Okay, so we have recruitment marketing and recruitment advertisement (or recruitment advertising). Although they sound like they might be the same thing, there is a difference between the two. What exactly is that difference?
Recruitment marketing involves gaining more exposure for the services of a search consultant, recruiter, or headhunter. (Yes, we’re going to use the phrase “headhunter.” Recruiters have been calling themselves that for years. Most of them do not deem it to be offensive, so neither do we.)
What is recruitment advertising?
Recruitment advertising, on the other hand, involves gaining more exposure for open job orders or open jobs. In the Digital Age, this refers mostly to exposure on the Internet or World Wide Web. “Back in the day,” this referred mostly to exposure through the newspaper and/or in industry publications and trade journals. My, how the world has changed.
Okay, let’s address the “elephant in the room.” Not every single recruiter advertises their jobs on the Internet in an effort to fill them. However, there are some recruiters who DO advertise their jobs. This represents a philosophical divide, more than anything.
There are some recruiters and search consultants who believe they do not need to advertise on the Internet in order to source the right candidates and fill their job orders.
On the other hand, there are some recruiters and search consultants who want every single edge they can get. To that end, they have absolutely no problem at all advertising jobs on the Internet.
The purpose of this blog post is not to take sides in this ongoing debate. Just because a headhunter does not advertise jobs on the Internet, that does not make them a better recruiter than somebody who does, and vice-versa. Once again, this boils down to preference. What works for one person does not necessarily work for another, and at Top Echelon, we’re all about doing what works.
With all of that being said, the purpose of this blog post is to identify the most effective recruitment job advertising methods for headhunters. And we shall proceed with that goal firmly in mind.
We at Top Echelon recently conducted a survey of more than 20,000 recruitment professionals in the United States and Canada. We designed this survey to gauge the professionals’ opinions regarding a wide range of recruiting and hiring topics.
The recruitment advertising winner: LinkedIn
One of those topics was that of recruitment advertising. In fact, we asked the following question in our survey:
Which of the following avenues gets the best response rate for advertising your jobs?
As you might imagine, we provided a list of options for those recruiters who participated in our survey. “LinkedIn” was the overall winner, as 32.2% of recruiters chose that answer. “Indeed.com” was second with 24.8% of the vote. (It probably does not surprise you to know that Indeed made quite a jump from the survey that we conducted last year. Although it still could not overtake LinkedIn.)
In somewhat of a twist, “Email blast to candidates in your database” was a close third at 24%. Rounding out the top five were “ZipRecruiter” (8.7%) and “Top Echelon Job Posting” (4.5%). We didn’t offer a choice of “Other” in this year’s survey, mainly because suspected that recruiters would still offer their opinion on the topic. And our suspicions were on the mark.
Not only did recruiters still offer their opinion, many of them did so by stating in no uncertain terms that they do NOT post jobs on the Internet. Instead, they rely on other methods. But allow them to speak for themselves . . .
“I do not post my jobs on the Internet, nor do I email blast. I’m ‘old school,’ preferring to actually make targeted and prioritized calls to candidates.”
“85% of the jobs I fill have nothing to do with advertising. We fill them from our database, network of contacts, or cold calls.”
“Indeed, but that will likely change now that they’ve removed recruiter jobs from their organic search.”
So what’s the key take-away from all of this? Once again, recruiters fall into two distinct categories: those who use online advertising and those who almost abhor using online advertising. In addition, LinkedIn and Indeed continue to be major players within this realm. However, there is another interesting trend, which is the amount of success that recruiters are experiencing with email blasts to candidates in their database. This practice, along with the success experienced when doing so, continues to rise among recruiters.
Our State of the Recruiting Industry Report
As mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, we conduct a survey of more than 20,000 recruitment professionals in the United States and Canada. We turn the results of this survey into what we call The State of the Recruiting Industry Report. We’ve conducted this survey and published this report in each of the past four years.
Search consultants’ most effective job advertising methods are just one part of Top Echelon’s 2019 State of the Recruiting Industry Report. This special report contains much more, including the following:
- Recruiters’ top priorities for 2019
- Most popular recruitment marketing strategies for search consultants
- Recruiters’ biggest problems with clients
- The top complaints clients have about candidates
- Recruiters’ biggest problems with candidates
- Where to advertise your jobs to reach the most candidates
- What recruiters think about the future of the profession
Download the 2019 State of the Recruiting Industry Report!
And don’t forget, Top Echelon also offers one of the most affordable recruiting software packages on the market. The price is just $59.50 per user per month under the annual plan. Click here for a FREE 15-day trial of the software.