Glossary
The recruitment marketing dictionary
From post and pray to speed to lead: short, honest definitions, each with an example. 50 terms across 6 topics.
Core Concepts
The big ideas: what recruitment marketing is, and why posting a job isn't enough.
Recruitment marketing
Using marketing to get the right people to see a job, want it and apply, instead of just posting a vacancy and waiting for someone to show up.
Read definitionJob marketing
Marketing one specific job like a product, with a clear audience, one message that makes them stop, and a funnel that takes them from seeing it to applying.
Read definitionPost and pray
Putting a vacancy online, on your site or a job board, and then just hoping the right person finds it and applies. No audience, no message, no plan.
Read definitionEmployer brand
What people think and say about you as a place to work. You have one whether you manage it or not, built from reviews, ads, word of mouth and how you treat candidates.
Read definitionEmployer Value Proposition (EVP)
The honest answer to one question: why would someone good work here instead of somewhere else? The specific deal you offer people, in exchange for their work.
Read definitionCandidate experience
How it feels to go through your hiring process, from the first ad someone sees to the last email they get, whether they're hired or not.
Read definitionApplicant Equation
The math every candidate does before applying: (Dream Job × Belief) ÷ (Time to Apply × Effort & Risk). Raise what's on top, shrink what's below, and more good people apply.
Read definitionBelief gap
When a good candidate reads your job ad and decides they won't get the job anyway, so they never apply. The people you want quietly filter themselves out.
Read definitionCliché tax
What you lose every time your job ad uses a phrase that could be in any job ad, like 'dynamic team' or 'competitive salary'. Every cliché is a spot where a real fact could have been.
Read definitionGood friction
Friction in an application that filters for real interest, like one specific question about the job. Bad friction, like accounts and cover letters, only scares good people away.
Read definition
Candidates
Who you're trying to reach, and the mood they're in when they see your job.
Active candidate
Someone who is looking for a job right now. They search job boards, set alerts and compare vacancies, so they're in a searching mood, not a scrolling one.
Read definitionPassive candidate
Someone who isn't looking for a job, but would switch for the right offer. They won't find your vacancy on a job board, so it has to find them.
Read definitionJob scroller
A passive candidate who sees your job in their social feed while not looking for one. They're scrolling, not searching, so the ad has to make them stop first.
Read definitionTalent pool
The people who showed interest in working for you before, like past applicants, silver medalists and people who signed up for job alerts, who you can reach again later.
Read definitionGhosting
When a candidate or an employer stops responding in the middle of a hiring process, without saying why. It happens on both sides, and it hurts both sides.
Read definitionMass applying
Applying to lots of jobs at once with little attention to each one, more and more often with AI tools that fill in forms and write answers automatically.
Read definition
Job Ads & Applying
Everything between someone seeing your job and their application landing.
Job ad vs. job description
The job description defines the role for internal use. The job ad sells the job to the people you want. Most companies post the description and call it an ad.
Read definitionDay in the job
Describing a real day in the role, what someone actually does from morning to end of shift, instead of listing duties and responsibilities in a job ad.
Read definitionPay transparency
Showing the salary or pay range in the job ad itself, so candidates know what a job pays before they apply. It's increasingly required by law, not just a nice extra.
Read definitionCareers page
The part of your website where candidates go to check if they actually want to work for you. It's where your open jobs live, and where people look for proof.
Read definitionApply flow
Every step between a candidate thinking 'I want this' and their application being sent: every click, page, field, upload and login in between.
Read definitionMobile apply
Applying for a job from a phone. For lots of roles, the phone is where people first see your job, so if the application doesn't work there, it doesn't really work.
Read definitionQuick apply
Applying with a profile or details you already have, like a job board profile or saved CV, in one or two taps, without filling in a long form.
Read definitionKnockout question
A question in an application that automatically disqualifies someone based on their answer, like 'Do you have a valid driver's license?' for a delivery job.
Read definition
Advertising
Where job ads run, how they're targeted, and the numbers the platforms show you.
Job board
A website where companies post their vacancies and job seekers go to search for them, like the classic jobs section, but online.
Read definitionJob aggregator
A job search site that collects vacancies from many sources, like careers pages and job boards, and shows them in one place.
Read definitionGoogle for Jobs
Google's job search feature that shows vacancies right in the search results, pulled from pages that use JobPosting structured data.
Read definitionJobPosting structured data
A piece of code on your vacancy page that tells Google what the job is, so it can show up in Google's job search results.
Read definitionProgrammatic job advertising
Software that spreads your job ad budget across many job sites automatically, and keeps moving money to wherever it performs best.
Read definitionMeta lead ads
Ads on Facebook and Instagram with a form that opens inside the app, partly filled in already, so people can respond without visiting your site.
Read definitionSpecial Ad Category
Meta's label for job, housing and financial ads. For job ads it limits targeting on age, gender and location, and lookalike audiences aren't available.
Read definitionRetargeting
Showing ads to people who already interacted with you, like visiting your vacancy page or starting an application, to bring them back.
Read definitionLookalike audience
An ad audience the platform builds of people who resemble a group you give it, like past applicants or hires. Not available for Meta job ads under the Special Ad Category.
Read definitionCreative fatigue
When the same ad has been shown to the same people so often that they stop noticing it, and the results slowly get worse.
Read definitionHook rate
The share of people who keep watching the first few seconds of your video ad after it shows up. It tells you if your opening stops the scroll.
Read definitionClick-through rate
The percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked on it. Shortened to CTR. It shows whether your ad makes people curious enough to look.
Read definitionCPM
Cost per mille: what you pay for 1,000 impressions of your ad. It tells you how expensive it is to get in front of your audience, not if the ad works.
Read definition
Metrics
How to measure a hiring funnel, and which numbers actually matter.
Apply rate
The percentage of people who view your job ad and then actually apply. Also called click-to-apply rate. It shows how well the ad and the apply flow convert.
Read definitionApplication completion rate
The percentage of people who start your application and actually finish it. It shows how much your form or apply flow is losing you.
Read definitionDrop-off rate
The percentage of people who leave at a specific step of your hiring funnel instead of moving on to the next one.
Read definitionFunnel leak
The step in your hiring funnel where you lose the most good people. Fixing it first usually beats spending more budget at the top.
Read definitionCost per applicant
What you spend on attracting candidates divided by the number of applications you get. Often shortened to CPA.
Read definitionCost per qualified applicant
What you spend on attracting candidates divided by the number of applicants who actually meet your criteria. It matters more than cost per applicant.
Read definitionCost per hire
The total cost of filling a role divided by the number of hires, including ads, tools, agency fees and the time your own team spends on it.
Read definitionTime to fill
The number of days between opening a vacancy and a candidate accepting the offer. It measures how long a role stays empty from the company's side.
Read definitionTime to hire
The number of days between a candidate entering your process, like applying, and accepting your offer. It shows how fast you move once you've found someone.
Read definitionSpeed to lead
How fast you contact someone after they apply or leave their details. The faster you call, the more likely they still remember you and pick up.
Read definition
Tools & AI
The software behind hiring, and how AI is changing it.
Applicant tracking system
Software that collects your applications and tracks every candidate through your hiring process, from applying to hired. Usually called an ATS.
Read definitionAI recruiting agent
AI software that does recruitment tasks on its own, like writing and launching job ads, screening applicants or scheduling interviews, instead of just answering questions.
Read definitionAI visibility for employers
How AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity describe you as an employer, and whether they mention you at all when candidates ask about jobs.
Read definition
Newsletter
Stop posting jobs. Start marketing them.
New playbooks, templates and prompts for people who hire, straight to your inbox.