Recruitment marketing glossary
Every field has its own jargon, and in recruitment marketing the terms are constantly mixed up on top of that. Below are the terms you run into in quotes, reports and conversations, explained in plain language.
Field & positioning
Labour market communications
- All communication through which an organisation positions itself on the labour market as an employer, aimed at active and passive candidates, current employees and alumni.
Recruitment marketing
- Applying marketing techniques to hiring: campaigns, funnels, sourcing and follow-up, measurable per euro spent.
Job marketing
- Putting one specific vacancy in front of the right audience. Also called vacancy marketing.
Talent acquisition
- The strategic, long-term approach to hiring, building a continuous flow of candidates instead of recruiting vacancy by vacancy.
Search & selection
- Attracting candidates and assessing which of them is the right one. In the Netherlands it is also the name of the agency model where you pay per placement.
RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)
- Outsourcing part of or the entire recruitment process to an external party.
Retainer
- A fee paid up front to start a search assignment, rather than only on a successful placement.
No cure no pay
- A payment model where you only pay if delivery actually happens. The risk sits with the supplier instead of the client.
Corporate recruiter
- An in-house recruiter who hires exclusively for their own organisation.
Agency recruiter
- A recruiter working from an agency who hires for several clients at the same time.
Staffing consultant (intercedent)
- A staffing agency employee who matches candidates to assignments and maintains both sides of the relationship.
Hiring manager
- The manager who ultimately decides who gets hired.
Vacancy intake
- The conversation in which recruiter and hiring manager pin down what the role really requires, before recruiting starts.
Secondment
- Placing an employee with a client while they remain employed by the secondment agency.
Temporary staffing
- Supplying staff to a hirer, with the staffing agency acting as the formal employer.
Employer branding
Employer branding
- Building your employer brand: what you stand for as an employer and why anyone would want to work for you.
Employer brand
- The image people hold of you as an employer.
EVP (Employee Value Proposition)
- The total package of value you offer an employee: pay, development, atmosphere, flexibility and meaning combined.
Employer identity
- The norms, values and ways of working that actually apply internally — the foundation any credible employer brand is built on.
Employee advocacy
- Employees who speak positively about their employer within their own network, of their own accord.
Ambassadors
- People with a positive experience of you as an employer who talk about it with others, whether they still work there or not.
Employee testimonials
- Stories from current employees about their experience at work, used as proof in campaigns.
Creative concept
- The central idea and tone of voice that let an employer communicate recognisably and consistently across multiple campaigns.
Careers site
- The website, or the section of it, where you present yourself purely as an employer, separate from your commercial site.
Job video
- A short video showing a role or what it is like to work at an organisation, usually used in social campaigns.
Persuasive job ad copy
- Job ad copy written to persuade rather than merely inform: the offer first, the requirements later.
Audience & campaigns
Audience analysis
- Research into who your ideal candidate is, where they can be found and what they base their decision on.
Recruitment campaign
- A time-bound, usually paid effort to attract candidates for specific vacancies.
Cross-media campaign
- A campaign that combines several channels, online and offline, around the same concept.
Candidate journey
- The route a candidate travels from first contact to signing, including every moment where they might drop out.
Candidate experience
- How a candidate experiences dealing with your organisation, rejection included. It determines whether they come back later or recommend you.
Recruitment funnel
- The funnel from reach to application to interview to placement, making drop-off visible at every step.
Full funnel
- An approach that serves every stage of the funnel, from awareness to application, instead of only the bottom step.
Inbound recruitment
- Attracting candidates to you through visibility, content and your employer brand.
Outbound recruitment
- Actively approaching candidates yourself through sourcing and direct messages.
Passive candidate
- Someone who is not actively looking but is open to a better offer. By far the largest group on the labour market.
Active candidate
- Someone who is searching right now and applies of their own accord.
Email nurturing
- Keeping candidates who are not ready for a next step warm through a series of automated messages.
Talent pool
- A collection of candidates you spoke to or approached earlier who stay in view for future assignments.
Referral recruitment
- Recruiting through referrals from your own employees or network.
ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)
- The profile of the client you most want to work with, used to aim your outreach and advertising.
Channels & technology
Job board
- A website where vacancies are posted and candidates can search in a targeted way.
Multiposting
- Publishing one vacancy automatically to several job boards and channels at once.
Google for Jobs
- The feature that lets Google show vacancies directly in search results, fed by structured data on your vacancy page.
Programmatic job advertising
- Automated buying and steering of job advertising based on results per channel.
SEA
- Search Engine Advertising: paid ads in search engines, charged per click.
SEO
- Search Engine Optimization: making sure your pages are found organically in search engines.
ATS (Applicant Tracking System)
- Software in which applications, candidates and hiring processes are tracked.
Candidate CRM
- A system for maintaining the relationship with candidates who cannot be placed yet.
Recruitment marketing automation
- Automation of recurring marketing and follow-up steps towards candidates.
Recruitment chatbot
- An automated conversation partner on your site that answers questions and captures applications.
AI sourcing
- Continuously and automatically searching sources such as LinkedIn for matching profiles, with automated outreach.
Media budget
- The advertising budget itself, usually a separate line on top of an agency's fee.
Landing page
- The page an ad leads to, built around one action instead of around information.
Sourcing
Sourcing
- Actively searching for and approaching suitable candidates instead of waiting for applications.
Boolean search
- Searching with the operators AND, OR and NOT to define results precisely.
X-ray search
- A sourcing technique where you use a search engine to search inside one specific website.
Search string
- The exact combination of search terms and operators used to run a sourcing assignment.
Hunting
- Approaching candidates in a targeted, personal way, usually for scarce or senior roles.
KPIs & measurement
Cost per hire
- The total cost of hiring one new employee, including media, tooling and internal hours.
Cost per applicant
- Advertising budget divided by the number of applications. The most direct measure of campaign efficiency.
Time to hire
- The number of days between the first application and the eventual hire.
Time to fill
- The number of days between opening a vacancy and filling it.
Quality of hire
- A measure of how well new hires turn out to perform and stay.
Offer acceptance rate
- The percentage of candidates who actually accept an offer.
Source of hire
- The channel the eventually hired candidate came from.
Fulfilment ratio
- The percentage of assignments or vacancies that actually get filled. For agencies the key gauge of commercial success.
Recruiter workload
- The number of vacancies one recruiter handles at the same time. A higher workload structurally coincides with worse results.
Conversion rate
- The percentage of visitors, clickers or approached candidates who take the next step.
Selection & onboarding
Assessment
- A structured examination of a candidate's abilities, personality or skills.
STARR method
- An interview technique that probes Situation, Task, Action, Result and Reflection to make behaviour concrete.
Cultural fit
- The extent to which a candidate fits the way work actually gets done inside the organisation.
Skill-based hiring
- Selecting on demonstrable skills instead of on diplomas or previous job titles.
Preboarding
- The period between signing the contract and the first working day, in which you prevent someone from dropping out after all.
Onboarding
- The process by which a new employee gets up to speed and connected to the organisation.
Retention
- Keeping employees. For agencies often the cheapest form of recruiting.
Let's fill your next vacancy
and win your next client.
A concrete plan for your vacancies and your client acquisition
A review of your current channels
Clear next steps
30.000+
leads delivered.
5.0
rating on Google.
From the very first moment it was clear we were dealing with a professional, reliable partner who understands what it takes in recruitment and talent acquisition.
Yves van Rey
HeadStaffing
We get back to you within 1 working day.
- A concrete plan for your vacancies and your client acquisition
- A review of your current channels
- Clear next steps
