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Website Traffic Bounced Back, but Not All the Way Back to Start 2016

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In the second half of 2015, especially in the final months of the calendar year, we saw website traffic decrease to staffing and recruiting websites. Naturally, we usually see a drop at end the year but that trend was compounded by a lack of qualified job candidates looking for new jobs.

Rebounding from the drop is usually a bump to start the next calendar year. The start of a new year provides a fresh start and outlook for people who are frustrated with their jobs after conversations with friends and family during the holidays. Or, it’s simply a New Year’s Resolution.

So what happened to start 2016?

The Traffic Came Back!

In looking at traffic to staffing website Job Boards, we saw a good bounce back from the end of 2015 to the start of 2016 that was very comparable to the bounce back at the end of 2014 to the start of 2015:

  • January 2015 vs. December 2014 – increase of 37.7 percent
  • January 2016 vs. December 2015 – increase of 36.5 percent

That’s pretty darn close. One percent isn’t anything to sneeze at, so we saw a pretty good rebound  in website traffic to Job Boards at the start of 2016.

… Kind Of

However, you are probably sitting there in your staffing office and thinking, “OK. I see the website traffic increased to start the year but where are the job candidates?!”

Well, you aren’t wrong with that thought. Comparing Job Board traffic in January 2016 vs. January 2015, the traffic decreased by 25.4 percent. Looking at the data from the past two years, it appears that January 2015 was the peak of job candidates looking for jobs, and it’s decreased a lot since that apex.

In looking at the number of sessions in January 2016, it matches the traffic we saw in the summer and early fall months of 2015. That was about the time we started to realize here at the Haley Marketing Group that staffing firms and recruiters were starting to see a decrease in qualified job candidates.

Don’t Sit Back and Wait

Yes, at some point the job candidates are going to come back, but it doesn’t appear that it will be happening anytime soon. It can be difficult to pour more resources into finding candidates, but a comprehensive content marketing strategy will really put your staffing agency at the forefront of active job seekers and those elusive passive job candidates. An average staffing firm spends 0.25% of sales on marketing, less than one-fifth of other industries. Think about how your company could create a competitive advantage with an increased marketing spend.

Is it connecting more on LinkedIn? Does it come through a digital advertising strategy to reach previous job candidates? Should it be in sending a monthly newsletter? Will posting content consistently to social media actually work? Is my website really engaging to new and returning visitors?

All of those ideas are great ways to start. Not each one may be right for your staffing firm, but looking at your marketing goals and pairing them with the correct strategies will boost your website traffic and lead to more engagement and hopefully more conversions.

One way to start that process is by contacting the Haley Marketing Group where we can use our expert consulting resources and help your staffing agency become more successful now when qualified job candidates are scarce.

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