Job Seekers Aren't All The Same, So Why Are Your Job Ads?

Who's looking for your jobs and what are you doing to make sure they find them? One thing I see all too often is hiring managers trying to attract different types of job seekers using the same tactics. Every time you think of listing a new job, it's crucial to think about the job seekers' perspective. What are they looking for, where are they currently, and where do they want to be? How can you advertise your job in a way that aligns with their goals to get them to apply to work for you? To start off, you need to understand that each job seeker is different. When you consider the fact that the reasons for their job search will always vary - it only makes sense for your tactics in targeting them to vary as well.

That's why in today's post, I'm teaching you how you can use marketing segmentation to hire, this is when you group your audience based on similar interests, demographics, and needs. Doing so can make your marketing efforts more effective and produce better results as you adjust your technique for each segment instead of using generalized advertisements that try to target everyone at once.

Here are the main segmentation points to think about when posting a new job.

Unemployed vs. Employed

Segmenting between unemployed and employed job seekers is going to be the most important, as they will each have a very different approach. If you're struggling to hire because of low unemployment rates, maybe it's time to adjust your strategy and start targeting employed job seekers instead. The current unemployment rate in the US is 3.7% BUT, employee disengagement is high - so why not target the 96.3% that's left instead? According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, 85% of employees are actively disengaged or just not engaged at work. That's a lot of potential job seekers that are looking for a better place to work and means you've got a lot more opportunities to draw in candidates than you may think!

Now, if they are employed - the next step is to segment them by what they're looking for.

Are they trying to find a similar job to what they're doing today, looking for a better employer, the same role in a different industry, or looking to advance their career? Take a look at each of these possibilities and notice how each would need to be enticed uniquely. Someone looking for the same job but a better employer could be targeted by advertising your organization and culture more than the actual position, whereas a job seeker looking to climb the career ladder will likely be looking for mentions of growth opportunities and great training. To dive deeper into my best tips for targeting each of these groups of employed job seekers, watch the video and learn how adjusting your efforts for different types of job seekers will help you maximize your qualified applicant flow.

Ready to win qualified talent over from the competition? Once you've got your segments, it's time to put together strategic and focused job ads to draw them in. Our guide on How to Write a Killer Job Ad will walk you through how to do just that so you can increase your qualified applicant flow today, download it here to get started!