Dr John Sullivan Talent Management Thought Leadership
Most struggle to get the attention of applicants. Clickbaiting may be the answer!
Unfortunately, a great deal of recruitment messaging is routine and dull. So often, important messages go unnoticed, and when they are spotted, the time that potential applicants spend on those messages is minuscule. However, clickbaiting recruitment messaging changes all of that. And if you’re not familiar with this term, Clickbaiting is a widely used and highly effective messaging approach. It uses startling and intriguing phrases (known as headlines) in order to first capture and then maintain the engagement of your potential applicants. Here is a recruiting example.
Finally, your ideal job may only be a click away… Learn more >>
If, after reading this clickbait line, you instantly realized that your ideal job “is finally here today.” The “bait” in this message (your search is finally over) will, in most cases, compel your target to electronically click on the provided hyperlink to immediately learn the rest of your message. You would be experiencing how the practice of recruitment clickbaiting can make your recruiting messaging measurably more effective.
What Is Clickbait Recruitment Messaging And What Are Its Goals?
Clickbait recruitment is a data-driven digital messaging approach that uses attention-grabbing phrases, sentences, and paragraphs to initially capture your target audience’s attention with an irresistible or intriguing “headline” (i.e., an attention-getting phrase).
Clickbait recruitment is a data-driven digital messaging approach. It uses attention-getting phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. To initially grab the attention of your target audience with an irresistible or intriguing “headline” (i.e., an attention-getting phrase). However, the clickbait sentence/paragraph leaves out at least one important bit of desired information. Your target must click on the hyperlink in order to fully satisfy their information needs.
The primary goal of recruitment clickbaiting is to first get the attention of your recruiting targets who are just browsing. Its second goal is to convince your recruiting targets to click on the hyperlink. And then to read all of the follow-up information that you have provided. To the point where the reader will mentally decide to apply for one of your jobs. Clickbaiting is an important messaging option to consider because there is abundant proof that it works. Its effectiveness comes from the fact that it uses psychology to evoke your target’s emotions.
It takes advantage of both their inherent curiosity and their human tendency to want to learn more. And because this is a data-driven tool, you need to conduct a survey of a sample of your applicants to determine the actual company and job features that they care most about. The same applicant survey will also reveal which of your individual “clickbaiting headlines” have been the most effective in driving potential applicants to apply.
Don’t Be Put Off By Its Often Negative Reputation, Clickbaiting Can Be Ethical And Effective
Whether they wanted to or not, anyone who spends time on the internet or social media has likely already been “taken in” by the clickbait messaging that is ubiquitous online.
But clickbaiting doesn’t have to be even the slightest bit misleading or inaccurate, provided that recruiting leaders institute a few ethical guidelines, which can include pretesting every message with your current employees to ensure 100% accuracy.
Also consider having your messages reviewed by an ethics expert, and/or requiring that each message be supported by statistical data. So after putting in these ethical guardrails, I call the resulting practice “Ethical Clickbait Recruiting.”
Here Are The Categories Of Clickbait Headlines (Recruiting Examples Are Provided)
The recommended clickbait headlines can be classified into a dozen different categories. Those categories are named after the key descriptive phrase in the headline (e.g., you won’t believe or a sense of urgency).
1) You won’t believe – Inferring that you’ll be surprised or even startled to learn.
- “You won’t believe what our employees say about our internal growth opportunities.”
2) A sense of urgency – Inferring that you need to act right away on this limited-time or rare opportunity
- “If you don’t act immediately, this unique opportunity may be taken by others.”
3) FOMO – This category of message takes advantage of your target’s fear of missing out on something new.
- “You don’t want to miss out on this once-in-a-career opportunity.”
4) The X number of things to know – Assigning a number to an important list of information encourages people to at least scan the list.
- “The five things that successful jobseekers must know.”
5) This is why – Inferring that there is an underlying reason behind something important that you should know.
- “This is why you’re not finding your ideal job.”
6) Did you know that _____ – Revealing something important about the job and/or your company that will help the reader.
- “Did you know that our company is the industry leader in product development?”
7) See this – Witness some valuable information yourself, usually through video.
- “See what our employees say about their company in their testimonials.”
8) Did you know that (Or they don’t want you to know) – Inferring that many are unaware of some important bit of valuable information
- “Did you know that most hired candidates apply within the first five days that a job is open?”
9) Do this regularly – Inferring that you should consistently act in a certain way if you want to see amazing results.
- “If you read a professional article in your field most days, we would classify you as a continuous learner.”
10) The last ___ you’ll ever need – This phrase infers that you won’t have to do something tedious ever again.
- “Your search for the company with the most employee patents can end today.”
11) The top performing_____ of the year – Letting candidates know that you will enable them to learn the highest rated, award winners, or the best.
- “Learn why we have been rated as ‘a Best Place to Work’ for company each of the last four years.”
12) This is what you’ve been looking for – You can stop searching because we have what you have been looking for.
- “Your search for a company that offers award-winning medical benefits to its employees is over.”
Note: You can view more examples of the available clickbaiting headline categories here.
Job And Company Features That Your Clickbait Messages Should Highlight
Obviously, the job and company features that you highlight in your headline messages must be the same factors that your target potential applicants care the most about. Those attraction factors often include:
- The company’s economic success
- Opportunities for employee growth and learning
- Job security
- Adequate pay that matches inflation
- Numerous job openings
- Flexibility in hours and location
- Adequate health benefits
- Your candidate experience and the absence of candidate ghosting
- You will have great managers to guide you
- Work/life balance
- Sharing the same values as the company
- Stock options
- Company actions are transparent to their employees
- An opportunity to learn and work with the latest technology and AI
Final Thoughts
Finally, as effective as clickbaiting has been in the past, its future — with the support of AI — will likely become the most effective attention-grabbing tool in your recruitment messaging toolkit.
Thank you for reading and reposting this article.
Note for the reader
This is the latest article from Dr. Sullivan, who was called “the Michael Jordan of Hiring” by Fast Company.
Please help spread his ideas by sharing this with your team/network and posting it on your favorite social media.
By Dr John Sullivan – This article first appeared in the 6/30/26 issue of Aggressive Talent Management
