What Does the Future of Recruitment Advertising Look Like?
The future of recruitment advertising is evolving beyond traditional job boards like CareerBuilder and Monster—which are now merging under Randstad NV—prompting companies to reconsider their hiring strategies as these platforms, long dominant yet minimally innovative, face changes that may reshape how open roles are advertised and filled.
What Does the Future of Recruitment Advertising Look Like?
Oct 8, 2024
HR and Recruiting Industry Information, Recruiting Best Practices
When your company has an open position, what steps do you take to fill it? It’s likely that your process includes creating or repurposing a description and posting it online. Job boards have long been the recruitment advertising king, but will that continue? Take a look at what the future of recruitment advertising might look like and how to prepare.
Job Boards: The Hiring Leader
When you think about the top job boards, a few sites may come to mind. CareerBuilder and Monster were among the earliest, with thousands of jobseekers and hiring managers flocking to them daily. But recently, the two announced a plan to form a joint venture, with Randstad NV taking control of CareerBuilder.
As the two former competitors come together, it’s left people wondering: What does the future of advertising open roles include? For decades, job boards ruled the internet, despite minimal advancements in the overall user experience of using them. These early sites, such as those mentioned, were simple, featuring a list of open roles that could be searched by keyword, location, and other criteria. The process of finding and applying for a job hadn’t seen much change for many years, at least until a few new players entered the space.
Other Recruitment Advertising Methods
Indeed and LinkedIn may fall under the category of job boards, but both companies have taken strides to stand apart. By providing additional resources, including informative content, reviews of companies and opportunities to network, the sites have essentially created a category of their own.
LinkedIn started as a social networking site geared toward professionals, where users can curate a feed and share information about their lives. It’s also useful for jobseekers, as many professionals share open roles with their networks.
Beyond these resources, jobseekers now have more options when it comes to finding jobs. When scrolling Facebook or Instagram, a post for an open position in the local area may pop up for a user. Employers can use the business side of the Meta platform to publish job postings and even gear them toward users based on location or other demographics.
Countless groups exist on various social platforms geared toward those looking for work. Employers seeking new hires may share details about open roles across hundreds of groups, potentially appealing to a wider audience than they would when solely relying on a job board. Plus, there’s always the chance that a friend or colleague of the ideal hire spots the post and shares it.
Internal Referrals: The Way of the Future?
Some employers are putting more money behind a different recruitment method: internal referrals. This effort could play a key role in the future of recruitment advertising, particularly because of the quality of candidates that typically come from referrals.
An employee referral is a candidate who is brought in by an existing employee. Some companies offer bonuses for referrals, while others simply encourage their employees to share information about open roles. A strong company culture goes hand-in-hand with any type of referral program, as employees aren’t likely to encourage their friends and family to work for an organization that doesn’t feel supportive or positive.
Some of the advantages of implementing an internal referral program include:
- Higher conversion rates ( nearly 40 percent of referrals get hired, potentially due to more personalized recommendations from people who know individuals who might be good fits)
- Lower turnover rates (over 45 percent of employee referrals remain in their roles for three-plus years vs. 14 percent of job board hires)
- Less expensive (no fees associated with internal referrals, other than any bonuses paid to referring employees)
As you consider the future of recruitment advertising, think about what works for your company. Implementing technology that automates a lot of the manual effort can save time and money. Plus, you can more easily track and manage applicants, reducing the risk of top contenders slipping through the cracks.
ApplicantStack makes it easy to find and bring on top talent. Explore this applicant-tracking system to see how it can simplify your day-to-day while ensuring your open roles reach a wide audience. Start your free trial and post a job today!
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