Our office has been looking for a licensed optician for the past month. We've posted our ad on the the optician's association site, jobs4ecps, and here on OB. The response has been.....disappointing; both in quantity and quality of the responses.
In browsing the ads I also see a lot of offices (both private and commercial) looking for an optician.
So, opticians: what is your job market like right now? Could you find a new job tomorrow? Is it a buyer's market for the job hunter?
Your ad is one sided.
Your ad only talks about what you want as an employer, it does not address the needs and wants of what a successful applicant needs and wants.
So you have 40 hours a week to offer , so what ? Macs Milk Convenience store can do that. Is 40 hours a week your best ammunition that you can fire ?
Put some teeth in your ad and fire some real bullets from your gun. Make a real offer from the applicants point of view, not just yours .
If I as an applicant have a mortage to pay and children to raise, then talk in the ad to me about those issues , not just your desire to have a body show up for 40 hours.
Applicants have needs and wants not just you.
If you want a good applicant to jump ship then tell them why they should respond to your ad versus your competitors ads.
Did you do that ? Or did you only say the job is about adjusting frames and taking orders ?
Where is the incentive to respond to your ad ?
Last edited by idispense; 06-29-2013 at 02:33 PM.
Thanks for your insight. I felt the ad was a decent starting point - we are a busy office that deals with edging and tinting. The job is full time. There are no evenings or weekends (where else do you find that?). I admit I did not get into compensation; I guess I'm old school and would rather negotiate that in person.
Either way, I didn't mean for this to become a "why can't I find a decent optician" thread. I'm truly interested in the job market. Currently I could post a job for an entry level position and get 50 applicants in a day or two. The job market seems to favour the employer right now. So either that is not true for opticians, or my ad leaves much to be desired. :)
I can't speak for Ontario, but in the Houston area it's an Optician's job market. I have a friend that has been looking for a qualified Optician for months now, and he's offering top pay. I'm seeing employers finally realizing what a highly skilled Optician brings to the table. On average, paying more and offering more to lure in applicants.
id hit the nail on the head. A boring ad is only going to bring you folks currently disgruntled with their current position. Create an ad that sounds awesome! Give the area Opticians reasons why they should jump ship and come work for you. Competitive pay? I'm already making competitive pay. Job entails adjusting frames? Yea, we kinda figure that already.
No nights or weekends are a great perk, list other reasons why you're a better place to work at than where I'm at already. Then you will get more qualified responses. I filled two positions in the last year, relatively quickly (even in my job market) with extremely qualified people by having ads that looked attractive to experienced Opticians.
Last edited by optical24/7; 06-30-2013 at 02:24 AM.
(1) You didn't get a good response so you already have the answer about the job market. Now we only have to deal with "or my ad leaves much to be desired".Originally Posted by Ory
(2) Yes, low paying entry level position jobs attract large quantities of uneducated people, but you are not looking for that.
(3) Think about an ad that would entice you to jump ship, then rewrite your ad from that perspective.
(4) re: old school bargaining and negotiating in person, Sounds like a car dealer buying and selling cars. Professionals find it distasteful to be treated like a car. What you are saying is: " If you qualify, I'll offer you a job after horse trading to see how cheap I can get you " Your ad just got skipped over in this market, but you already knew that.
(5) Without at least a salary range in the ad , you have labelled yourself. Same is true of benefits.
(6) "There are no evenings and weekends" yes it's a benefit but "where else can you find that" ... that's an attitude. What you didn't print in your ad labeled you as an employer and again you were skipped over.
Last edited by idispense; 06-30-2013 at 06:53 AM.
Your ad is fine, don't listen to doesn'tdispense. The issue isn't the ad, it's the fact most opticians are always looking for the better gig, but think they're net worth is higher than the actual market is paying currently and probably automatically assume that working for an OD will pay them same as a COA.
The current rate for a good responsible optician with selling skills is $25 per hour. An outstanding one is around $28 to $30.
If the ad is not bringing the results you want, then you have 3 choices:
(1) do nothing and let the ad run as is and hope that waiting will bring you someone
(2) change the ad and adapt it to get better results
(3) mystery shop for an optician without an ad and find one that you would like to have serve your customers.
Nah, there's surely someone qualified and willing out there
Trudi from JOBS4ECP's here...contact us and we will repost your ad at no charge and see if we can help you out. www.jobs4ecps.ca. Sometimes it's all about timing. We can also take a look at your ad and recommend any changes that might help. Talk soon....
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