Interactive Insights

Recruiting Customer Service Representatives

A Deep Dive into Talent Sourcing and Recruitment Advertising Benchmarks

Customer Service Representatives

A Bit About These Talented Professionals

We’ve all had experience dealing with customer service representatives (CSRs)! These wonderful folks – nearly three million of them – work across a plethora of industries, handling complaints, processing orders, and answering questions. One might even call them the unsung heroes of our consumer-driven world… However, due to several shifts, CSR job openings are slated to decline 4% through 2031. Despite this, thanks to occupational drain, we’ll still see a whopping 389,000 openings per year. Surprised? Well, we kinda were too!

Yes, yes. The robots are taking some jobs. And online self-service options are definitely on the rise. But, interestingly, the occupation is shifting in response and finding new and exciting ways to use customer service representatives. Complex queries – sales, service, loyalty, and refunds – will remain with the humans. These high-touch services demand a level of empathy and understanding that AI can’t match (yet) in order to keep those customers singing songs of praise.

So, ready to call more great-fit CSR candidates to your funnel, at the most optimal cost?

It’s time to let Joveo’s data do the talking!

0%
Year-on-year decrease in CPC
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Year-on-year increase in median advertised salary
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Year-on-year decrease in unique postings

CPA App-lause or App-loss

CPAsCost per application (CPA) measures the cost incurred by an organization to receive one job application from a potential candidate. depend on CPCs, as well as a bunch of other factors! While you can’t control everything (ain’t that the truth!) you can defo work on perfecting that application process.

At the end of the day, here are a few key factors to consider, including CPA, employer brand, recruiter time and effort, application quality, and candidate experience. While easy apply CPAs are low, recruiters may not get all the info they need and apps from unqualified or low-intention candidates may pour in! On the flip side, a lengthy apply process can result in high applicant drop-off, poor candidate experience, and a high CPA.

Recommendation: Evaluate your process to figure out what your team needs – whether using easy apply, optimized ATS-based apps, or other options, your recruitment strategy should be data-driven.

Source: Joveo and Lightcast Research

CPC, Ya You Know Me!

Nationally, we are seeing an average CPCCost per click (CPC) is the cost incurred by an organization for each click on a job advertisement or recruitment campaign. of $.73… but that’s not going to help you plan, is it? Rhode Island takes the lead as the most cost-effective, coming in at just $0.04 per click. On the other side of the spectrum, where clicks are the priciest, we find Arizona with a CPC of $1.70.

Recommendation: Make sure you get the most bang for your buck! Leverage this data, understand seasonality and macro trends, and stay nimble. Track and compare performance across states and do a little A/B testingA/B testing refers to a randomized experimentation process. Two or more versions of a variable (job title, job description, etc.) are shown to different segments of users at the same time. The goal is to determine which version leaves the maximum impact and drives conversions. to optimize those CPCs and conversion rates.

Source: Joveo and Lightcast Research

Demand-Supply: The Golden Ratio

When it comes to demand and supply for CSRs, the ratio of hires to postings hovers very close to 4.08 over the months. What does this mean, you ask? Well, about four hires are made for every posting.

Recommendation: If your ratio is less than 4.08, we strongly recommend an old fashioned recruitment marketing audit. That means reviewing job titles, descriptions, compensation, and benefits compared with your competition. Oh, and never could we ever forget reach, ad dollars, and return on ad spend per source!

Source: Joveo and Lightcast Research

Mind Your Demand-Supply Gap… by State

Wondering just how aggressive your sourcing needs to be in a given state? Well, this chart will come in mighty handy, giving insight into the demand-supply gap The demand-supply gap is calculated by dividing the number of unique job postings by total employment in the occupation. The higher the number, the greater the demand-supply gap, compared with the national average., and indicating just how hard you need to push when it comes to talent sourcing or job advertising.

For example, if you’re looking to hire in New York, Pennsylvania, or West Virginia, you shouldn’t have a problem. In fact, these four top our list of easiest to fill states when we take a look at demand and supply of CSRs. On the other end of the spectrum, filling your hiring funnel in Hawaii, Alaska, and Wyoming is going to be a challenge, given the low supply and high demand!

Recommendation: If the color of your state is in the deep gold, it may indicate that you need to jazz up your job content, A/B test titles A/B testing refers to a randomized experimentation process. Two or more versions of a variable (web page, job description, etc.) are shown to different segments of users at the same time. The goal is to determine which version leaves the maximum impact and drives conversions., expand across locationsGeographic optimizations expand the targeted location to include surrounding communities. This is an easy way to extend your reach and reduce CPAs by sourcing from less competitive markets., and spend considerably more on recruitment marketing and job advertising to attract those great-fit candidates.

Source: Joveo and Lightcast Research

Who Posts the Most?

The competition is heated when it comes to recruiting CSRs, with an average posting intensity Posting intensity is the ratio of total job postings to unique job postings. A higher posting intensity means employers are sending copies of their reqs to several job sites or other locations on the web, to reach a bigger talent pool. of 3:1 across the occupation, nationally. Top employers like Charles Schwab, Domino’s Pizza, and Planet Fitness distribute their jobs with similar intensity, while some other well-known names like Walgreens Boots Alliance (8:1) and Fidelity Investments (12:1) go a step further, beating the national occupational average. Penske Automotive Group tops them all with a posting intensity of 20:1!

Recommendation: Be sure to get your posts out to all the right job boards and on social media (don’t miss those passive job seekers!). We’ll admit we are a little biased, but one great way to automatically post jobs across the best-performing sites is to use programmatic job advertising – plus you can take advantage of job title Job title expansion means leveraging alternative job titles, using commonly searched terms. These are published as new listings in addition to the original post. and geographic Geographic optimizations expand the targeted location to include surrounding communities. This is an easy way to extend your reach and reduce CPAs by sourcing from less competitive markets. expansions.

Source: Joveo and Lightcast Research

Show Candidates the Money!

Interestingly, the national median salary and advertised median salaries over a 12-month period are nearly identical at $38,000, as of December of 2023. We typically see advertised and actual salaries so close when the demand-supply gap is lower within an occupation. Employers advertising salaries higher than this will definitely have a competitive advantage when it comes to sourcing.

Recommendation: If you offer a great salary, don’t forget to call it out in your job description, even if your state doesn’t enforce it legally. Currently, 50% of unique job postings for CSRs include wage info. This will help you attract more candidates, lower CPCs, fill your funnel faster, and edge out the competition.

Source: Joveo and Lightcast Research

An Eye on DE&I: How Do You Measure Up?

Did you know that 67% of today’s candidates take a serious look at potential employers’ DE&I programs? Well, they do. And what they find influences their decision making. And, as we well know, the more diverse your workforce, the better your business outcomes!

Recommendation: Take a peek at how diverse the profession is in your state and see how well your DE&I performance measures up. If you find you’re falling a bit short, have no fear! There are a plethora of relevant job boards to give your DE&I program the boost it needs.

Source: Joveo and Lightcast Research

Occupational Gain to Attract and Retain

By understanding what occupations CSRs come from, you can tailor your job ad content and channels to reach those audiences. That’s over and above the standard talent supply in your market. That’s right – meet them where they are and help them get to where they want to be! For example, many customer service reps previously worked as first-line office supervisors, retail sales folk, and sales reps.

Recommendation: Identify the right channels with a combination of keyword research. We really, strongly recommend working with a programmatic job advertising partner who has publisher-level historical data and expertise. Now go get those great-fit candidates!

Source: Joveo and Lightcast Research

Curious about how your own talent sourcing and recruitment advertising efforts compare? Find out what it takes to be best-in-class and leave your competition in the dust.

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