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Programmatic ad buying and job targeting in recruiting are quickly becoming one of the most effective ways to target and engage a specific candidate relying on different job boards, search terms and strategies.

According to the Boston Consulting Group “advanced [programmatic] techniques garnered a 32% decrease in cost-per-action (CPA), as much as a 200% improvement in action rates for clicks and view-thru and up to a 70% reduction in cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-view (CPV).” Programmatic in many cases offers a lower cost per hire and allows you the ability to quickly target candidates in different ways than traditional job postings.

Episode 116: Programmatic Recruiting Basics with Jack Russell

Jack Russell is a business analyst at the Advanced Group and has been dabbling with programmatic recruiting strategies with great success. In recruitment, programmatic buying is a technology-driven, rules-based method of purchasing job seeker clicks and leads at the optimal time, on the optimal job site, from optimal jobseekers. The technology behind this is driven by rules which the user creates like how much money to spend, and when, why and where on specific jobs. Jack walks us through the three different types of advertising in recruiting: 1) posting 2) job slot and 3) pay for performance. The third advertising type is what programmatic ad buying is categorized as.

On the most simple level, programmatic recruiting is similar to buying clicks through Google Adwords. The user defines the bids, monitors those bids and makes changes as needed. In recruiting, the goal is to drive qualified applications through clicks which lead to conversions. At Advanced Group, Jack says they have successfully used programmatic recruiting to target specific candidates and use metrics and reporting so that formulas can be developed. Meaning that over time, he knows that a specific job posting for a UX developer needs 30 applications with the cost per applicant being $15. And once an organization has the number of candidates they need for a role, the recruiting ad spend is shifted to a different job posting. Programmatic recruiting allows you to be more detailed and specific in your recruiting strategy, allowing recruiting teams to be focused on the science behind recruiting and hiring.

[bctt tweet=”Programmatic recruiting allows recruiters to be more in control of their online recruitment spend” via=”no”]

Does A.I. Have a Future in Programmatic Recruiting?

One of the challenges of programmatic recruiting is that it is complicated, tedious and often has a long learning curve. The complexities increase the likelihood for human error, making programmatic recruitment a great place for artificial intelligence. I think A.I. has a place in programmatic ad buying, however, I think it’s important to build data, information and a rhythm so that your technology is predicting habits appropriately. A.I. will help take the emotion out of ad buying, but the automated decisions and algorithm are only as good as the data you use.

How to Get Started with Programmatic Ad Buying

Jack has been experimenting with programmatic ad buying for the last year and after testing multiple reporting platforms and products, he is seeing results. For those who are looking at experimenting with programmatic Jack recommends that companies first look to their own metrics for at least the last five placements. Research the number of candidates, applications to hire, and candidate sources that went into filling that opening. Use those five placements as a starting point when experimenting with programmatic recruiting. Monitor your spend and activity closely, but most importantly talk with your recruiters and hiring managers to understand how the quality of candidates coming from this new source are comparing to traditional candidate funnels.

[bctt tweet=”Programmatic #recruiting can increase candidate click thru rates by 200% ” via=”no”]

To learn more listen to this podcast episode. Jack mentions a number of programmatic products, dashboards and reporting technologies that practitioners should consider when getting started.

For myself, I believe programmatic recruiting is a great way for talent acquisition teams to be more systematic in their hiring and recruiting process. Job boards use programmatic ad buying to drive qualified candidates to your specific job postings encouraging them to apply. Why not take advantage of those same tools and technologies to be in more control of your own digital recruiting efforts?

Connect with Jack Russell on LinkedIn.