Beyond Customer Acquisition, Helping Advertisers with Recruitment

The State of Hiring and Recruitment

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the economy added 678,000 jobs in February 2022. BLS also reported that unemployment was at 3.8%. Those numbers speak to continued recovery in the pandemic.

However, many employers are struggling to find staff, partly due to “The Great Resignation.” BLS’s turnover summary for January 2022 lists 6.1 million total separations, of which 4.3 million were quits. That is slightly down from peaks in 2021. This occurrence is a paradigm shift in the workforce ecosystem. Workers want more balance, better pay, more benefits and opportunity. To achieve this, many are seeking careers in new industries. Customers on either side are feeling this impact.

Your Advertisers Can’t Grow Without People

Typically, when you work with an advertiser and talk about their goals, the discussion consists primarily of customer acquisition or retainment. For any business to grow and retain its base, they need staff to keep up with demand. Growth isn’t sustainable if they don’t have enough customer service professionals, wait staff, associates, skilled trade workers, etc.

For these reasons, they need help with recruitment. If you can offer them multichannel solutions, including linear and digital, you can help them reach staffing objectives.

Helping Advertisers with Recruitment: Presenting Strategies

The types of employees your advertisers need will dictate your strategy somewhat. The skill sets and demographics of their target market will differ and vary. Your advertisers are likely already trying to specify this with job board placement, but that’s not the only way to attract applicants. In building out their ideal candidate, you’ll want to consider where and how they consume content, their preferences, and other demographic attributes.

For example, trade professionals and hospitality workers visit different types of websites, search jobs using very different keywords and have various behaviors on social media. For all these variables, digital advertising allows you to target based on these profiles. You can also use geographic targeting if applicable, so people only in certain ZIP codes see the ad.

Beyond Targeting: Customizing Messaging and Format

Once you have a good target profile, it’s time to determine what types of digital advertising will net the best results. Again, the type of workers and industry will influence the what and where. Here are some examples:

Social media ads: This could be a great option for clients seeking bartenders, wait staff and entertainment professionals. You can target by age and preferences for the ads to display to those most likely in the field. Because this skews younger, social media makes sense to connect. Plus, ad content can be fun and less traditional here.

OTT/CTV ads: These will be video ads that can tell a story. The content could feature current employees, the business itself or anything with visual impact. Such an ad can have an impact and make people curious to learn more.

Display ads: Again, you have many targeting capabilities with these ad types. The creative, however, is a smaller scale, so this may work best for simple messages but can be catchy and themed. Work with your customers on ad copy and design to stand out instead of blend in.

Broaden Reach with Linear Advertising

As a complement to digital, you should also recommend linear ad spots — TV, radio or both. Radio and TV have an advantage over digital in how many people watch and listen every day. Use that to your advantage when making suggestions.

Ad content for linear should be more imaginative than just saying, “We’re hiring.” Build up the employer’s resume by touting best-place-to-work awards, years in business, starting rates and average employee tenure.

Job applicants are evaluating employers in the same manner that companies do. They have choices and expectations of what a healthy work culture should be. Those are the content themes that should be the foundation for linear ad spots.