Posting a Job that stands out
by Hirespin - 08/25/2009
"Does your job get a job seekers attention?"
I made a very interesting discovery over the weekend when we were reviewing the traffic metrics for Hirespin (July 22nd - August 22nd). There are many important statistics within an employment site to measure, here is a sample of a few of those:
1. Number of jobs posted
2. Total job views
3. Average views per job and total job views
4. Job view to apply ratio
5. Total Applications
6. Job post comparisons of jobs with salary info. vs. no salary info
a. average views and applies with no salary/hourly listed
b. average views and applies with salary/hourly listed
7. Job post comparisons of jobs with benefits and perks listed vs. jobs without
a. average views and applies with no benefits and/or perks listed
b. average views and applies with benefits and/or perks listed
The information we found was very eye opening in terms of contrast between employers job postings. The variance between the best and the worst performers was a 4.6% view to apply ratio to .2%. The employer with the highest application ratio has salary, benefits and perks information listed on each job posting, as the employer with the lowest ratio has no salary, benefits or perks listed in their postings.
Another metric that stands out is the the job apply count. The worst performer had 4 applications over a 30 day period. The best performer had 33 Applications over that same period. The company that was lesser performing not only has similar jobs in the same industry but 12 more posted jobs, yet received 29 less applications. Average job views between the 2 were 145 views per job to 32 views per job. It becomes abundantly clear that there is a very stark contrast to these numbers.
The average job seeker will be enticed by a job posting within 9 seconds or move on to the next one. One of the very first things a job seeker will look for is compensation information as well as benefits and perks. Without these, often times they will not view the posting at all let alone apply to it. We have sent emails to all of our job seekers in the system to seek their opinions on this subject and the prevailing sentiment they express to us is that many of the job postings are far too ambiguous and incomplete to merit their serious consideration. Next to requirements of the job and the distance of the commute, these two categories were mentioned with great frequency.
It is very important to create "sizzle" in our job postings to capture a job seekers attention quickly and create interest as it only takes seconds to lose them. We are encouraging our clients to include these vital pieces of information to their job postings to increase their view and apply metrics. As a provider of candidates we feel compelled to deliver any information to our clients that will improve performance of job postings and our offering at large. We will continue to measure these statistics and deliver them to our clients every month to improve on performance.