How Job Listing Branding Impacts Applications

StyleCareers.com recently conducted a survey of roughly 2000 fashion industry professionals on their job search habits.  This post deals with company branding and how it impacts candidate applications.

To get a better handle on how employment branding impacts candidate applications, we asked the following question:

How likely are you to apply to job listings that DO NOT include a company website or logo?

Candidates were given the options of Very Likely, Somewhat Likely, Less Likely and Not Likely.  While the overall results were relatively predictable, the actual numbers are very interesting…

This chart shows the overall responses.  It does not make any differentiation between job seekers that are currently unemployed, under-employed or those candidates that have jobs.

The number that jumps out immediately is the  18.2% of job seekers, regardless of their employment status, who contend that they are Not Likely to apply to a job listing that doesn’t include a company website or logo.  Adding-in the 36.5% who are Less Likely to apply, Employers who post jobs without a logo or website cut their potential candidate pool by over half.

This issue is magnified by the types of candidates who apply, candidates who are currently employed, those that are under-employed and those that have no job…

While not a totally fair assumption, most employers prefer to hire candidates that currently have jobs compared to those who do not.  Why?  Candidates that have jobs are perceived by recruiters as being the top talent; they are the ones who have NOT been fired, laid-off or downsized.  Similarly, candidates who have long periods of unemployment get a stigma of being unemployable.

Going under the assumption that the best candidates (on average) are the better candidates, job listings that do not include a company logo or website exclude a higher percentage of the more desired talent.  For example, 23% of candidates who have jobs are Not Likely to apply to jobs that do not include a company’s logo or website whereas only 13% of the unemployed answered similarly.

In summary, employers who do not properly brand their job listings are less likely to get good results from their job listings.  Our recommendation is to take advantage of all the branding opportunities a jobboard has to offer to put your organization in the best light possible.