Company websites represent the top channel for advertising new jobs
Seventy-eight percent of respondents post new jobs on their corporate website, making it far and away the most prevalent job-posting source. Every serious job candidate will eventually end up on your website. This is why we believe that the portion of your website devoted to “careers” should be more than just a list of open jobs. It is an opportunity to immerse candidates in your culture, to tell them about your values, and to realistically preview what jobs are like. However, your website is not likely to be the first step in a candidate search for a new job. Rather, they will probably be drawn to your website through other channels such as:
- Major job boards
- Job search mobile apps
- Social networking sites
Each of these channels is mentioned by around half of participants.
Other candidates will, however, come from inside the organization, which is why internal posting and email are cited by 53% of respondents. We believe internal postings are a must because filling positions with your own employees has been shown repeatedly to cost less and improve the quality of candidates. As an added benefit, it helps motivate and retain your best employees.
On Job Boards and Social Media Sites
In a set of parallel questions, we asked about the use of various job boards and social media sites, which are often the first destination for potential job candidates. On the job-board side, the most commonly used boards are Indeed (54%) and LinkedIn (48%). When it comes to the use of social media sites, LinkedIn (76%) and Facebook (73%) are most often mentioned.
Employee referrals are the most used method of attracting candidates
The finding above deals with recruiting channels. Ultimately, those channels are about where employers decide to advertise.
But we also looked at the methods that are used to attract employees. We found that employee referrals are the most frequently cited method, chosen by 59% of respondents. Job ads, which are used by 49% of participants, are only second on the list.
There are, however, plenty of other methods, from professional communities and physical events such as job fairs (both used by 40%) to online event such as webinars.
Pay-for-performance ads consume a considerable portion of many ad budgets today
There are generally two accepted ways to pay for advertising. In past years, most ads were paid based on display. If you choose, for example, to display an ad on a major job board, you often pay for the privilege of posting the ad.
Increasingly, however, organizations want more than the opportunity to display. They want the ads to bring them qualified applicants. Therefore, a growing portion of some budgets are being used for pay-forperformance ads.
In fact, 31% of respondents say that more than 60% of their total job advertising budget is based on pay-for-performance types of job ads.
The proportion is about the same for pay-for-display ads (30%).
It should be noted, however, that the proportion of respondents who say their organizations do not use pay for performance at all (16%) remains larger than the proportion that do not use pay-for-display ads at all (10%).
Organizations may use external sources for a variety of reasons
Organizations can turn to a variety of external sources to improve recruitment advertising. We asked about two of those sources: employment agencies and recruitment process outsource providers, commonly known as RPOs.
Why use such external resources? There are two top reasons. First, those external sources often leverage technologies that many organizations do not have access to. Indeed, among organizations that use external resources, more than half (55%) cite technology as a reason. When used well, such technologies can have a positive impact on both recruiting costs and quality of hires. These technologies can also provide useful metrics and analytics, which are cited by 33% of respondents.
The second most widely cited reason is creative services (46%). Outside agencies can be useful in developing ads, buying media, developing job websites and more. In short, external resources often have both the tools and the expertise that can help employers get better at recruitment advertising.
About a quarter of responding organizations use text messaging to a high degree for the purpose of recruitment
Only about a quarter of respondents (26%) are using texting to a high or very high degree for the purpose of recruitment. In contrast, about one in three say their organizations use it to a low degree or not at all.
Using texting has many potential advantages. It can be quicker and more personalized than other media. It can allow for easier on-going communication with prospective candidates, thereby increasing the overall candidate experience. And, it can be better at grabbing the attention of prospects, especially when it comes to younger generations.
The danger, of course, is it can be overused or misused. It is advisable to get a prospective candidate’s permission to continue texting them, and opting out should be made easy. Keep an eye on the number of text messages sent to a prospective candidate. You don’t want to turn a good experience into an annoyance!
