Companies depend on great talent, so you must try to find those talented people. In this environment, that can be difficult without the proper advertising techniques. The talent shortage has not only met some of its highest figures in history (a 15-year high at 69% of employers struggling), but job seekers are also increasingly selective when looking for the proper position.
Today's talent is now looking for an employer with solid branding, options for remote work, job-development opportunities, and an inclusive environment. The only way to highlight your most favorable benefits is by developing recruitment ad campaigns.
Recruitment ad campaigns are effective if you know how to plan them accordingly. Here are our top tips on making an optimal recruitment ad budget.
Setting Your Recruitment Budget
There's no way around budgeting for your recruitment ads, whether it falls into your marketing budget or recruiting budget. Much like advertising to your customers, a solid budget will allow you to spend only as much as you can afford to attract suitable candidates.
You certainly don't want to go low on your budget, considering there aren't enough people to fill the available positions in today's market. There could be up to a potential 85 million open positions by 2030.
Consider other budgeting elements for recruitment, such as determining the number of hires needed (including extra for turnover), the amount required to post on job boards, and added costs to account for onboarding and turnover. Depending on your company size and industry, you should expect anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 in hiring costs.
Recruitment Ad Costs
There are several factors to consider when calculating your recruitment ad costs. For instance, your ad costs include how much it costs to make your ads, the costs of posting or airing them on a channel, and the length of time you can run your ads.
Two important channels for placing recruitment ads and seeing desirable results include the following.
Television
TV recruitment ads cost ($2,000-$5,000 for production) and recurring costs ($5-$10 per 1,000 views) are the same as standard ads and let you reach a large base. With a 90% reach among adults, TV commercials can be an excellent opportunity for your brand to increase job opening awareness among a large market of candidates.
Using your commercials for recruitment also helps you reach your customers and increase your sales. As your customers become aware of your internal culture through your recruitment advertising, it can make them feel better about supporting a company that treats its staff so well.
Digital
Digital is an excellent method for expanding the reach of your television advertising when working alongside your commercials as a retargeting effort. You can expect to pay between $1,000 to $5,000 a month for standard digital marketing recruitment efforts on average. However, numbers can go as high as $20,000 a month for larger companies that are more aggressive about attracting talent to their positions.
Digital recruitment ads manifest in several ways, such as:
- Paying to sponsor posts on Indeed or LinkedIn
- Display or PPC ads in searches
- Social media recruitment marketing on your accounts — 79% of people looking for a new position cite social media as one of the first places they look, with that figure jumping to 86% for younger generations.
Budgeting for Your Recruitment Ads
Budgeting for recruitment ads is different for every company because not all businesses have the same goals and needs — there's no one-size-fits-all. You must determine your strategy based on the size of your company and your needs, then add up the costs of each separately.
Determine which channels will best reach your audience and distribute your budget accordingly between them. Combining TV and digital ads help you reach a broad audience, especially as you target by station and specific websites. That makes for a highly effective recruitment campaign that can fit within your budget. You need to prepare ahead of time by aligning your goals and needs with the right initiatives.
Real-time tracking and measuring will allow you to adjust your recruitment campaign to ensure you're allocating the optimal amount to each. That includes increasing allocation to channels that report substantial success and reducing budgets on channels that aren't performing as you may have hoped.
Save Costs in the Long Term with Effective Recruitment Advertising
Effective recruitment advertising helps you save costs in the long term by helping to find effective talent who will be productive members of your team. Sure, you may find several eager candidates to join your company with the traditional "spray-and-pray" method of recruitment advertising. It's essential that your marketing isn't just attracting anyone. It must attract the RIGHT ones.
Why? Because suitable candidates will be with your company for many years to come, while poor quality hires will likely be replaced within the year — costing your company more money. Working with a media partner can help you determine who the suitable candidates are and the best ways to reach them with your budget.