Why aren't you using Google advertising for recruitment?

Online, August 27, 2009 (Newswire.com) - As always, of course, I'd recommend advertising broadly across the major UK job boards. But we're an online recruitment company, NOT a job board reseller - we want our clients to engage with the best talent, directly. We always challenge our clients to do more. We say, "Why not compete against the job boards directly...!"

If over 75% of job seekers turn to Google at the start of their job search and "Jobs" is consistently one of their top search terms, it should be pretty obvious why you would want to back up a job board advertising campaign with an effective Search Engine Marketing Campaign using Google. Coupled with effective online recruitment advertising, it is perfect for specific or ongoing recruitment campaigns. And here's why...

* It's a completely targeted approach - the correct advertising will only appeal to those who have searched for your requirements
* Geo-targeting -only showing ads to candidates in your geographic location. But...you could show your ads to those in one town or the whole of the UK (worth considering for contract roles or if you think people would relocate).
* Drive direct traffic to your own site - Cut out all middle men (especially the recruiters). You have control of the look and feel of your careers site and candidates can quickly find out what you're all about.
* Promote your company as well as the recruitment - Candidates may also be your customers so even if you don't employ them they may buy your products, or just talk about you to their mates. Win win!
* You set the budget - You never have to worry about overspend when you have established an effective budget and bidding level.
* Only pay for relevant clicks - You only pay for those who have actually clicked on your ads. Your ads could be seen millions of time but you only pay for those who look on your site, ones who want to apply.
* It's cost effective - By only paying for relevant clicks and being very targeted with your advertising, if done effectively, Google could become your lowest cost per hire model.
* Turn it off when you want - Adwords can be stopped with a click. You can also edit your ads and keywords during a campaign and Adwords won't charge you a penny extra.
* Be completely specific - You can keep your Adwords costs down by bidding on very specific terms. For example "C# developer job Brighton" would only cost you 4p per click as it's so specific.
* Be creative and have fun with the adverts - As Adwords ads can be edited in real time and the costs are so low, you can experiment with lots of different Ad copy. Why not try emotive and factual copy to see how each performs. You can then use the feedback to improve your other marketing.
* Target "passive" job seekers - don't just focus on jobs or recruitment. Think about how your ideal person would engage with searches and terms and bid for those terms as well.
* Target your competitors - Not everyone agrees with this, but it is within the "rules" to bid on your competitors keywords. This way if candidates are searching for jobs with your competitors you can make sure your company appears above them in the paid search results. Cheeky, I know, but it works.

All well and good. But be warned - ALWAYS make sure that your advert relates to the landing page you are driving traffic to and make it easy for candidates to apply when they are there.

Right, here endeth the lesson. If anyone wants to talk to me about recruitment PPC campaigns in more detail or has more comments to add feel free.