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What Is Programmatic Job Advertising?

Have you ever wished your recruitment advertisement strategy could target your ideal job candidate with as much precision as Instagram when it showed you that goat-shaming Farmers Insurance ad? After all, if the internet can know you go ga-ga over baby goats and you’re insuring two teenage drivers, then why can’t it deliver your job ad to experienced IT candidates in the local area who know SQL?

The targeted ads you’ve been noticing—the ones that seem tailored-made for you—are the result of a thing called programmatic advertising. These nifty algorithms are traditionally the domain of tech giants and commercial marketers. But in recent years, the recruitment industry has been taking notice. Hundreds of job boards, along with crappy candidates crowding out the champions, leave recruiters wondering if there’s a better way.

There is, and the better way is called programmatic job advertising.

Programmatic job advertising brings targeted ads to job seekers. Using programmatic job postings, companies can create job advertising campaigns that zero in on the best candidates, wherever they may be on the internet. Job ads appear on the right site, at the right time, just when the right candidate will see it. But programmatic job advertising does so much more.

Programmatic Advertising

Advertising on the Internet is nothing new. We all remember the flashy banner ads on Myspace. What is new is programmatic advertising that uses big data, machine learning, and predictive analytics to target the right audience.

When your grandfather told you “Nothing in life is free,” he might as well have been talking about all those free apps on your devices. It’s no secret that everything we do digitally is stored in a cybernated profile. Programmatic advertising uses this information, collectively known as “big data,” to target consumers.

Don Draper and the rest of the “Mad Men” only had standard demographics to work with when creating audience profiles. Big data adds hundreds of input fields to create a complete analysis of an ad’s intended audience.

All those factoids are too much for humans to interpret and act upon. Enter machine learning. Software can analyze the data and match ads with users most likely to convert. The software will always make the best choices using algorithms that analyze all that big data.

The ad’s performance metrics are fed back into the algorithm. When this performance data is factored into the big data, the software can make better matches in the future. Predictive analytics is what happens when machine learning produces increasingly better results.

But the software doesn’t stop there. Programmatic advertising completely automates the purchasing and managing of advertising space. Programmatic advertising software can find sites and purchase or bid on space within a spending budget set by the user. Humans can always step in and make adjustments. Programmatic advertising platforms take the grunt work out of marketing campaigns while making them more efficient and effective.

Programmatic advertising is why you see an ad from REI for a mirrored sighting compass after you purchase “A Walk in the Woods” from Amazon.

Recruitment Advertisement

Despite the advantages of programmatic job advertisement, most companies still use traditional recruitment strategies to place job ads.

Traditional recruitment advertisement operates a lot like those old Myspace ads. Recruiters hand-select the job boards to which they wanted to post. They log into each one individually, then purchase space and upload their ad. They cross their fingers and wait.

Traditional recruitment advertisement doesn’t have the advantage of big data. Recruiters can’t know which job board has the most forklift operators or which ones have the most active users in their area. Traditional recruitment advertisements are basically a crap shoot in which recruiters hope they’re posting to the right jobs site at the right time.

Aptitude Research, a Boston-based advisory firm, estimates recruiters waste 40 percent of their advertising budget with traditional job advertising. According to Aptitude’s founder, Madeline Laurano, “Traditional job advertising is expensive, inefficient and, at times, ineffective.”

Applicant tracking software can help improve the efficiency of job advertising with one-click posting and single screen analytics. Recruiters who use an ATS can increase job seeker conversion with a branded careers site and a multi-step application. ATS can also streamline other recruitment-related tasks such as HR compliance reporting.

Pairing applicant tracking software with compatible programmatic job advertising software can help companies zero in on the best candidates, wherever they may be. The result is a recruitment juggernaut that finds and converts the best candidates, then streamlines and optimizes every step of the selection process.

Programmatic Job Advertising in Recruitment

Programmatic job advertising by definition will help you reach the right candidates, wherever they may be. With the help of programmatic job advertising platforms, your job ads will appear on the job boards where your ideal candidates are hanging out. Glassdoor and Monster cater to different types of job seekers. Your job ad will appear on the best choice, whether you are looking for an operations manager or a forklift operator. Your best job candidates aren’t spending all their time on job boards. Programmatic job advertising software will place your ads on sites you may not have considered.

HGS, a business process management company, pivoted to mostly programmatic job advertising from traditional job advertising in response to the pandemic. To keep their workforce safe and healthy, HGS closed their call center doors. Their newly remote workforce meant that HGS could recruit from almost anywhere in the U.S. and Canada, rather than the few physical locations they previously operated. Casting a wider net in a larger talent pool meant their job advertising costs ballooned. Programmatic job advertising helped reign those costs in while improving time-to-hire.

According to Trish Robb, the General Manager of North American Recruitment and Talent Management at HGS, “With some of the time that we’ve gained back, our team has been able to focus on other recruitment marketing strategies, like engaging with talent through our social media channels, creating virtual job previews, responding to employee reviews and improving our reputation as an employer.”

Affordable Programmatic Job Posting

In the aftermath of the pandemic and the current labor shortage, HR teams are looking to programmatic job advertising to save money and find great candidates. According to Aptitude’s research, companies that use programmatic job advertising improve their time-to-hire as well as the quality of their new hire. Filling open positions quickly with top talent is the first step to improving employee retention.

With hundreds of job boards available, both you and your advertising budget can get overwhelmed. Programmatic job advertising software will help you effectively branch out to the most effective niche sites without wasting money on ineffective job boards. The algorithms written into programmatic job advertising software will use real-time data to adjust the software’s recruitment strategy.

When you use programmatic job advertising in recruitment, you can rely on predictive analytics and algorithms to make the most efficient use of your recruitment budget. You can avoid wasting money purchasing paid advertising on sites or for open positions that perform well through less expensive posting options. Programmatic recruitment marketing platforms will identify the open positions that aren’t receiving enough applicants. The programmatic job posting software will then your recruitment spending into those positions by purchasing ads on the optimal sites.

Final Thoughts About Programmatic Job Advertising

Whether you’re hiring hundreds of high-turnover positions each year or searching for a unicorn with mad JavaScript skills, you can use programmatic job advertising to reduce your costs and free up your time for other recruitment activities.

After all, posting job ads are just one part of a comprehensive recruitment strategy. Rather than spending your time analyzing your recruitment ROI across dozens of job sites, let programmatic job advertising software send your job ads to platforms where your best candidates are hanging out. You can focus on boosting your employer brand and selecting the best new hire.

Are you ready to dive deeper into the cost-saving possibilities of programmatic job advertising? Contact our solutions team for a personalized demonstration.

 

Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash

Job Board Spotlight: Beyond.com

The best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) will integrate with your website via a careers portal, creating a seamless brand experience for job applicants. But to attract a high volume of applicants to your site, it is vital to have an ATS that features automated posts to a wide variety of external job boards. Without this, even the most efficient applicant tracking systems will be useless if job seekers cannot find your job posts.

To help you discover the unique benefits of job boards and communities, ExactHire will seek to spotlight some of the more effective options available to you by frequently reporting on them through our blog.


This month, we selected Beyond.com as the focus of our Job Board Spotlight. We spoke with Danielle Sayre, Strategic Alliance Manager at Beyond.com.


 

Q:With thousands of job boards available, what is your advice for employers seeking to find the best option?

A: A job posting is an advertisement. So evaluate a job board the way you evaluate any advertising opportunity. First of all, is the site appropriate to your brand? Second, how will the board market your jobs? If you have a generalist job, you may want it available for general public. But if you are looking for a specific audience, then you want to make sure that your job ad will be marketed to the most relevant audience.

 

Q:In what industries does Beyond.com specialize?

A: Beyond has over 50 million members who belong to hundreds of niche communities on Beyond. Our largest community is our healthcare community with 6.6 million members. We also have a robust technology community with almost 3 million members, and a growing retail community with 3.7 million members. To view a complete list of our latest member statistics, visit http://www.beyond.com/communities/hiring/.

 

Q:Can you describe the advantages of using niche job sites?

A: Sites with a niche approach are often able to deliver a more relevant pool of candidates. The niche approach attracts unique candidates with an interest in that niche. In addition, sites with a niche philosophy strive to market your job to the most relevant candidates.

 

Q:How can Beyond.com serve as one of the world’s largest job boards, yet also offer the advantages of niche job boards?

A: Beyond is the original niche network. We started as PhillyJobs over 10 years ago, and grew into a network of over a thousand niche sites, including TechCareers and Healthcare Jobsite. We cut our teeth bringing niche and passive candidates to relevant jobs –  and we still do – but today we do it through 500+ talent communities on Beyond.

Because Beyond evolved from a niche network model, we are experts at targeting and do a better job of connecting active and passive job seekers with the right opportunities. We’ve attracted many of our 50+ million members based on their affinity for a specific industry, location or profession, so we know what they’re looking for from day 1. And, we continually gather information about our members to ensure that we’re always delivering the most relevant jobs and content.

 

Q:How many job applicants can I expect to receive per job post? (or other success metric)

A: Number of applicants can vary greatly depending upon the type of job, the job description, the job application process, and other factors. However, it is important to keep in mind that due to the nature of Beyond’s niche approach, we strive to first deliver quality over quantity to the job opportunities on our site.

 

Q:How well does Beyond.com reach passive job seekers?

A: Beyond is the Career Network, and we continue to engage job seekers after they find a new job by providing career and industry content relevant to their career. As a member network, the majority of our activity is from existing members engaging with our email and other communications, rather than from people actively conducting web searches. This means that we reach the person who is perusing our emails to see what jobs might be available, even if they aren’t actively searching for jobs online.

 

Q:In addition to job postings, in what other ways can employers promote open positions with Beyond.com?

A: By posting a job on Beyond, employers are automatically getting a sophisticated marketing engine to promote their jobs. Employer jobs are available for our “Smart Alerts,” which are “learning” alerts that include relevant jobs based upon member activity. Jobs are also included in “Following Alerts,” which are specific alerts sent to members with exact matches for job titles that they are following. And, when a new job is posted we send out an “Instant Alert,” which is an email with just that job sent to a small list of the most relevant candidates in our system.

We also market jobs on Beyond, our niche sites, and throughout the web.

For employers who want additional ways to promote their jobs, Beyond offers targeted email marketing campaigns, text messaging campaigns, career alert sponsorships, and display advertising. Employers can also source our database of over 50 million members.

 

Q:Does Beyond.com integrate with Applicant Tracking Systems? How can ExactHire clients get started?

A: Yes, we integrate with some, but not all, applicant tracking systems. Single 30-day Job Postings can be purchased through ExactHire. To get started, clients can contact Randi Shuck at ExactHire or go to http://www.beyond.com/exacthire.  

Finding Your Niche… Job Board

Each day, you’re in a fast-paced race against your competitors to try to fill vacant positions with qualified candidates who fit well within your organization. Specialty positions with sought after key skill sets can be especially hard to fill. Job seekers often use job aggregator sites (often called spider boards that pull job listings from many sites) such as Indeed and SimplyHired to search for jobs.

Aggregators are great for companies to use as a tool to find qualified candidates, but sometimes the number of candidates for a particular vacancy can be overwhelming. With this in mind, ExactHire offers a great way for companies to filter candidates leaving you with the candidates that meet the basic requirements you establish so you can move forward with interviewing a select group of qualified job seekers.

Consider Using Niche Job Boards

Aggregators are not the only route to explore when posting jobs. Another route to consider when posting your company’s vacant positions is to find your niche…that is find your niche job board. These types of boards offer a company a way to focus its efforts on finding job seekers who possess a particular type of expertise.

Finding the most qualified candidate for your company depends on a variety of strategies and techniques. Word of mouth among your networks, job aggregators, and niche job boards are starting points to completing the puzzle of hiring the best fitting candidate. Regardless of the job boards you want to use in your company’s hiring efforts, ExactHire can make things easier for you by streamlining the process of posting jobs to external boards; thus, taking the hassle out of this tedious process for your team.

Listed below are a few niche job boards for some key employment areas. As you find your niche, know that the ExactHire team is here to help you. After all, delivering exceptional customer service and support while helping companies maximize their potential is our niche.

To learn more about easily posting jobs within ExactHire applicant tracking software, please visit our resources section or contact ExactHire today.

Image credit: FINDING ONE’S NICHE by Marc Falardeau (contact)

Posting Jobs To Job Boards – How To Automate

Automate posting to job boardsI talk with groups frequently about the use of social media tools to help drive qualified candidates to their open positions. While I believe strongly in those efforts, the fact remains that job boards still account for a significant amount of applicant traffic for most organizations. Naturally, then, clients typically want to know where they should post jobs and how to keep track of them.

The first part of the question (where to post jobs) is a separate conversation unto itself. The second part of the question (how to keep track of which job boards are being used) is my focus here today. To break this down a bit, I see this in two phases:

  • To which job boards have certain positions been posted (and what is it costing)?
  • What is the payback from these ad sources (what kind of applicant traffic are they generating?)

The act of getting positions posted to job boards can be time-consuming. Once you’ve created your job description, you typically must visit each board, log in, paste in your description, provide the additional information needed as required by the individual board, and confirm that the formatting looks correct. This allows the position to be posted. Then, when the position has been filled or the posting time limit is reached, you usually must then revisit the various boards and take the listing down.

As to the payback of various boards, most organizations don’t have the time to really consider this at all. For most, the only way to track the listings and the expenses associated with each is in a spreadsheet or manual file. Even if a company is willing to log this, they are still faced with the issue of not knowing how many applicants are coming from each board. The only way to know is to ask those applicants, which leads to yet another column in a separate spreadsheet that logs all applicants and from where they came. I think you get the picture at this point — this is way too painful for most.

The exception to both of these instances is when an organization chooses to use an applicant tracking software solution. The right ATS should allow you to automate the posting of your open positions to most any job board, alleviating the need to visit the individual boards and complete all of the steps I mentioned above. In addition, using a software tool like this should allow applicants to share what board led them to your open position, including tracking the costs of each posting and the number of applicants coming from each board. Our HireCentric ATS even allows organizations to review analytics documenting traffic to an organization’s careers portal, including a list of referral sources (i.e. job boards in many cases).

While this may not be the sole reason an organization seeks out a recruiting software tool, it is one of the more consistent points on which we receive positive feedback. To learn more about ExactHire, please visit our resources section or contact us. 

Image credit: tackscape by Joelk75 (contact)

Help! My Job Posting Isn’t Getting Enough Applicants!

Occasionally clients will come to us in need of some insight as to why one of their positions isn’t receiving enough applicants. Their applicant traffic is falling short of what they would expect given the market, position type, unemployment rate, etc. In fact, here’s a recent inquiry from an ExactHire applicant tracking software client that was concerned about the number of employment applications being submitted for an arguably common, in-demand, type of position – Web Developer.

“We have been having a lot of trouble filling one of our open positions, and I wondered if you or anyone else at the ExactHire office might have some advice on how to pursue. The Web Developer position we know is a highly sought-after position. In light of this, we have considered the option of trying to attract international applicants, perhaps on an H1-B Visa. Are there any specific ways that you know of to attract these types of applicants since we see so little response from what we are doing currently?”

Check Your Job Listing’s Vital Signs With Analytics

There are many factors that could impact the popularity of a job posting, and so it makes sense to approach the situation from many angles and try some different adjustments to increase applicant volume. For this client, my first thought was to check their ATS site’s Google Analytics account…which we set up for all client portals. I logged into Google Analytics, and then looked up how many visitors had recently been landing on this particular job listing’s page URL. Visitors who landed on the job description page directly (for their first point of entry to the ATS site) would have been referred from other job boards (rather than from the client’s ATS portal’s external job listings page). This process gave us a snapshot into how easily the client’s job was being “seen” by external boards.
 ExactHire ATS | Examine job analytics
For example, upon examining the data in Google Analytics, I could see that the Web Developer job’s URL (#19 on the list) had not received as many page views as some of the client’s other concurrent positions – even though the same job boards had been used for both listings. For example, #7 on the list for a Product Development Assistant position had received quite a bit more views (308 vs. 113). When I looked at that job’s description, it was not too long; however, it was at least double the length of the client’s Web Developer job description and so there were more opportunities for it to include keywords that external job boards could use to rank it higher in relevant search results to applicants. Plus, the Product Development Assistant position restated the actual job title in the first sentence of its description…this is a great way to get it appearing more prominently in search results.

The Web Developer position did not do that. I suggested that the client try putting it in the first sentence and making the description a bit longer. NOTE: At the time, the Web Developer description was only about 3 sentences long. While you don’t want to slip into the trap of making job listings too long – particularly for hard-to-fill positions where qualified applicants are difficult to find – you don’t want them so short that a lack of content leaves them unable to earn higher search engine result rankings, either.

What’s in a Job Name?

I also suggested, given that Web Developer is such a common job title, that the client be more specific in naming the position. For example, what kind of developer is it? Could our client include the primary programming language that would be required in the title, itself? This technique would help applicants who do specific searches for certain programming languages on sites such as Indeed to come across a related position more easily. For example, in this particular case, the client might have tried a title like “Web Developer – HTML/CSS – Jquery.”

Attracting H1B Visa Sponsorship Candidates

In regards to the client’s question about going the H1B visa sponsorship route, I advised my contact to make sure and mention those specific words in the job description to both set expectations with potential international applicants, as well as improve the likelihood that international candidates who may do a search including those keywords end up seeing your job listing in the results returned for the job board. For example, I Googled the term myself and landed on some SimplyHired search results showing job descriptions that did just that:
 H1B Visa Keywords Job Listings

Diagnosing Your Job Description: A Review

So to recap, if you are looking to determine what ails your low-applicant-volume job listing, I would suggest:

  • Considering whether the length of your job descriptions is appropriate (hint: look at similar jobs that are at the top of external job boards’ search results and check the length of those descriptions)
  • Using a more specific job title
  • Restating the title of your job at the beginning of your job description text
  • Including other relevant keyword phrases in your job listing (i.e. h1B visa, etc.)

Image credit: Lubbock Heart Hospital, Dec 16-17, 2005 by brykmantra (contact)

How to Write a Job Description Optimized for Job Boards and Internet Search, Tip 5

Location, location, location! No, I’m not talking about prime land real estate; however, the same old catchphrase can apply to your job listings and job board real estate depending on how well your company’s geographic location aligns with the location of your targeted applicant pool. In this fifth installment of the “How to Write a Job Description Optimized for Job Boards & Internet Search” series, I’ll discuss how strategically using features available within your applicant tracking system can remedy an organization’s ailing efforts to get listings in front of out-of-town applicants.

Skills Gap: Qualified Applicants Don’t Live in Your Neighborhood

Awhile back I was chatting with one of our clients. She works for a company within the automotive industry and frequently needs to hire individuals skilled in trades, such as mechanics and technicians capable of working on large diesel engines. She usually has a number of similar positions open across multiple facilities, but the facilities are not in really large metropolitan areas…rather bigger towns scattered across the Midwest. In particular, one of those larger towns happens to be about thirty minutes from Indianapolis via interstate.

She has found that if she can get the word out, sometimes skilled individuals who reside on the edge of Indianapolis are willing to drive to her facility for work…after all, it is in the opposite direction of most rush hour traffic. However, it is much more challenging for her to engage qualified applicants that are closer and, perhaps at times, more aware of her job openings. She is definitely experiencing a skills gap in her town when it comes to technical positions.

So naturally, having had some success reaching Indianapolis residents and engaging them to come to her town for work, she wants to continue to get the word out and expand the geographic scope of her applicant pool. However, with so many postings skimmed by job seekers, she needs to do it in such a way that it is still clear that the opportunity is based in her town…and not in the city thirty minutes away. After all, she doesn’t want to waste her time, or even the time of her hiring managers, if a few applicants that don’t realize the position is really in the smaller town (and therefore do NOT want to make the commute) get through the cracks.

Strategic Job Locations & Setting Expectations Clearly

The key to this obstacle is to use your job description to make it clear that your opportunity is based in the town, but also ensure that it appears in the search results for applicants who may not be specifically looking for jobs in that town…but rather in the nearby city. Check with your applicant tracking system provider to see if alternate job locations can be enabled for the job boards to which you push your job ads.

For example, it is important to be upfront about the fact that your position is based in your town on your careers page. You may go so far as to also say as much in the first two sentences of your job listing to be sure that the town name appears in snippets of your posting in search engine and job board results pages.
Setting Location Expectations - Job Listings
Then, when pushing certain job listings to free and paid external job boards, designate the larger nearby metropolitan area as the “job board city” since applicants often do geographic searches on external job boards. After all, many more searches are likely to be done on the city than on the smaller town. And, while some of those applicants will dismiss the small town job opportunity when they note in the first few sentences that it is based in the town a half hour away; others will check it out–as they might reside in an area of the city that is relatively close to the town. Plus, they never would have thought to search for opportunities in that town, specifically. This can be especially compelling when you consider that a city like Indianapolis is so spread out that it can take nearly an hour to go from a suburb on one side to another on the opposite end of the city.
 Specify Job Board City | ExactHire

Big City Skills Can Meet Small Town Opportunities

If you ever find yourself in a similar scenario scrambling to entice applicants to come to your quaint out of the way town, consider the approach I’ve outlined here. However, bear in mind the importance of still making it clear to applicants that do view your job description that the position is indeed located in your town…and not the big city. This technique isn’t about bamboozling applicants with the location bait and switch, it’s about harnessing the power of job board geographic searches to put your listing in front of applicants when it might not otherwise have been seen. Then, it is still up to the applicant to consider the merits of the scenic drive.

How to Write a Job Description Optimized for Job Boards and Internet Search, Tip 4

Is writing job descriptions more of an art or a science? It is perhaps less of a science than it used to be since practices like keyword stuffing are now counterproductive while the focus is truly on producing quality content (as it should be) these days. I’m going to take the easy way out and claim that its a blend of both art and science…or perhaps, strategy is a better word. Gone are the days of packing job descriptions full of keywords to improve on-page optimization and propel your careers portal and job listings to the top of the search results list.

The Three P’s of Job Description Keyword Use

However, many factors have changed in the mystical realm of search engine optimization (at least it seems mystical to me at times) over the past few years and one thing is clear…relevance is king. So while keyword stuffing to the point that a reader was tripping over the same word every paragraph in a text used to be a somewhat effective trick, search engines like Google have since put algorithms in place to penalize such practices.

So what’s a savvy recruiting and HR professional to do to make sure new job opportunities are seen by inquiring applicants? In this fourth installment of the How to Write a Job Description Optimized for Job Boards & Internet Search series, I’ll highlight the Three P’s of Keyword Use in Job Descriptions: presence, popularity and placement. We’ll demonstrate keyword optimization for Indeed as an example.

Are Relevant Terms Present in Your Job Description?

While this is the simplest concept of the Three P’s, it nonetheless is the foundation for success in optimizing your job listings for search results. It really just requires that the most relevant keywords for your target applicant pool are present in your job description. The tricky part lies in the fact that you may not always know which keywords resonate with candidates that are well-qualified for your available career opportunities. To rectify the situation, think about employers in your market that source applicants from the same talent pool – in particular, the ones that seem to be beating you out when it comes to attracting potential new employees. Scour their job listings and take note of the terms they use in job titles and the first paragraph of job descriptions. Are you using the same types of terms in your jobs?

For example, let’s take a construction firm that is seeking a new electrical superintendent for a large industrial contract. When I did a search on Indeed for “construction superintendent electrical,” there were only 707 listings nationwide (since I didn’t specify a location).
Electrical Superintendent Construction Job Results | Keyword Optimization For Indeed
However, with a little research of my competitors, I might find that they have job listings titled “Project Manager” with very similar descriptions to my own Superintendent listings. A slightly modified search for “construction project manager electrical” on Indeed yields 4,752 jobs.
 Electrical Project Manager Construction Results | Keyword Optimization For Indeed
So, you might find that it becomes important to include the phrase “project manager” in your listing a few times…perhaps more so than “superintendent.” This may affect your job title decision, as well.

Keyword Optimization For Indeed | Density Considerations

Once you are confident of the right one or two key terms or phrases that you’d like to pepper into your job opportunity text, you must consider the frequency with which these words are used. As I mentioned before, in the past some recruiters stuffed words into the text for best results, but that won’t work anymore. In fact, while “keyword density” isn’t as integral an ingredient in your rankings recipe as before, you definitely don’t want to use terms too often…probably not much more than three percent of your total word count in fact. As with salt, a little can help bring out the flavor in your soup, but too much can quickly ruin the whole recipe. Similarly, too many of the same words in a job description will seem artificial and boring to the potential applicant. Remember the law of diminishing returns.

Consider writing your job description to flow naturally without minding keyword use. Then, go back and reread your text and insert your desired terms a few times. Lastly, think of synonyms and other related phrases and place those in the listing, as well. For our construction example, other words/phrases that might naturally occur with “construction project manager electrical” might include: field labor; electrical superintendent; industrial project; construction project; bid analysis; electrical contractor; and, lead electrical consultant.

These “co-occurring terms” will be recognized by search engines as complementary to your true targeted terms and are just another ingredient in the rankings effort. Plus, they offer the reader more variety and depth…which is more likely to result in the site visitor converting to become your applicant.

Mind the Placement of Job Description Text

So far you’ve learned to use just a few instances of relevant phrases in your job description…but not too many. Truth be told, a little can go a long way as long as you are using the right terms thoughtfully. That’s where placement comes into play. Even though you might include desired phrases only a few times in your job listing, they can pack a punch in rankings battles if you position them strategically within your text. Here are some effective placement techniques:

Now that you have a better understanding of how to use keywords strategically within your job listings, including being mindful of the Three P’s, you are well on your way to becoming a job listing ninja!

To see how ExactHire’s recruiting software can help streamline your job description optimization efforts, please schedule a live demo.

How to Write Job Descriptions Optimized for Job Boards and Internet Search, Tip 3

What’s in a job’s name? Sometimes…not enough. Particularly, if the job opportunity your company is trying to fill has an über common job title. So common in fact, that its chances of appearing near the top of search results for your intended applicant audience are nil. In my third installment of the “How to Write Job Descriptions Optimized for Job Boards & Internet Search” blog series, I’ll discuss three techniques for giving your job title (and therefore job description) a fighting chance of being seen by the right candidates.

#1 – Research Employers Targeting the Same Applicant Pool

Let’s say that you have a “Project Manager” opportunity within your smaller organization. If your business is small or mid-sized, then it may be sufficient to simply refer to this role as a Project Manager among internal staff members…even if the role is focused on project management within IT security, for example. However, when it comes to pushing your available job listing to external job boards (like CareerBuilder, Monster, Dice, Indeed, etc.), using “Project Manager” as your advertisement title is pretty vanilla and unlikely to put your unique opportunity at the top of the results list for the best-qualified, most engaged applicants for your role.

So, how do you pick an effective and more specific job title that will appeal to individuals who will be a good fit for your role? Start by making a list of other organizations with which you often compete for talent in a given job category. Initially, do a search on the job boards that you intend to use by typing in Project Manager. NOTE: If you do not use quotation marks when you type in this title, then you will see a list of the most relevant (and typically recent) job listing results that include both the words “project” and “manager” somewhere in the job listing…though they may not actually all be “Project Manager” positions. Then, try a Boolean search using “Project Manager” in quotations to see all the job listings that have an exact match to that two-word phrase…these are more likely to be roles that stay true to the keyword phrase. Your two separate search results lists may very well be quite different.

Next, search for job listings posted by your competitors for top talent. What names are they using for their job titles, and on what page of the search results do you encounter these titles? If they are near the top of the list for a keyword search that is likely to be similar to a search done by one of your applicants (check out #2 below to see how your applicants are searching), then your organization should pick the same kind of job title. If their listings are buried in the search results, then don’t mimic their naming technique.

#2 – Reference Keyword Analytics in Your Applicant Tracking System

Odds are that if you are using one of the best applicant tracking systems, you have a treasure trove of analytical information about your careers site visitors at your fingertips. A solid ATS will feature access to in-depth analytics tools…often available through an integration with a product like Piwik or Google Analytics. Within your analytics package, take a look at the data on which keyword phrases are referring traffic to your careers site from different search engines. Take it a step further and see which phrases are resulting in conversions – this typically includes both applications started and applications completed within your applicant tracking software. While you will find that some keywords referencing certain job titles may bring a lot of traffic to your site, that doesn’t necessarily mean that those site visitors find what they are seeking…which would be evident if they bounce and do not start or complete an application.
 Applicant Tracking System Keyword Analytics

Look for trends in the reported keyword phrases that do result in completed applications, and then continue to utilize those words in your job titles and descriptions. Or, if some of the keywords reported do not result in conversions but you feel strongly that the tides could change with some minor adjustments, then start incorporating those keywords into actual job description titles. Understand that visitors may be referred to your careers portal because those keywords are present in the body of job descriptions; however, if they don’t see the keywords in a job title once they land on your job openings page, then they may never click through to the description to find them, and then convert to submitting an application.

NOTE: When reviewing your reporting and analytics data, you will only see a subset of all keyword phrases used by applicants as some search engines will restrict sharing the keywords used to refer traffic (for example, Google won’t share keywords used by individuals who are signed into a Google-owned account type while conducting a search).

#3 – Be Descriptive and Double Down on Your Job Title

While it may be not be practical for an employee to have a job title that is more than seven words long on a business card, it’s not a crime to advertise a job listing with a different title than what will actually be used internally once an employee is hired. Going back to our Project Manager example, this two-word title just may not cut it in the search results. However, if you add some more words to the title…like synonyms, location details, certifications required, etc., then your opportunity is more likely to be seen by applicants who have a clear vision of their ideal job.

For example, try “IT Project Manager – Security Analyst Job – Indianapolis” instead of just “Project Manager.” Why? Because search engines and job boards give more weight to titles in search results because they are often denoted by h1, h2 and/or h3 tags — these tags are a more significant part of a site’s source code structure. Also, you are casting a wider net to make other applicants aware of your job…like individuals who don’t necessarily search for project manager but perhaps something similar (like “IT Security Manager,” “IT PMP” or “IT Security Analyst,” etc.).

Secondly, reiterate the title of your job (or even the shortened version – Project Manager) in the first line of your job description. You know from “How to Write a Job Description Optimized for Job Boards & Internet Search, Part 2” that the first lines in the description often make up the snippets of content in search results…which again, are given more weight by search engines and job boards when ranking results. If you’re skeptical, check out the job listing results on Indeed in the image below…notice that the only “Project Manager” results returned for a Project Manager search (without quotation marks) in Indianapolis also have the title in the first line. The job listings that don’t double down on including the title are buried in other pages of results and less likely to be seen by applicants.
Job Title Research

Next time you push a job listing to an external source, remember to think carefully about title selection. By researching other employers in your space, incorporating data from your applicant tracking system’s analytics and using keywords appropriately, you will be more likely to improve the response for your job listing.

How to Write Job Descriptions Optimized for Job Boards and Internet Search, Tip 2

It’s pretty easy to find advice about writing compliant job descriptions, but it can be harder to make sure those same descriptions translate into engaging blurbs on job board search results pages…that is, blurbs or “snippets” that are guaranteed to pique the interest of your potential applicants as they pore over pages of competitive job listings. But, there isn’t a single right away to approach writing job listings for search; in fact, crafting effective, “crawlable” job descriptions for your organization is largely dependent on the labor market for your position, your applicant demographic, organizational culture and whether or not you pay to sponsor your ads on otherwise free boards — such as Indeed. In this second installment of this “How to Write Job Descriptions Optimized for Job Boards & Internet Search” blog series, I’ll specifically discuss how to take a situational approach to writing the first few lines of a job description.

Use Smart Snippets

Let’s start off by looking at some general search results on the first page of a search for jobs in Indianapolis, IN. In particular, examine the snippets (also called meta descriptions) that summarize the first sentence or two under each position title. Unless the author of a web page specifically designates a meta description in the source code, then search engines and job boards will pull the first line or two of body text from your page. In my experience, the latter is the norm in the case of job listing search results.
 Sample Indeed Job Listing Results
As you can see, the job listing content included in each snippet varies with position. Whether or not the approach employed by each organization will work depends, again, on the job’s demand, demographic, culture and pocketbook. Take a closer look…

Consider Labor Market for Your Jobs

If sourcing applicants with the right qualifications, and availability to work, for one of your positions is comparable to spotting Sasquatch in your backyard, then you probably have some labor market-related considerations to examine. For example, if your position type is super easy to stumble upon in search results (i.e. there are hundreds with the same job title), and especially if the minimum qualifications do not require advanced professional degrees or experience, then one of your biggest applicant screening filters may be the days and times of the week that individuals are available to work.

With that in mind, the best job listing introduction might be a summary of the shift days and hours, as in the blue highlighted example from our sample search results. This works especially well if the employment application process for this position also includes questions designed to elicit responses from applicants on whether they meet basic minimum qualifications. For example, whether the applicant has the ability to work a certain shift on certain days might be an appropriate question. Ask your applicant tracking system provider about using scoring and disqualification filters on these types of questions to streamline the applicant screening process.
 Labor Market-Driven Snippet - Blue
For frequently posted positions where hours aren’t the screening focus, it is good practice to restate the title of the job listing in the first sentence. This technique isn’t as much about engaging applicants as it is about increasing the frequency of desired keywords (more on this in a future post) — see pink highlighted examples. The more often you include the job title and/or similar names (up to a certain reasonable point), the more likely your job listing will rank higher in the list of results for an applicant searching using that keyword.

Know Your Target Applicant Pool

Think about your dream candidate for a specific position. How savvy is he/she at web search? Will he/she think beyond just searching for job titles, and also search for specific duties or required certifications associated with your job listing? Or, even if an applicant won’t necessarily search for those terms, he/she might be more likely to click on your job listing in search results if your snippet displays a reference to an essential job requirement that he/she finds appealing. This is another way to differentiate your listing from other job postings that don’t discuss duties until later in the full job description. So, while the two below listing results are for different types of positions, which one gives you more actual, engaging information about the job at a quick glance? And a glance is often all you have in today’s recruiting landscape…
 Requirement Driven Snippet - Green
 Company Summary Driven Snippet - Orange
If you picked the green job listing over the orange one, then you get the recruiting gold star for the day! If you picked the orange one, then check out tips on company summary placement in How to Write Job Descriptions Optimized for Job Boards & Internet Search, Part 1.

Be Snazzy If You Sponsor

As with all aspects of the talent acquisition process, the organizational culture of your company should shape your approach to writing job descriptions, as well. If part of your recruiting brand is to be energetic and fun, then you might want to take a more informal approach to writing the text of some of your job descriptions. Think about the behavioral characteristics of candidates who will thrive in the position that you are posting. Will they be persuaded to click and eventually apply to a snazzier, more tantalizing description of your organization and/or the position? Probably. Most people do aspire to like the work they do, after all. I especially see this approach with sales positions – which makes sense since persuasion is often a coveted skill for a successful business development employee.

However, if you are relying on this approach to carry you to the top of organic (i.e. unpaid) search results on search engines and job boards, make sure you carefully account for the prominence of your organization’s name and how difficult it is to fill this type of position in your decision making process. Take note of the yellow highlighted positions in our search results…one thing they all have in common is that they are sponsored ads and so their placement, or the ease with which someone may apply, earns premium attention. If your strategy or plan for a job posting does NOT include paying for special status, then you’ll likely be more heavily reliant on using relevant keywords and job information in your first few lines of text.
 Snazzy Snippet Approach - Yellow

A Parting Thought on Pay

If you didn’t notice already, some of the snippets in our sample search results included information about the compensation for the position. However, that doesn’t always mean that the first few lines of the position description include pay info. In fact, if the compensation information is preceded by an ellipsis (…) in the snippet, then you know that the job board or search engine just appended that information after finding it somewhere else in the full job listing. The job board is really helping you out by displaying your opportunity in such a way that many job-seekers will self-select out of your application process because they have a different income expectation. However, as you consider how your job description preview will appear in search result snippets, know that if you do include salary or hourly wage information in your listing, it will likely appear in the snippet; thus, shortening the text displayed from the beginning of your description.
Pay Info Snippet
Now that you are familiar with the different techniques organizations may use to engage potential applicants in the snippet area of search results, it is time to evaluate your own job listings, applicant pool, culture and budget to determine which method will suit your needs. Be on the lookout for future blogs in this series that discuss choosing job posting titles and keywords.

In search of a tool that makes it easy to post job listings to external job boards and search engines? Schedule a live demo of our applicant tracking software (ATS) today!