Declining NYC Unemployment Rate...Be Active at Getting Passive

The New York State Department of Labor has released new unemployment data. Unemployment in New York City has constantly declined over the past 20 years.

We know that...

• Fewer people are out of work and spend less time searching.
• Quality applicants are more passive.
• These people spend more time in email than in newspaper or watching TV.
• Recruiting departments are being asked to do more with less budget.

All things considered, we know that options exist to penetrate passive job seeker markets but at what cost? How much of your budget and resources are you willing to invest?

Permission based email campaigns are an effective value-option. I am not talking about email alerts that most job boards send out to drive applies. I am referring to targeted and permissioned email advertising campaigns sent to passive industry and location specific talent. These campaigns feature just your organization.

BENEFITS

• Build employment brand awareness.
• Brand org as employer of choice.
• Drives interest and quality traffic to your org's opportunities and career site.

In the case of Yahoo! Mail's service, companies have seen an average increase in interest of about 76%. Here's a Yahoo! Mail campaign example.

WHAT TO ASK ABOUT WHEN CONSIDERING AN EMAIL RECRUITMENT AD CAMPAING

• Audience. How passive is the audience from which your target market is assembled? At what rate is that audience employed full-time? In the case of Yahoo!, the audience from which we assemble target recipient lists is employed full-time at a rate of 79%. That's pretty passive.
• Response Rates. What type of response can be reasonably expected? Based on historical averages, how many people in my target market will be exposed to my brand? At what rate does that group typically click thru and interact with my brand or visit my career site?
• Large Numbers. Don't be scared by large numbers. Marketing like this starts with large lists ends with something more managable. The process from open to click acts almost as a screening process, weeding out those with less interest. It's not uncommon to send an email campaign to 200,000 targeted recipients. Throughout the process of receiving the email, opening it, reading and responding, the majority of this group will lose interest. In the end, you have a manageable pipeline of niche seekers, genuinely interested in your org.

Have you considered advertising more aggressively to counter the declining numbers of available talent in your markets?