Recruitment Leaders buy a website not because they have better things to spend their money on, but because they need to generate the 3Cs – candidates, client and colleagues – oh and a small matter of cash (4th c!) Recruitment marketers need their website to make them look good, and make generating candidates and leads easier.
Does your Recruitment Website Generate Leads, or just Clicks?
Every recruitment website should have either Google Analytics or at least some way of measuring hits, time spent on your site, which jobs your candidate clicked on to, which case studies your clients read, whether a recruiter came to your Work for Us page – and for how long, where the surfer was located… (a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…)
But did you know that Google can tell you some other pretty exciting stuff about the makeup of your candidates, clients and colleagues, (ewoks and wookies)? And it can also tell you the secret formula (The Force) to winning your candidates’ and clients’ hearts and minds? In other words, it tells you who they are, where they are, what devices they are using to access your site, which browser (blaster) they use to find you, and so on.
Devices Are Really Exciting!
Here’s something not a lot of people have talked about (including the mighty Yoda!). I was with a client recently and we were reviewing their website’s Google Analytics. We discovered that over 50% of the 40% of their surfers were using Apple devices.
Translation: 20% (1 in 5) of their surfers were using an Apple device. Translation: A significant amount… so significant that the next stat on the list was Samsung S9 at 5% – hence a lot of people are using Apple to access my client’s site. They are now penning some “Best Apps Every Engineer Needs for Their iPhone” blogs etc… to attract their ideal engineering candidates.
This data is gold dust! I’m not sure we got to light sabres, but I bet it was a few!
Surfing whilst sitting on the toilet playing holographic chess with a wookie
I’ve done a lot of recruiter polls and a recent one I did proved that: male recruiters are more likely to do business whilst doing their business on the loo (toilet for our non-UK friends!).
Your Google Stats Tell You About Me
So, I am surfing your site, I am holding my device. My device gets more me-time than my husband and kids. It gets more me-time than my hair, face, car, Millennium Falcon – it IS me – so when I use it to surf you, I am giving you a monstrous clue about what I care about, about what gets me through the day, what organises my time, what directs me, when to jump to light speed: it speaks, I listen!
I Am in Love With My Device!
I care about my phone! Am I unusual? I don’t think so… when was the last time you left the house without your phone, got to work and said, “Oh dear! I’ve left my phone at home, oh never mind, I’ll deal with that when I get home!”? And then proceeded to have a stress-free day and forget all about it! How would Luke have coped without R2D2 in Empire Strikes back? (You could see what he has to say about this with a fab R2D2 translation website I found recently!)
Oh no! It’s more akin to you trying to behave like you haven’t had your right hand cut off (Luke!), whilst not behaving irrationally, fear of missing out #FOMO, and downright panicking that if people can’t get hold of you the world will end (missed calls, missed placements, missed targets, you’ll not find out who your father really is!?)
Talk Dirty to Me
So, if we agree that the average mobile user cares about their device, and Google tells you which device they are using to look at you, then do the maths! Use this data to help you create a communication strategy (Darth Vader’s mind choke!).
If lots of people access your website with an Apple device, talk about Apple! It’s really simple!
Talk about things that will help your surfer – keep them engaged.
You are a niche finance recruiter? Tell accountants which top 10 apps for Apple they should be using! Interim / Contract recruiter? Tell your candidates which apps can help them travel at the speed of light and not spend loads in the process! Jedi temp specialist? Which apps can they use to engage their hyperdrive?
Or You Can Bore Me To Tears
Or you can continue with what many recruiters seem to still be doing right now which is:
To bore me to tears with irrelevant content, (Star Wars Episodes 1-3!)
To sound self-obsessed – talking about themselves all day long… #yawn #NerfHerder!
To be totally silent… (try harder!) #IsAnyoneThere #HelpMeObi
Make Your Marketer a Coffee
Check out your Google Analytics and see what your audience is telling you.
This is just one of a myriad of stats which you can get from Google and if you have 5 minutes you can massively improve the experience your surfers have, and perhaps even take the content plans to a wider social media audience (intergalactic!)
If you don’t have access to your analytics, as your marketing department guards them with their lives, make them a cuppa (they rarely get thanks or intelligent questions) and ask them to do something that they will enjoy, as opposed to you simply thinking they are there to create a PowerPoint presentation for you… Buy them a cake and have a useful conversation with them about who your audience is. This will take you a massive step forward and have a massive impact on your ability to attract Jedi and clients.
Do you know what devices / operating systems / browsers your users surf you from? Find out – it could take you beyond the Forest Moon of Endor!
We don’t just chat about Star Wars all day… we also train recruiters to become more successful with Adapt, Bullhorn, LinkedIn, Inbound Sales, Job Adverts, and Email and Content Marketing.
HIIT Us, Recruiters!
Our high intensity interval training - Recruitment HIIT - helps recruiters source, convert quicker, and develop healthy pipelines, and recruitment marketers attract, engage, and retain candidates, generate leads, and colleagues (3Cs).
TRY RECRUITMENT HIIT
BOOK A CALL TO DISCUSS MARKETING TRAINING
READ ABOUT OUR MARKETING TRAINING
media centre
Read more-
Blog
How Recruiters Can Turn Bounces and Unsubscribes into $£€
Recruiters, marketers, automators... If you’re regularly emailing candidates or clients—especially using tools like Bullhorn Automation - you’ve likely become familiar with two things: unsubscribes and hard bounces.At first glance, they can feel like a blow to your efforts—but they’re not always what they seem. In fact, how you respond to them is where the real sourcing and sales opportunities lie.Through the free consultation calls I have with recruiters who have Bullhorn, a hot topic is unsubscribes and hard bounces. Neither outcome gives a nice fuzzy feeling. If someone unsubscribes it limits your chances of reaching out to them again.If you get a hard bounce, their email has failed or the server has blocked you.But rather than get frustrated, slowing down your marketing / automation efforts, get active and turn these apparent dead ends into business opportunities. I've got some tips to help you monetise the "no"!💡Be sure to also read my other blog: Tired of Unsubscribes? 5 Email Tips Every Recruiter Should Knowto help you reduce the volume of unsubscribes.Unsubscribes and Hard Bounces Aren’t Always the EndTake it from someone who sends regular campaigns with Bullhorn/Automation/Sales/Sourcing tips. Here’s what I’ve learned:When you start poking around a database that hasn’t been touched in a while, you need to plan for:Inevitable bad, dirty dataLow trust due to radio silence / low communication volumeBounces and unsubscribesSo:1️⃣ Don’t burn out your entire database all at once and overwhelm your recruiters with pointless "leads". A flood of bounces and unsubscribes is overwhelming—and tempting to ignore. Instead, work with your recruiters to identify the data that matters most (roles, skills, locations), so responses are relevant and recruiters engage.2️⃣ Stagger your outreach. A gradual send schedule helps you build a better picture of your data, keeps your sender reputation healthy, and gives you the time to review and action what’s coming back.3️⃣ Use and A/B testing to tell you what works (and what bombs).4️⃣Then, and this bit is crucial, have a battle plan to turn what seems like a "no" into an opportunity.Not Every Unsubscribe or Hard Bounce is Final🏴Unsubscribes: What we often see—especially in recruitment—is that many unsubscribes are "false flags". It’s not the person opting out; it’s often their old email being shut down or a system admin / manager clearing mailboxes.Often, that person hasn’t unsubscribed —they’ve moved to another company.⛔Hard bounces should be an opportunity to follow the follow the leaver to their new company - and rekindle a relationship.Instead of blindly trusting your email system, build a workflow to monetise the "no".Here’s how I manage unsubscribes at Barclay Jones:Two months after each mailer, I check the unsubscribes.I investigate if they’ve left the company or simply moved jobs.If they’ve moved, I update their details in the CRM and re-engage them.I do the same with hard bounces by checking LinkedIn and updating records.Recruiters can recover valuable contacts this way—some of those “dead” leads could be placements waiting to happen! 💸Campaign the Clean ~ Create the Opps!Treat every email/automation campaign not just as marketing—but as a data quality (and data wealth) activity.Hard bounces? Check if the contact has left.Unsubscribes? Investigate the source.Build this into your CRM workflows—it doesn’t have to be hard or time-consuming.With the right process, they’re signals—not setbacks.Want help building an outreach and automation strategy to keep candidates and clients opted in?📅 Let’s talk!I offer free consultations to help leaders, recruiters, and automators unlock the power of their Bullhorn database.BOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
-
Blog
Tired of Unsubscribes? 5 Email Tips Every Recruiter Should Know
Recruiters, marketers, automators... If you’re running regular email campaigns to candidates or clients, with tech like Bullhorn Automation, unsubscribes are either a fact of life or something you dread, and may even be the reason you are not ambitious enough with your outreach.Through the free consultation calls I have with recruiter / leaders / automators who have Bullhorn, I’ve been finding myself talking a lot about managing recruitment campaign outputs, and dreaded unsubscribes.Unsubscribes can feel like a blow to your efforts, but there are ways to prevent them which I'll explore below.💡Be sure to also read my other blog: How Recruiters Can Turn Bounces and Unsubscribes into $£€- so that when you get an unsubscribe or hard bounce, you could actually create more recruitment opportunities.5 Ways to Reduce Your Candidates and Clients from UnsubscribingI've got lots of tips to share, that we coach in our Automation Buddy programs, but here's 5 to get you started today.1️⃣Clean up / segment your data I guarantee you have data which you no longer need (old sectors / job titles you no longer recruit for).Perhaps the data you need isn't coded well enough for you to segment it, hence you risk hitting parts of your community with the wrong content.But, don't procrastinate over this - you don't need a 100% clean database to start a campaign, or to make an approach. Clean up some data, and hit it. Then move on to the next layer to attack.2️⃣Subject lines need to punch above their weightKeep them short and sweet, but personalised (about them, not you (or recruitment) and relevant to your community.Think "mobile first" and ensure that your subject line can actually be read on a mobile device. For example, the Mail app on iPhones displays up to 78 characters in the subject line area.Emojis can help you stand out in a big list of emails, too.3️⃣Content, creating contentment (not consternation)I'm still seeing way too much recruitment content online, and not enough sector-specific content form recruiters.I yawn at interview tips / what to wear to interviews etc... It works less well than content aimed at your sector and job titles.At a stretch "Interview tips for Accountants" is better than a more generic topic, but even so, if that's the best content you can create, you need to try harder.What tech does your community use? Find out and talk about it.How is AI / world events affecting them? Find out and talk about it.It's never been easier to find out more about what makes your community tick - ask them, ask Google, ask AI!4️⃣Formatting to attract attention (but be WCAG-aware)I recently spotted a recruitment campaign where the email content was centred throughout and black and white - very uninspiring, and actually quite difficult to engage with.In the very least breath your brand colours into your content and check WCAG guidelines to ensure that you're not inadvertently muting your content.If your community uses Instagram / Facebook etc... be sure that they expect your content to have a life beyond black and white copy. Colour, emojis, personality - shine!5️⃣"Pitch" the unsubscribeWhat does the unsubscribe footer in your mailers look like?Is it simply an invite to unsubscribe? Or have you pitched that if they do, they'll miss out on future helpful content, and life-changing jobs?I see way too many campaigns that look like the goal is to generate unsubscribes! Ironically the footer is often more engaging than the mailer itself."We're fixated on helping our teaching community stay up to speed with the best tips, tricks, and jobs. You can unsubscribe, but then you may miss your next best teaching hack, or career move"...is better than..."Unsubscribe".A great tip is to allow candidates and clients to "Update their Preferences" which can provide your community with a way to help you make ore relevant the communications you are sending to them and/or update you on what they do find interesting. This can be done within Bullhorn Automation and is a useful way to reduce the Unsubscribes.📍Final Thought: Create Recruitment Campaigns to Keep Your Community SubscribedYour data, message, design are crucial to keeping your community from opting out.By keeping your content relevant, valuable, and human—you’ll build a database that’s active, engaged, and ready to work with you.Want help building an automation and outreach strategy to keep your community of candidates and clients opted in? Let’s talk.I offer free consultations to help leaders / recruiters / automators unlock the power of their Bullhorn database and create opportunities .BOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
-
Downloads
Your Recruitment Training Playbook