Just like with product advertising, the way jobs are advertised significantly changed over the past few decades, from placing an ad in a storefront window to the latest digital recruitment technology. Let’s take a closer look at how job advertising has evolved.
Pre 1900s: Static Ads
Before we were connected via the internet, job advertising was a lot more static and only available for local people. Businesses placed signs in windows, enticing individuals to apply. This type of advertising, although free, was reliant on the right type of person noticing the ad and applying.
1900s: Printed Ads
With the arrival of the printing press, newspapers allowed job ads to travel further afield. Read by more people, these ads increased the chances of someone suitable finding the job ad and applying. Newspaper job ad sections were hugely popular. They became the main source of revenue for many papers because they were usually charged per line or word.
1990s: Online Job Boards
The arrival of the internet meant that anyone with online access could view job ads. This meant that ads reached an even wider audience. Businesses could create ads and post them within minutes. They were also cheaper than their printed counterparts.
2000s: Ad Aggregator
With so many different online job boards available, it was starting to become impossible to search for all available jobs. And it was too costly for recruiters to post their ads everywhere. Ad aggregators solved this issue. They scraped all boards for relevant job ads and listed them on a single site. This allowed ads to reach a more relevant audience and simplified online job search.
2010s: Social Medias
Social media platforms took over the world by storm, it seems everyone since spend majority of their time on social media hence job advertising and talent search on social medias became very popular. The social media platforms changed the traditional hiring process, Talent Acquisitions and Recruiters using social media platforms like LinkedIn, Google, Facebook and twitter can advertise their job to more targeted audience and reach out to vast number of passive and active candidates quickly.
Now: Applicant Tracking System
In order to manage and reduce the time spent for job ads and processing applicants now businesses have access to sophisticated software that automates and optimizes ad placement in real-time to reach ideal candidates. The software can focus on the performance of the candidates as they go through the application process. It can even optimize for “cost per hire” to gain maximum ROI.
By accessing a single cloud-base Applicant Tracking System (ATS), talent acquisitions and recruiters can access it from anywhere in the world and manage all aspects of recruitment with ease and fluidity.
As technology evolves, so does the way we advertise and recruit. Advances in technology mean that we can recruit more effectively and more efficiently than ever before. Today, we can pinpoint suitable candidates right from the get-go, saving valuable time and money. And we can choose from a wider pool of potential employees, which means we have access to more skills to help businesses achieve their goals.
