Every year, we receive this fantastic report from Appcast, which is titled the Recruitment Marketing Benchmark Report. Through this report, which analyzes data from nearly 1,000 employers, 139 million clicks, and 7 million applies, we see trends.
Now is the time to look at those trends and determine how they help your recruiters. Adjusting to these trends helps your company make better data-driven decisions and increase the efficiency of your recruitment budget on job boards.
A couple of overarching trends that stand out before we dig deeper:
- Mobile continues to increase
- Think like the job seeker
Takeaway No. 1: Decrease in Application Rate
In 2018, the application rate for jobs was 5.6 percent. In the past year, that dropped to 5.0 percent – a decrease of more than 10 percent.
(What is an application rate? We measure the application rate by dividing the number of applies by the number of clicks. For example, if we have 100 clicks and 5 applies, that means we have an application rate of 5 percent)
Let’s put that number into perspective – let’s say you need 20 applicants to make a placement, and the average cost per click is $0.50.
In 2018, it cost $178.50 in job advertising spend to make the placement. In 2019, let’s keep everything the same except for the application rate dropping to 5.0 percent. It now costs $200 in job advertising spend to make the placement.
While $21.50 isn’t a considerable amount, but who only hires for one job? Let’s say you hire for 100 openings – that’s a $2,150 increase. Let’s say you hire for 500 positions, that’s a $10,750 increase. All because application rates dropped from 5.6 percent to 5 percent.
Takeaway No. 2: Impact of Mobile Traffic
Let’s dig into that point about candidate behavior when looking at application behavior on weekdays vs. the weekend.
All of the days during the week feature more job applications coming from desktops than mobile devices. On the weekend, that changes dramatically, with 56.2 percent of applications on Saturday and 55.7 percent on Sunday coming from mobile devices.
Why? Don’t overthink it.
On the weekend, we aren’t sitting at a computer or a desk all day. We are moving around. It could be at your house or apartment. It could be anywhere. But we are on our phones all the time.
During the week – people spend more time at their computer and naturally will find their way to job boards.
Takeaway No. 3: Short Job Titles
Think about the last time you went to a job board and searched for a job. What did you type in? It was probably something straightforward.
Coding ninja sounds excellent. No one is going to the job boards and searching for “coding ninja.” They are going to the job boards and searching “Back End Developer” or “Python Programmer” or “Database Developer.”
In the Appcast report, the data shows a linear trend in shorter job title and application rates:
- 1-3 words: 7.1 percent
- 4-6 words: 5.8 percent
- 7-9 words: 4.8 percent
- 10+ words: less than 4 percent.
When we post jobs, we must keep two factors in mind: think like the jobseeker and think like the algorithm of the job board.
Job boards act just like Google. A candidate goes to the job board and searches for a job. It’s the goal of the job board to provide the most accurate results possible.
While you might want to post your job as a “coding ninja,” no one is going to the job boards to search for that term.
Put that on the business card. Don’t put that on the job posting.
Takeaway No. 4: Post Your Jobs on Sunday Night
With any marketing, and that’s what posting job advertisements is, we need to think like our audience. Where are they spending their time? When are they spending their time in specific locations? What are their behaviors?
Think about your own life. When Friday afternoon/evening comes, are you going to search for a job? How about on Saturday? The answer is probably not. (unless you are REALLY unhappy!)
When does frustration about your job start to re-emerge? It could be Sunday morning. Maybe on Sunday afternoon. But those “Sunday Scaries” really start to come back on Sunday night.
For recruiters – you must post your jobs by Sunday night.
The data shows the highest application rates come on Monday (18.5 percent) and start to decrease slowly: Tuesday (17.9 percent), Wednesday (16.6 percent), Thursday (15 percent), Friday (12.4 percent) Saturday: (8.8 percent) and Sunday (10.8 percent)
If you wait until Monday morning, it could be too late.
Find a way to get your jobs sponsored on Sunday night to take advantage of that employee frustration.
So what can you do?
Apply for your jobs – on desktop and mobile. Make sure the experience is pleasant through both platforms.
Really think like your job seeker. Does your audience spend more time on mobile devices or at desktops? What job title are they searching for when trying to find a new opportunity? When are they going to the job boards to search for a job?
This report provides a great resource to improve the recruitment process for your company. Consider what applies to your company and work to make improvements in 2020. Download the Appcast Recruitment Marketing Benchmark Report here.
This post originally appeared on the Haley Marketing Blog on March 24, 2020.
