Table of Contents
Introduction
Introduction.
Candidates now behave like consumers, and as a result, there has been a significant shift in the recruitment industry from traditional recruitment to recruitment marketing. Traditional recruitment methods are no longer enough, which means employers need to start making changes to attract, engage and nurture talent before they even apply.
In this guide, Built In shares key findings and data from organizational leaders and candidates nationwide about what candidates seek and care about most. Learn why shifting from sourcing to employer branding is necessary and discover actionable steps you can take to become the marketer needed to boost your tech recruiting strategy.
Section 1
The candidate's journey has changed.
Every 10 to 15 years, the recruitment industry sees a material shift in candidate behavior. We are now in the recruitment marketing era.
With the proliferation of social media and influencer branding, candidates seek out employers the way they shop for brands, purchase products or book vacations. A candidate's journey is not just impacted by one channel — it's impacted by many. Before choosing an employer, candidates refer to online resources, reviews, social media, information from others and an employer's website.
The Recruitment Marketing Era
To invest in the right channels, employers must be everywhere their target audience is and measure their brand across all channels to understand what is working.
Section 2
The industry is beginning to recognize the shift.
In partnership with Brandata, Built In surveyed more than 1,000 talent leaders to understand their best practices for hiring sought-after tech talent.
The results showed that online tech-specific platforms and employer branding ranked as the top two recruitment channels that are working, with a clear shift away from sourcing, which fell to seventh on the list.
Top recruitment channels for tech talent in 2024.
Based on Built In x Brandata survey of 1,089 talent industry leaders
1
Online tech-specific platforms
3
Social media recruiting
5
Third-party job platforms
Key Insight
Sourcing can still make an impact for specific roles where candidates are on LinkedIn daily. However, if you're not where your tech candidates are daily and you don't make yourself known throughout the year, you'll lose out on top tech candidates when they're ready to move.
Section 3
The biggest branding challenges for employers.
Together, these challenges cover the entire marketing funnel — transforming recruitment into marketing.
Based on Built In x Brandata survey of 1,089 talent industry leaders
Targeting and engaging the right audience effectively
43.8%
Creating the right messaging to attract talent
37.6%
Navigating budget and resource constraints
32.3%
Measuring the ROI of employer branding initiatives
29.2%
Section 4
Addressing the challenges.
First, understand the candidate's journey when searching for jobs and adjust your recruiting strategies accordingly.
Candidates research and shop for jobs in a way similar to how they search for brands. The candidate journey is continuously happening and even begins before the candidate decides to change jobs.
1
Become Aware
Awareness builds through the sites candidates visit, content they read, ads they see and conversations with peers.
▼
2
Gain Interest
Candidates research your perks, benefits, culture, tech, mission and more.
▼
3
Evaluate
Candidates evaluate your roles across Built In, LinkedIn, your careers site and more.
▼
4
Commit
The journey for how they commit will look different for each candidate, and that's OK.
After the awareness build-up, candidates will research your perks, benefits, culture, tech and mission. Finally, they'll evaluate your jobs and potentially commit by applying. The journey for how they commit will look different for each candidate.
Section 5
Applying marketing strategies to recruit top-tier candidates.
Talent acquisition teams are tasked with recruiting candidates the same way marketers drive demand for brands.
1
Know Your Target Market and Ideal Candidate Profile
Understanding where your ideal audience spends their time is critical to conversion success. Recruiters must have a brand that is "always on" in all the places their ideal candidates are searching for employers or jobs.
Once a top candidate is actively on the market, they are only available for an average of 10 days. A proactive "always on" brand keeps your organization top of mind when they start looking.
Hotels, restaurants and airlines don't turn their brand spend on and off — yet travel is seasonal just like hiring. Neither should you. If you wait until you're actively hiring to create your brand, you'll miss up to 70% of the applicants' search process.
What matters most to candidates.
Based on Built In x Brandata survey of 1,300+ candidates
High employee satisfaction and retention rates67.3%
Excellent workplace environment and culture66.6%
Transparent communication and leadership54.9%
Remote or hybrid work environment54.1%
Strong financial performance and growth51.8%
Tech-forward and innovative48.3%
Long history and stability47.0%
Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB)40.6%
Sustainable and environmentally conscious practices34.9%
Industry of employer28.2%
Strong social viewpoints and activism27.4%
3
Be Prepared to Measure ROI Using Multi-Touch Attribution
If you keep reporting on data solely based on sources candidates applied from, you will likely invest only in sourcing and your career site — placing your company at an extreme disadvantage.
Marketing teams need a budget to drive awareness, and so do you. Candidates don't just show up to your career site. You must build awareness, gain their interest and convert them. Focusing on measuring the first three stages of your funnel will lead to higher ROI long term.
55%
of tech candidates use Google search when researching new jobs
43%
of tech candidates will only respond to a recruiter after some consideration
70%
of the applicant search process is missed if you wait until actively hiring to build your brand
Case study: The candidate journey in action.
Here is a real example of an in-demand software engineer's path to landing their ideal job — and why your ATS source data alone tells the wrong story.
Day 1
Viewed profile, viewed jobs, clicked Apply Now on Built In
2 Weeks Later
Viewed profile and jobs on Built In
1 Day Later
Viewed article, profile and jobs on Built In
Over Next Month
6 additional visits: viewed articles, profiles and job listings on Built In
2 Months Later
Status: Hired. Offer accepted at X Company.
Jonathan had 14 distinct touchpoints on Built In over more than a month before applying. His ATS listed the source as the company's career site. Without multi-touch attribution, that influence is invisible. — Based on Built In Data and Greenhouse ATS
Section 6
Tips for tracking attribution.
As the recruiter for this job, how do you know what influenced Jonathan to apply? Giving credit only to your career site misses the full picture.
Multi-Touch Pixel Tracking
Identify every touchpoint a candidate had with your brand before applying.
Google Analytics Conversion Tracking
Identify the application's referral source and pair it with ATS source reports.
Quality of Audience and Applicants
Track how applicants from each source progress through your recruitment funnel.
Candidate Surveys and NPS
Ask "How did you hear about us?" in your application or post-hire survey.
Overall Traffic and Engagement Data
Track campaign impressions and engagement to ensure you're reaching the right talent.
16x
Marketing budgets tend to be 16x or more the budgets recruitment marketing teams have. Marketing teams know how to measure multi-touch attribution ROI and defend it. Recruitment marketing teams need to do the same.
Based on Gartner Data
Putting It Together
If you tell your CFO that 95% of hires came from sourcing and your careers site, you won't receive a higher budget — which means you won't be effective. Measure the full funnel, report on it and defend it.
Conclusion
Employers need to make smart investments today to drive tomorrow's success.
Based on Built In's research, teams are on all ends of the spectrum in their journey to running recruitment as marketing. The best and most progressive employers are doubling down on employer branding and treating it as a core pillar of their recruitment strategy, especially for tech recruitment.
They are also leveraging CRMs to capture candidates they attract with employer branding efforts, nurturing them and building their database for the future — reducing cold outbound sourcing. When asked how they measure the ROI of their recruiting efforts, they reference tracking and measurement instead of ATS hire source data.
To attract top tech talent, outdated strategies must be updated with strategies focused on marketing your employer brand: build brand awareness, reach candidates where they are, share what matters to them, and measure your ROI to optimize.
