Job Marketing 101: Advertising Strategies for Online Recruitment

If you have advertised a job in the last 5 years, you know that finding the right candidate isn’t always an easy task. In a perfect world, your job advertisement would be in front of every candidate looking for that type of opportunity, either actively or passively.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Most companies, especially small businesses, are inclined to pick a couple of job marketing avenues with proven ROI. Especially if they’re still advertising by going to each and every job board, and linking candidates back manually to an email or career website. Many opt to utilize the automated advertising features seen in applicant tracking systems (ATS), which can lessen the workflow and expand reach, greatly enhancing the employers’ visibility.

Popular Advertising Avenues – Now & Then

Before the Internet, a popular advertising method was to promote through print media. Even today, some employers spend thousands of dollars to publicize job vacancies in newspapers, magazines, and trade publications. While it may still be a viable source of candidates, especially for niche roles, there are countless of other job marketing avenues available that typically provide the same kind of quality candidates, in much higher frequency, at little to no cost.

This includes a wide array of online job boards; from aggregators like Indeed and Simply Hired, to trade and member associations, federal and state governments, colleges and universities, and paid boards like Monster and CareerBuilder.

Advertising with Social Media

Leveraging Social Media channels is also a popular way of enticing new talent through existing networks of employees, clients, and followers. Employers who track candidate sourcing through ATS reporting focus on where the most traffic is coming from, and specifically where the best candidates are being found.

Taking Advantage of the Mobile Job Seeker Market

While these are all still credible places to seek out qualified people, many companies are now looking towards the mobile market as a primary source of applicants. It’s not surprising either, considering that on average every household has up to 4 different mobile devices, and people are being conditioned to rely on instant access to information, at anytime.

It’s not a fad, numerous studies have indicated that applying on one’s phone or tablet is here to stay, and if employers are serious about tapping into the mobile candidate market, they should look at making their application processes mobile friendly.

A Few Telling Statistics

• 65% of U.S. Job Seekers are using a mobile device to look for work.
• Chipotle Restaurants draws a staggering 20% of their applicant pool from mobile applications.
• 78% of candidates would happily apply for a job via mobile if the process was made easier.

Simple Solutions to Mobile Job Marketing

It’s not as hard as it sounds either, any employer can seize this opportunity. If you don’t have a career site, you can post your jobs on a mobile friendly board like Indeed and your jobs will be automatically displayed on mobile devices — ready to receive applications from mobile candidates.

In my upcoming webinar I will share how companies can make sense of these mobile trends and create a seamless mobile experience. Join the webinar to learn more about how you can reach the highly engaged mobile candidate market.

This article was written by Christopher McGrath, Account Executive at Prevue HR Systems. Chris has many years of experience helping companies solve their hiring challenges through the use of Applicant Tracking Systems. He keeps himself up to date with industry trends and enjoys sharing job marketing tips and tricks that he knows will deliver results.