experience, and ensure that every new hire will be a professional and cultural fit.

A Realistic Job Preview (RJP) is a highly effective recruiting tool that employers use to present an unfiltered snapshot of the job they are hiring for. RJPs illustrate numerous details related to the job, including duties, expectations, work environment, and the organisation as a whole, in a negative and positive light, allowing potential employees to decide for themselves whether the role, as described, is the right choice for them.

RJPs offer candidates a thorough depiction of what a ‘day in the life’ would look like in a particular role, or as part of the wider organisation.

Realistic Job Previews separate prospective applicants aligned with your mission statement and organisational values from those job seekers who do not share the same passion, who withdraw from the process after witnessing the more realistic expectations and job description – a staggering 45% on average! In other words, by using an RJP, you will be sure that 100% of your applicants will want your job, not just any job.

Hosted on your website, the Realistic Job Preview will be accessible by an unlimited amount of applicants, all of whom will receive suitability feedback based on their answers.

RJPs serve as a powerful self-deselection sifting tool, as any job applicants who do not feel aligned with the depiction of the job being put across will be able to opt-out of interviewing with the company.

Discover

How it works?

So often during recruitment, organisations are misleading with job descriptions, portraying an unrealistic image of the role and wider culture of the organisation, whether intentional or not. However, any applicant hoping to join the company is keen to learn how both a good and bad day on the job will look.

Discover

To create a Realistic Job Preview that will benefit both your organisation and your applicants— one that offers a realistic representation of your workplace, day-to-day employee experience and job description—a Skillsarena consultant will take the time to understand the role in detail, the scenarios an employee may face, your company culture and retention dynamics.

Design

After gleaning information about your organisation through research, discovery conversations with current employees and more, we will design the image of the job that you will present to potential new employees. We will do this by collating video, audio, and text files and delivering these in a way that reflects your organisation’s values and culture.

Develop

After we have created a well-designed plan of action that takes into account all aspects of the job role and organisation (the negative information as well as the positive), our team will work together with you to bring your Realistic Job Preview and to life.

Launch

Once the content we will include in your Realistic Job Preview has been thoroughly verified and approved, we provide the RJP to you in all file formats necessary. This way, potential employees can view and benefit from your Realistic Job Preview immediately, either by accessing it on your website or on the job listing sites you are using for recruitment. Alternatively, your content can be hosted by us.

Role Discovery

What makes a good Realistic Job Preview?

In short, a good Realistic Job Preview paints a true image of the job that is available, one that does not cause applicants to develop unrealistic expectations of the workplace, their daily objectives and responsibilities, their work-life balance and more.

RJPs should convey an authentic image of your company culture as it is, not something that has contrived to fit a particular narrative or to solely display your organisation’s redeeming aspects.

Showcase day-to-day experience

By offering an account of a what a typical day on the job will look like, you will prepare your prospective employees for what is to come. It is useful to be as descriptive as possible here, as it will help individuals who may have had no contact with your organisation previously to picture themselves in the role. For employers, using RJPs is a win-win situation – if candidates like what they see, provided they are qualified, they are worth of further consideration. If they do not, you have avoided a likely mismatch.

Focus on culture fit

When presenting a RJP to applicants, as well as focussing on what should be expected of the job role, it is just as important to emphasise the importance of culture. No two company cultures are the same – every culture has its own defining characteristics, and undoubtedly, some cultures are more attractive to some people than others. Considering this, there will be candidates who resonate with your culture, are there are others who will not. Including this in your RJP will allow candidates to make a decision on whether the status quo is one that suits them or not, early on in the recruitment process.

Employee insights

No one knows your organisation better than your current employees, so using your organisation’s spokespeople can be the perfect way to share what it may be like working in the role you are recruiting for. As they will be very accustomed to the inner workings of your organisation, your employees will be able to get across the specifics of the role much more articulately than a job description is able to. Not only that, but they offer insight into how they find working in the relevant department, the pros and cons of the workplace and much more.

While we consider these factors to be the most important, there are countless elements that combine to make up a winning RJP. If you any specific requests that you would like us to be sure to include when creating your Realistic Job Preview, be sure to let us know by getting in touch.

Why use a Realistic Job Preview?

If you want to be as truthful as possible with prospective employees and to promote an image of the company that is as close to reality as can be, RJPs are the best option. No matter what type of organisation you are, offering a job preview that is authentic comes with a huge amount of benefits, so much so that we advise including them as a standard part of any recruitment process.

Save time: Any job role is likely to receive a huge amount of applications that can be incredibly difficult and time-consuming to assess. RJPs will allow you to dedicate more time and resources to genuine, qualified applicants, as on average, 45% of applicants withdraw from a job application process after completing an RJP. This powerful de-selection tool requires zero administration overhead from you or your team.
Filter candidates amicably: Additionally, if a candidate deselects after not liking what they have seen in the Realistic Job Preview, they will not be alienated as customers. As they will have realised that working for the organisation is not right for them as opposed to the organisation itself, no negative feeling will be left.
Reduce attrition Rate: Employee turnover is a big problem for so many businesses. As the onboarding and eventual dismissal of a bad hire can be extremely costly to a business, making sure that every you recruit into your organisation is the right fit is extremely important. This turnover of staff is not only detrimental to finances, but to morale also. Employees are less likely to be engaged and your team spirit is likely to take a hit when your organisation is gaining and losing members on a regular basis.
Find more committed candidates: If you want to recruit quality, high-performing staff and ensure that they stay a part of your organisation for longer, it is important to be more transparent with your prospective employees from the very beginning. Using a RJP may reduce the amount of applications you receive for a role, but it guarantees that those who do apply will not just be qualified for the role, but they are likely to fit into your existing culture with ease.

When using a Realistic Job Preview, you are offering an entirely transparent image of the organisation to those applying for your roles. As applicants will have already seen what a job looks like on the inside as well as the outside, they are much more likely to be more committed if they are successful in landing the role. They are more likely to be productive and high-performing, and they will have a great deal of job satisfaction.

Get started

Create your FREE account

We provide a self-service system that will help us to get your Skillsarena profile up and running as quickly as possible. Alternatively, receive an immediate response by giving us a call on 0203 693 2201, or by emailing us at sacontact@skillsarena.com

Get a FREE Account