In the last decade, data has become synonymous with smart marketing strategies. Purchase funnels, audience modeling, customer journeys and channel optimization are all being driven by collected data. Data smart tactics are used to transform key processes and to result in better hires.

It’s now easier than ever for recruiters to adopt data-driven strategies in various aspects of the hiring process – from employer branding to employee retention. Data allows HR professionals to run recruitment processes in a streamlined, agile and efficient way.

But it’s one thing to utilize data, and another to be data smart. Being data smart is about knowing how, and when, to incorporate data. Allowing data to guide decision-making can help alleviate challenges in employer branding, sourcing, usability, hiring processes, job offers and more.

It’s helpful to first look at several practical use cases to understand just how data smart marketing can optimize the recruiting process.

Applying the data: Practical use cases for recruitment marketing

Data can be incorporated into every facet of recruitment. Starting with these basic areas will lay the groundwork for smart, data-driven hiring flows within an organization.

Identification of successful recruitment channels through cost analysis

Strategic use of data can increase ROI and help companies identify their best channels for recruitment. It’s important, however, to ensure that a complete and correct data set is used for analysis.

For best results, hiring costs should be compared using what’s known as eCPH (effective Cost Per Hire); recruitment marketers should also set up end-to-end tracking to collect data from all areas of the recruitment funnel.

When the right metrics are tracked, it becomes clear that the cheapest options for recruitment funneling aren’t necessarily the best options. Different types of campaigns have lower or higher costs depending on the desired outcomes, and they should be evaluated separately. For example: Top-of-funnel (ToFu) or brand awareness campaigns may result in lower Cost Per Click (CPC) when compared to a retargeting campaigns, but retargeting might bring in a lower eCPH. The latter is ultimately more beneficial to examine in overall recruitment analysis.

Optimization of application funnels

Knowledge of potential roadblocks in a user flow can help keep job candidates flowing smoothly through the hiring process, ensuring a company will have maximum chances of hiring success. An effective application funnel, whether on mobile or web, requires continuous monitoring and management using data.

Employers should take a data-driven approach to optimization of application funnels by a) identifying all potential points of friction, b) leveraging available tools for A/B testing of pages, forms, etc. and c) analyzing the results, adjusting accordingly and continuing to test for further improvements.

When looking at ToFu and employment branding, for example, smart data recruitment  marketers can ensure they are sourcing candidates from as many touch points as possible (i.e. through mobile optimization or programmatic recruitment ads). Keeping users on the right path after the initial sourcing requires easy-to-use pages and UX interfaces with consistency, clarity, concision and credibility.

Understanding the job seeker journey

Data helps recruiters understand job seeker behaviors, even before those job seekers enter the application funnel. Will candidates feel qualified to apply for a particular job after they’ve been shown the advertisement? Will they have the desire to apply given the listed salary? How long will it take for them to apply after viewing the ad?

These questions have to do with what’s referred to as the job seeker journey – the recruiter’s take on marketing’s customer journey model. Above all, recruiters should keep the job seeker at the forefront of recruitment decision-making. Job seekers undergo a very different hiring process today than they did twenty years ago, but many employer recruitment funnels haven’t evolved to meet these changes.

Now is the opportunity to use data smart tactics to better understand the job seeker. This includes understanding their needs, identifying opportunities for satisfy them and putting those ideas into action. Each journey map created should model a particular type of job seeker, complete with all stages of the application process, potential emotions and feelings involved, user experiences, and surveying of touch points where any company-candidate interactions may occur.

Automation of recruitment processes

Not only does data provide rich information that can help optimize all aspects of the application funnel, but it also allows for the resource-saving benefits of automation. Algorithms within today’s advanced HR software can effectively handle complex processes at scale, freeing up time for recruiters to conduct one-on-one interviews with the best candidates or further optimize their recruitment processes.

Automation comes in many forms, but common services in recruitment include ad retargeting and look-alike modeling. Retargeting involves displaying relevant ads to users who have abandoned a previously clicked ad. If a job seeker views an ad and subsequently drops out of the application funnel, automated retargeting can help reel them back in. Look-alike modeling involves identifying groups of people that are similar to an ideal, target audience. In recruitment, this means helping employers source interested job seekers based on those who have already expressed interest or been hired. Look-alike modeling helps recruiters maximize their pool of applicants entering the recruitment funnel.

Bottomline: Data is a crucial component for today’s smart recruitment marketers.

Data’s role in recruitment is paramount, helping employers identify optimal channels, perform cost analysis, optimize application funnels, automate processes and put the job seeker at the forefront of all decisions.

Data-driven recruitment brings an incredible competitive advantage for companies today. Those who use data effectively and efficiently will unlock new channels for sourcing candidates and, ultimately, enjoy an increased ROI.

• About the Author
• Latest Posts

About Spencer Parra

Spencer Parra is the VP of Product Management for advertising and data products at Radancy. In that capacity, Spencer and his team of product managers, program managers, data scientists, and data analysts work to develop products in a data driven mindset. As the leader of Advertising products, he works to bring a holistic full funnel approach to Radancy’s advertising technology stack with Programmatic Jobs at its foundation. Through data products, he tells the story of media performance via Radancy’s Metrics Gateway and helps ensure data is democratized through Radancy’s unified platform. Spencer came to Radancy from the Perengo acquisition in mid 2019 where he served as Lead Product Manager and a member of the founding team. With Perengo, he worked towards the vision of leveraging the same rigor and concepts from ecommerce advertising technology to the recruitment advertising space. Prior to Perengo, Spencer launched and supported in-app advertising products at Criteo as a solutions engineer. Spencer holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

• TMP Programmatic Jobs: Audience Extension - October 8, 2020
• Radancy’s Programmatic Jobs – Part 3: Business Intelligence - March 18, 2020
• Radancy’s Programmatic Jobs – Part 2: Budgeting Intelligence - February 19, 2020
• Radancy’s Programmatic Jobs – Part 1: Campaign Automation - January 28, 2020
• Putting Candidates at the Center of Your Recruitment Strategy - December 17, 2019
• In Pursuit of Perfection: Using Testing for Conversion Rate Optimization - November 22, 2019
• Job Content 101: How to Optimize Job Ads for Results - November 5, 2019
• Recruitment Automation: How to Automate Applicant Sourcing - October 22, 2019
• Recruitment Analytics 101: How to Collect and Analyze Data for Recruitment Success - September 11, 2019
• Recruitment Funnel: How to Optimize the Job Applicant Experience - August 19, 2019