Episode Overview
During a recent episode of Talent Talks, Jenn Terry, VP of Strategy at Joveo, spoke with Iain Moss, B2B Marketing Manager at Adzuna, and Dan Sapir, VP of Partnerships and Business Development at Joveo.
They discussed:
- How COVID-19 sped up the shift in recruitment advertising from pay-per-post to pay-for-performance channels
- How talent acquisition teams can make that shift while keeping risk under control
- Why programmatic job advertising is becoming more important
Watch the video or read the highlights below to learn more about the changes in recruitment advertising.
Summary
This Talent Talks discussion looks at how COVID-19 sped up changes in recruitment advertising. It also shows how talent acquisition leaders are using better data, stronger tracking, and smarter channel choices to improve hiring.
Adzuna and Joveo make the case for a more measured approach. The goal is simple: reach the right candidates, lower waste, and improve the candidate experience.
The Post-COVID ‘Warm Reopening’
COVID-19 Vacancy Trends
Jenn: I want to start with something timely: COVID-19. I saw on the Adzuna blog that you have strong, useful data on vacancy trends. Can you tell viewers more about that?
Iain: Sure. Adzuna has a large set of data on vacancies. That lets us see a few clear trends.
The UK has lost more vacancies than most other countries, both in total and as a share. The US is starting to recover, even if it had a small dip this week. France and Germany are close to where they were before COVID.
We can also break the data down by category. We can see what is going on in bars, pubs, and restaurants, and that part of the market is still weak in the UK. No one has been hiring, but places are starting to open again now.
CPC, Click-to-Apply Ratios, and Candidate Supply
Jenn: As some countries start to warm back up, how are you seeing the post-COVID ‘warm reopening’? What is happening with cost per click, click-to-apply ratios, and candidate supply?
Iain: Overall, we have seen a small drop. In the UK, the furlough scheme, or job retention scheme, means many people do not need to apply for work because their pay is still being covered.
That means many people are not rushing to apply. Under normal conditions, a rise in unemployment would usually push cost per click down much more. We are not seeing that yet. It is down a bit, but not by a huge amount.
It is still early. The UK was only just starting to reopen, so it is hard to judge the full effect. Pubs, restaurants, and other businesses are only now coming back online.
Jenn: That is interesting. You would expect a much bigger wave of applicants.
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The Evolving Role of Recruitment Advertising Channels
How Employers Use Different Advertising Channels
Jenn: Dan, let me turn to you. Employers rely on many channels, right? Job boards, Google ads, and more. Can you explain how each one fits into the mix?
Dan: Sure. We work across several channels. That includes traditional pay-per-post sites, pay-for-performance sites, and social channels like Google and Facebook.
In the US, more savvy companies tend to start with pay-for-performance sites. We help them optimize across a large network of those sites.
If they do not get enough reach, they often move to Google and Facebook. Those channels have strong targeting, but they can cost more to use. So many companies begin with pay-for-performance first.
Programmatic Adoption in the UK and US
Jenn: That makes sense. Iain, you have a UK view on this. Do you see the same pattern, or is it different?
Iain: It is a bit different. Employers in the UK are usually less savvy than in the US. Programmatic adoption is behind the US, but it is starting to pick up.
More people are seeing the value of programmatic job advertising. They like that they can bid at the job level and track results more closely.
Employers have often been reluctant to dig into the details of how they attract people. That is changing, though. More large employers are now using recruitment advertising specialists.
Programmatic Job Advertising: The Better Way
Why Programmatic Advertising Matters
Jenn: I think that is an important point. Traditional HR teams may not yet see the value of programmatic advertising and ad networks like Adzuna. If you had two minutes to explain why this is the better way, what would you say?
Iain: If you use cost-per-click or cost-per-application methods, you can track candidates better and test what works. That is true whether you use programmatic, manual buying, or your own ad channels.
What we often saw with spray-and-pray buying and long contracts is that it does not fit every business. It also does not give you much flexibility.
When COVID hit, many businesses looked at their costs and asked if old spend still made sense. The way you hire an accountant is not the same as the way you hire a salesperson or someone in warehousing. Different roles need different tactics.
That is why using the right suppliers and channels makes more sense. It can also lower cost and cut time to hire.
Moving from Duration-Based Boards to On-Demand Ads
Jenn: And quality goes up too, right? I worked in AT&T and spent a lot of time on large duration-based hosting packages. Then the market changed. We did not need the same old model anymore, so shifting to on-demand advertising made much more sense.
Pay Per Post, Pay Per Click, and Programmatic: Reducing Risk
Why Employers Are Moving Beyond Traditional Job Postings
Jenn: Dan, what else do you see driving employers away from traditional job posts, or at least away from only using traditional job posts?
Dan: To be clear, not every pay-per-post campaign is bad. Some verticals still work very well with it. The main point is that you need to measure everything.
I think back to my early days in the space. When I first talked with a recruiter at Indeed, he said everyone else sold pay-per-post, but Indeed sold pay-per-click. That made sense to me.
When I first spoke to HR pros, many of them were nervous. They worried about spending too much money too fast. That fear is normal when a new tool or new model comes along.
The market has only just started to fully adopt pay-for-performance. Indeed has done a strong job of promoting it, so many people now see that it works well.
But once you think about pay-for-performance at scale, there are thousands of sites to manage. That is where things get hard. Programmatic job advertising helps because it gives recruiters a way to place budget with more control.
With tighter budgets, recruiters can give the automated process a set of rules and let it work out the best return on investment.
Reducing Risk with the Right Parameters
Jenn: Yes, it feels like jumping into deep water with a life vest on. If you set the right rules, you cannot really go too wrong.
Adzuna’s Edge: Helping Job Seekers Zero In on the Right Role
What Sets Adzuna Apart
Jenn: I am a big blog reader and writer, and I have to say you get two thumbs up from me on the Adzuna blog. If I were to look at what Adzuna does that is distinct, beyond the great data and insights, what would you want viewers to know about your space and how Adzuna fits into it?
Iain: First, thank you for the kind words. You already pointed to one of our main strengths: breadth of data and breadth of information.
We want to give people a clear view of the market and help them focus on the right candidate with the right data. We built tools for both job seekers and candidates.
In the UK, we call one of those tools Value my CV. In the US, it is Value my Resume. A candidate can upload a CV or resume, and our AI tool matches them with jobs, shows what they may be worth, and gives them a view of a possible career path.
The aim is to improve the candidate experience. It also improves the employer experience.
Candidate Experience and the Joveo-Adzuna Partnership
Jenn: I love that. The Talent Board is a global group that benchmarks candidate experience, and I sit on their panel. One thing that comes up again and again is helping people find jobs.
That is one reason Joveo and Adzuna make such a strong match.
Dan, is there anything we have not covered that viewers should know about this space?
Dan: Sure. I want to talk about our relationship with Adzuna.
The bells and whistles are nice, but as the person who has to manage budgets, what I like most is that Adzuna has been around a long time. That means they have a lot of data.
That data helps them make smart choices about who they serve and which jobs go to which job seekers. We have seen them become a very strong source for us in the US, the UK, and across Europe.
This is a less crowded market. There are only a few strong players that get good results and have real scale.
Learn More About Programmatic Job Advertising
For more information on how programmatic job advertising can help you do more with less as a talent acquisition or recruitment marketing leader, schedule a conversation with us today!
