While it's tempting to mention outright the similarities between recruiting and dating, let's go beyond that and get the scoop on what it takes to get a candidate to make the big commit to your opportunity.
Recruiters typically focus on factors like time to hire, cost per hire, and referral rates, but miss more precise details that help the team measure why talent gets hooked on a position in the first place.
Here are three key metrics recruiters often overlook, and how to measure them.
Optimizing keywords in job descriptions
Start A/B testing your positions' landing pages to understand which keywords in the description appeal most to candidates to increase your application click-through rate. For example, try changing a few words in each version of the job description, and measure which page performs better.
- On the "control" page, instead of calling for a 'data engineer', try calling the position, 'data inspector'.
- Which position titles resulted in more page views?
- Alternatively, you could also try changing the order of listed benefits, or leading the page with background information or recent press articles on the company.
Submission rate of application
The location, length, and content of the application influences the likeliness of a candidate filling out and completing a form. If any portion of your application process is unappealing, candidate engagement goes kaput, and you lose another viable contender.
- Is the application process concise?
- Is the page optimized for mobile devices?
- How easy is it for a candidate to track the process of their application?
- Try comparing the submission rates of a form located on the left side of the page against a form located on the right side of the page.
- Does including "Apply Now" work better than "Apply Here?"
- Are candidates more likely to fill out a form located next to a bulleted list of the role's details, or are they better engaged with paragraphs and section headers?
- Which company photo wins over more talent?
Click rate of calls-to-action
You're on the right path if your careers landing pages already include calls-to-action (or CTAs).
A call-to-action is an image or text that encourages the visitor, or the candidate, to click through and perform a desired action. As a recruiter, you want candidates to apply for the job.
Test the content of the page's hyperlinked banners or URLs to find out which keywords or images interest more candidates to click the CTA.
- Like a form, does "Apply Now" perform better than "Apply Here" or "Apply Today?"
- Do more candidates click images with people or images of animated characters? Or do icons and logos perform better?
- What has a higher click-through rate, bigger or smaller banners?
- Does a blue CTA get more clicks than a green CTA?
Test the waters of getting the right balance between good recruiting and marketing to generate CTAs that get the most conversions of page visits to form submissions — candidates!
The key to measuring the success of your careers pages is to test, test, and keep testing. How does your company monitor its progress with building candidate engagement? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts with us @Entelo!
