Paid social for hiring: how we beat a recruiting service 2.5 to 1

Paid social works for hiring because it reaches people who are not actively job hunting, in their own neighborhoods, with a message about why your workplace is worth a change. For a national healthcare call center, our paid social program produced 2.5 times the completed applications of the recruiting service it was compared against, with half the attrition, in under a year.

Why does paid social work for recruiting?

Most job boards and recruiting services wait for candidates to come looking. That works when people are actively searching, but many good candidates are employed, curious and open to something better without browsing listings. Those people are on Facebook and Instagram every day, and paid social lets you meet them there with a message built around what matters to them: schedule, pay, stability, growth or the chance to do meaningful work.

Paid social also gives you precise control over who sees the ad. You can focus on the commuting distance around a location, on the ages and interests that fit the role, and on people who have already visited your careers page. One employer-brand and talent leader we work with told us they consistently see 4 to 6 times higher than average response rates on paid social for recruiting, which matches what we see when the targeting and the message fit the job.

How did paid social beat a recruiting service 2.5 to 1?

Our client, a national healthcare call center, needed a steady flow of qualified applicants and was already using a recruiting service. We ran paid social alongside it and compared the two on the outcome that mattered, which was completed applications from people who would stay. In under a year, paid social delivered 2.5 times the completed applications and half the attrition.

The attrition result is the one I would point any hiring manager toward. Volume is easy to buy, but every hire who leaves in the first months costs you training time and a second round of recruiting. In our experience, candidates who respond to an honest, specific ad about the real job tend to arrive with better expectations, and better expectations lead to people who stay.

What makes a recruiting ad work?

The ads that perform best speak to the candidate's situation rather than the company's needs. They name the role plainly, lead with the benefits a candidate cares about, show real people and real workplaces where possible, and make applying easy on a phone. A short application path matters a great deal, because many candidates will see your ad on a break or late in the evening and will not finish a long form on a small screen.

We also plan recruiting campaigns the same way we plan any campaign, with data. We set goals and KPIs up front, choose leading indicators such as cost per started application so we can spot problems early, and report by platform and by creative so we know which messages are bringing in people who complete the process.

A checklist before you launch a recruiting campaign

1. Define the outcome you are buying, such as completed applications or hires who stay 90 days, not just clicks.
2. Write down the three things your best current employees say they value about the job.
3. Build ads around those values, with the role, location and key benefits stated plainly.
4. Make sure the application works quickly on a phone and test it yourself before launch.
5. Target by commuting distance and retarget people who visited your careers page.
6. Track applications through to hire and retention so you can compare channels fairly.

Is paid social right for every hiring need?

It is strongest for roles where you need a steady volume of good candidates in specific locations, such as call centers, healthcare support, hospitality, skilled trades and frontline service positions. For senior or highly specialized roles, LinkedIn advertising and direct outreach usually play a bigger part. I would recommend using paid social alongside your existing channels at first and comparing them on completed applications and retention, as our client did, so the decision rests on your own numbers.

How Grimm can help

Grimm Marketing Communications has run paid social programs since 2001, including recruiting campaigns that have outperformed traditional recruiting services. If hiring is holding your business back and you want to see whether paid social can do better for you, we would welcome the conversation. Get in touch with us.

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