Conversion & recruitment: what are we talking about?

Recruitment: conversion definition

The word "conversion" actually means "transformation". It refers to the process of status change of a particular target; for example, from prospect to customer, or from visitor to candidate.

The concept is part of the marketing vocabulary, and has also been used for some time in recruitment marketing. It can be measured by the conversion rate, which relates the initial value to the targeted value. It enables us to determine the quality of conversion at a certain point in time, and then the effectiveness of corrective measures (notably marketing or user experience) to improve it.

For example, it shows the percentage of online store visitors who actually buy a product. This means that conversion is not a fixed value, as it always refers to a precise objective, depending on the target status.

In recruitment, the word "conversion" generally refers to the process by which visitors to a career site go from being simple visitors to genuine candidates. In this case, the conversion rate measures the ratio between the visitor number to the career site and the number of people who complete the application process (form, CV submission, unsolicited application...). The higher the conversion rate, the more successful the career site and the entire application process.

Why is the conversion rate so important in recruitment?

The conversion rate enables recruiters to measure how many potential candidates have not completed the application process, as well as two key parameters:

• which candidates gave up?
• at what stage of the application process did they give up?

This is one of the most important KPIs of all the key recruitment indicators. Being able toassess the effectiveness of your recruitment measures or channels, and the corrective action taken, can save you money on your recruitment budget.

Let's take an example: in order to generate more applications, a company invests a lot of money in measures aimed at increasing the number of visitors and clicks on its career site. To achieve this, it spends a large budget on video production and paid social media campaigns.

Unfortunately, if the career site isn't optimized and has a poor conversion rate, these investments are worthless. The number of interested visitors is higher, but the number of job applications doesn't increase, or only slightly, in relation to the invested budget. The profitability of the action is not good.

On the other hand, a low conversion rate means opportunities for improvement! This can involve site content, navigation quality, the number of steps in the candidate path, etc. Small actions can help reduce dropped applications and convert more visitors into candidates. Most of the time, these optimizations are relatively cost-effective, and some recruitment budgets can then be reallocated more fruitfully.

You may also decide to completely revamp your career page, and why not opt for a complete, tailor-made career site?

Find out more: The differences between a classic career page and a career site

How to calculate the conversion rate for better recruitment?

The conversion rate refers to

• the proportion of people in a target group (visitors)
• who have completed a required action (apply)
• in relation to the total number of this target group (visitors).

The formula to remember is as follows. Conversion rate = Number of wished actions performed (applications) ÷ Total number of target group representatives (visitors) × 100%.

Tip: when you decide to measure this rate, make sure you compare and evaluate its evolution over identical time periods. For example, every month. If you get a figure for one week, then a second figure for the whole month... the comparison will be totally biased.

Here are the steps to determine your career site's conversion rate:

• Count the number of applications received through your career site within a defined period (a week, a month, a quarter, etc.).
• Determine the total number of visitors to your career site during this same period. You can do this using Google Analytics. If you don't know how to use this tool, don't hesitate to get in touch with your marketing/communications team.
• Calculate the conversion rate: divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors and multiply the result by 100 to obtain the percentage conversion rate.

Example: suppose you generated 20 applications last month via your career site. In total, the site had 1,000 visitors during this period. The conversion rate is therefore 2%. This means that one visitor in fifty applies for a job at your company.

What are the most relevant recruiting conversions?

Calculating the conversion rate is essential for evaluating your career site's efficiency (or your application form!), but it can also be useful for measuring other elements of your recruitment strategy. In fact, to guarantee a top-quality candidate experience, you need to look at all the transformations that take place at different stages of the process. Here are a few examples:

• Recruitment campaigns: Newsletter recipients -> Clicks on the job offer -> Applications / Registrations to your talent pool -> Effective hires
• Application process: Applications -> Access to 1st job interview -> Access to 2nd job interview, etc. -> Effective hires‍
• Referral: Employees -> Employee referrals -> Effective hires -> End of trial periods‍
• Event-based recruitment: Contacts at trade fairs -> Applications / Registrations in your talent pool -> Effective hires‍
• Onboarding: Contract signature -> End of trial period

How do you know if a conversion rate is good?

Hard to answer this question with a precise figure. There's no such thing as a universal conversion rate, because each company's application process is unique to its own context: sector, profession, location, niche or non-niche market, brand reputation, etc.

Moreover, as we've seen, conversion rates are calculated at different stages of the process.

Based on averages, we can say that a conversion rate of less than 2% requires real optimization work. Above 2%, there's always room for improvement, but it's less "time-sensitive". You also need to differentiate between conversions on external media (an advert in the street or on an external site, for example) and those on internal mediums (your career site, LinkedIn page, etc.).

The fact that a visitor has arrived on one of your channels already shows that he has an interest in you. They could be considered a "hot" visitor (that's what marketing experts say about a prospect who has made the effort to click on an ad and is now in the process of discovering their ecosystem). These warm visitors are therefore more interested in you and should, if all goes well, be more likely to actually apply for a job.

So you can expect a higher conversion rate on your own media (around 3 to 5%) compared to external channels.

Tip: before you know if your conversion rate is good, you need to know if it's meaningful. To do this, the figures you rely on must be significant. For example, you might measure very few visits to your career site in 1 month (5 visitors). It's hard to come to a conclusion, even if you get 1 application out of those 5 visitors. If the corresponding conversion rate (20%) is excellent, it doesn't have a solid basis because the initial figure is far too low.

Recruitment: find out what problems are stopping conversion

Giving up can happen fast. Quicker than some recruiters think. Often, if visitors don't become candidates, or if candidates don't want to progress in the recruitment process... it's all due to small details!

If you can identify the causes of these conversion problems, you can easily implement the right corrective measures. Here are a few common mistakes you can already check:

Before the application

• Your career site is not optimized for SEO and is difficult to identify by search engines.
• Your career site (and/or your job portal) are not optimized for smartphone users.
• You use job titles that are too original or imaginative for either search engines or candidates.
• The job portal on your career site is not intuitive and discourages potential candidates.
• It's difficult for visitors to find the job offer that's right for them without relevant filters or an adapted search bar.

During the application

• Your job offers are poorly formulated and give insufficient information. They don't project a positive image of your organization or the position to be filled.
• To apply, candidates must first subscribe to the site, leaving their personal details. Many candidates refuse this step.
• Your career site is optimized for mobile screens, but the application form is too long or too complex to be completed on a smartphone.
• The application process is too complicated and time-consuming. Too many clicks are required to complete the application form.
• You don't offer other options to candidates who can't (or don't want to) apply immediately; you miss out on potential candidates for weeks, months and years to come.
• Candidates don't receive an immediate reply to their application. This has a negative effect on the candidate's experience and can discourage them.

After the application

• The time it takes to take internal decisions is too long, and the risk that other employers will offer your candidate a position increases drastically.
• Candidates don't receive regular status updates, ask a lot of questions and don't feel properly valued.
• Candidates' future teams are not integrated into the recruitment process from the start, unnecessarily extending its duration and causing confusion and anxiety.
• Lack of transparency about salaries at the start of the process leads to false expectations among candidates, and disappointment at later stages.

Find out more: 10-point checklist for diagnosing your career site

How can you optimize your career site's conversion rate?

1. Mobile optimization of all content and functionalities: descriptions, forms, blocks, sidebars, etc.
2. Varied, authentic content: convincing arguments that present the company, benefits of joining, employee testimonials, etc.
3. Impactful job offers optimized for SEO: good keywords, clear job titles, clear structure (headings, sub-headings, bulleted lists, etc.), etc.
4. Intuitive navigation: fluid navigation, with few menu levels, spaces for better legibility, uniformity of information and action buttons, etc.
5. No obligation to register: no requirement to register, no need to fill in the same information several times, etc.
6. No cover letter: possible, but not mandatory.
7. CV upload instead of data entry: no unnecessary forms, features that make it easier to apply, etc.

👉 Improve the performance of your career site with our CMS tool built for career sites.