Through the placement of job ads, employers and hiring organizations aim to find and interest the best talent where they live, work and play on the web. Overtime, the channels and mechanisms for doing so have changed, leading to more cost-effective, impactful job advertising solutions that are improving the results of talent acquisition departments around the globe. With all these changes, how do you accurately measure your job advertising ROI?
There are several job advertising media models in the industry – each offering a different type of return. Pay-per-applicant job advertising recognizes the downsides to pay-per-click and other duration-based posting or slot models, and delivers candidates cost-effectively.
The State of Job Advertising Today
Duration-Based Postings
The downsides of paying for duration-based postings are clear…
- Risky up-front pricing. Oftentimes, the post returns too few completed applications. The model provides no guarantee of receiving the amount of applies needed over the duration of the posting.
- Continual spending. Advertisers who do not get results within the posting duration have to pay to run the ad again.
- Limited candidate reach. The pool of potential applicants is limited to users who have interacted with a specific job board or site throughout the duration of the post, leaving little ability to target passive candidates elsewhere around the web.
Cost-Per-Click Job Advertising
… as well as some risks associated with cost-per-click (CPC) job advertising:
- Not enough conversions. Paying for clicks doesn’t guarantee applicants, which is commonly the desired outcome of an employer or hiring organization.
- Overspending on jobs. On a CPC model, easier-to-fill jobs may consume the majority of the clicks (and budget), requiring advertisers to leverage more expensive alternatives to find candidates for their hard-to-fill jobs.
How is a Pay-Per-Applicant Model Different?
Cost-Per-Applicant Media
The cost-per-applicant (CPA) media model moves away from the limitations of duration-based postings and the conversion rate disconnect of a CPC model, to drive the right number of candidates to the right positions. The CPA consumption model finally matches the reality that not all jobs are the same; market rates can determine the right price for the right candidate.
The benefits make pay-per-applicant recruitment media a no-brainer:
- Massive reduction of risk: Advertisers can list all open jobs across a variety of locations. Employers only pay when a job ad generates an applicant.
- Greater partnership between employers and publishers: CPA publishers are highly motivated to drive the most value, in terms of applications, towards the advertiser. In partnership with a quality CPA provider, advertisers may even see time-to-hire diminish.
- Better ROI: CPA removes the risk of duration-based postings, eliminates the low mobile conversion risk and potential application drop-off associated with a CPC model. Used intelligently, a CPA model has the potential to reduce overall cost-per-hire.
Not sure whether pay-per-applicant job advertising is a good fit for your organization?
Discover how to get started with a performance-based strategy, and get the guide to Performance Job Advertising here!
This blog was originally published on April 21, 2017 and has since been updated.
