Recruitment advertising can account for a significant part of an organisation’s hiring budget. With multiple vacancies to fill, choosing where to advertise and how much to spend on each role can make a real difference to recruitment costs.
However, getting value from your advertising budget isn’t simply about finding the cheapest job boards or buying more credits. It’s about understanding where your target candidates are looking, choosing the right channels and making sure your adverts give people a reason to apply.
For internal recruitment teams managing multiple vacancies, this requires a considered approach. The right advertising strategy can help you reach more relevant candidates without continually increasing your spend.
There are also opportunities to make your existing budget go further. Occy is currently offering free premium job advertising credits for Totaljobs, CV-Library and Reed, alongside a 60-day free trial of its applicant tracking system (ATS). This gives recruitment teams the opportunity to advertise vacancies on established UK job boards while exploring how recruitment technology can help manage the wider hiring process.
Here are seven ways to get more from your recruitment advertising budget.
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1. Choose Job Boards Based on the Role
It’s easy to fall into the habit of advertising every vacancy on the same job boards. While familiar platforms can provide good coverage, they won’t necessarily be the best option for every role.
Different candidates use different platforms when searching for work. Someone looking for an entry-level administration position may use different websites from an experienced engineer, IT specialist or healthcare professional.
Before committing advertising spend, consider the type of person you’re trying to reach.
Ask yourself:
Where are candidates with these skills most likely to search for jobs?
Are there specialist job boards that focus on this industry?
Would a regional platform be more effective for a location-specific vacancy?
Does the role require a broad reach or a more targeted approach?
For some positions, a national job board may be the best option. For others, an industry-specific platform could provide access to a more relevant audience.
The aim is to match your advertising channels to the vacancy, rather than automatically paying for the same coverage every time.
2. Make Better Use of Free and Paid Advertising
Not every vacancy needs a premium advertising campaign.
Free job boards, company career pages and social media can all help increase visibility without using up your paid advertising budget.
A combination of free and paid channels can give your organisation a wider reach while keeping costs under control.
For example, you could:
Publish vacancies on your company careers page.
Share opportunities through your organisation’s social media accounts.
Use free job posting platforms where relevant.
Invest in premium advertising for harder-to-fill or specialist positions.
Use targeted advertising when a vacancy needs additional visibility.
The important thing is to understand what each channel offers and when it makes sense to pay for additional exposure.
Premium advertising can be particularly useful when you need to reach a larger audience or compete for candidates in a busy market. However, paying for greater visibility doesn’t automatically mean you’ll receive better applications.
Consider the requirements of each vacancy before deciding where your budget should go. You can also look at promotional offers that provide access to premium job boards without requiring additional upfront advertising spend.
3. Improve Your Job Adverts Before Paying for More Exposure
If your job adverts aren’t attracting the right candidates, increasing your advertising spend may not solve the problem.
A poorly written advert can make even the most visible vacancy difficult to fill. Candidates need to understand what the role involves, what the organisation offers and whether they have the experience required.
Before investing in additional advertising, review the quality of your existing job adverts.
Make sure they include:
A clear and recognisable job title.
An introduction that explains the organisation and opportunity.
A realistic description of the responsibilities.
Essential and desirable skills or qualifications.
Salary information and benefits where possible.
Clear details about location and working arrangements.
Straightforward application instructions.
It’s also worth considering how candidates search for jobs. Using relevant keywords naturally throughout your advert can help improve its visibility on job boards.
Occy’s AI Copywriting Assistant can help recruitment teams create structured, optimised job adverts in minutes. Trained using Occy’s professional copywriting service, the tool produces adverts designed to improve visibility and beat industry benchmarks by 35%.
You can also use templated job adverts to maintain consistency across departments, saving time while ensuring important information isn’t missed.
Better advert quality gives your advertising budget a stronger starting point, helping you make more of the exposure you’re paying for.
4. Avoid Paying for Multiple Advertising Platforms Separately
Managing advertising across several job boards can quickly become complicated.
If your recruitment team is purchasing credits, logging into different platforms and manually publishing each vacancy, it’s not only creating additional administration. It can also make it harder to manage advertising spend across the organisation.
Using an ATS with integrated job advertising can simplify the process.
Occy’s Source Candidates functionality allows recruitment teams to publish vacancies across multiple channels from one platform, including leading UK job boards, specialist sites, career pages and social media.
This means you can manage your advertising activity without repeatedly switching between different systems.
There can also be financial benefits to consolidating your advertising spend.
Occy purchases advertising credits in significant volumes, allowing it to negotiate rates with media providers and pass savings on to customers. According to Occy, customers advertising 100 roles can save a minimum of 15% compared with purchasing credits directly from job boards.
Occy also rolls over up to 25% of unspent advertising credits when customers renew, helping reduce the risk of paying for credits that aren’t used before the end of the year.
For organisations recruiting throughout the year, this can make advertising budgets easier to manage.
If you’re considering a more joined-up approach, you can also try Occy through its current 60-day free trial, which includes free premium job advertising credits for Totaljobs, CV-Library and Reed.
5. Track Which Advertising Channels Deliver Suitable Candidates
Application numbers can be useful, but they don’t tell you everything about the performance of an advertising campaign.
A job board might generate a high number of applications, but how many of those candidates actually meet the requirements?
Another platform might produce fewer applications but deliver a much stronger shortlist.
This is why it’s important to look beyond application volume when assessing your advertising performance.
Consider tracking:
Number of applications received from each source.
Percentage of applicants who meet the essential criteria.
Number of candidates progressing to interview.
Number of successful hires from each channel.
Advertising cost in relation to successful outcomes.
This gives you a better understanding of which platforms are worth investing in.
For example, if a premium job board consistently produces suitable candidates for technical vacancies, it may justify a larger share of your budget. If another platform generates plenty of applications but very few relevant candidates, you may need to reconsider how much you’re spending there.
Occy’s Dashboard and Analytics features help recruitment teams understand where candidates are coming from and how they progress through the hiring process.
Having this information in one place makes it easier to compare advertising sources and make more informed decisions about future campaigns.
6. Review Advertising Performance Regularly
Your recruitment advertising strategy shouldn’t be something you review just once a year.
Candidate behaviour, job market conditions and advertising performance can all change. A platform that worked particularly well for your organisation last year might not deliver the same results today.
Set aside time to review your advertising activity and identify opportunities to adjust your approach.
For example, if a vacancy isn’t attracting enough suitable applications, consider whether the job title, advert content or advertising channel needs changing.
You could also test different platforms for similar vacancies to understand which ones produce the strongest results.
Try to avoid making decisions based on one campaign alone. Look for patterns across several vacancies and consider differences in role type, location and candidate availability.
Over time, this will help you build a clearer picture of where your advertising budget is best spent.
7. Make Use of Advertising Offers and Credits
Another way to get more from your recruitment advertising budget is to look at the offers and purchasing arrangements available to your organisation.
Job board advertising can be expensive, particularly when you’re recruiting across several departments or locations. Taking advantage of promotional credits and discounted advertising packages can help increase your reach without immediately increasing your costs.
It’s worth reviewing what is included in any advertising package before committing. Check which platforms are covered, how credits can be used and whether there are any conditions attached to the offer.
To help recruitment teams make their advertising budgets go further, Occy is currently offering free premium job advertising credits for Totaljobs, CV-Library and Reed, alongside a 60-day free trial of Occy ATS.
This means you can:
Advertise vacancies for free using premium job advertising credits across three established UK job boards.
Try Occy ATS for 60 days and explore how it can support your recruitment process.
Manage recruitment in one place, from publishing vacancies and organising applications to scheduling interviews and managing candidate communications.
Reduce manual administration with automated recruitment tasks and workflows.
The trial also gives your team the opportunity to see how an ATS works alongside your existing recruitment processes, without committing to a new platform upfront.
Rather than simply receiving advertising credits, you’re also getting the opportunity to explore a more efficient way of managing recruitment.
Find out more and claim your free job advertising credits and 60-day ATS trial:
Get Free Premium Job Advertising Credits with Occy
Make Your Recruitment Advertising Budget Work Harder
Getting more from your recruitment advertising budget doesn’t necessarily mean spending more money.
It’s about making informed decisions, understanding your audience and choosing advertising channels that are appropriate for the vacancies you’re trying to fill.
By improving advert quality, combining free and paid platforms, consolidating advertising activity and reviewing the performance of different sources, internal recruitment teams can make better use of their available budget.
The right recruitment technology can also make a difference. Occy brings job advertising, candidate sourcing and recruitment management together in one platform, helping internal teams manage their advertising activity, organise applications and understand where their best candidates come from.
And with free premium job advertising credits for Totaljobs, CV-Library and Reed, plus 60 days to try Occy ATS, there’s an opportunity to explore these benefits without an upfront commitment.
Want to make more of your recruitment advertising budget?
Claim your free premium job advertising credits and 60-day Occy ATS trial or book a demo.