What ad agencies should advice their employer clients on where to spend their recruitment advertising budgets in Q1 and Q2 2026

We recently reached out to dozens of hiring experts to get their tips for branding and recruitment marketing agencies who are advising their employer clients on how to allocate their advertising budgets when trying to drive a higher quantity or quality of applicants to their part-time, internship, apprenticeship, entry-level, and other early career job opportunities.

Apparently, our question hit a nerve, as we usually receive eight to a dozen responses when we reach out for tips. This time, we received 56 tips from hiring experts. Our question to the experts was:

“We are writing an article targeted to employers of students, recent grads, and others who are early in their careers. Employers used to invest virtually all of their early career hiring budgets into on-campus recruiting. That’s still a major use for many, but many are now investing a significant minority or even majority of their budget into online media. Some of that might be job boards like LinkedIn, Indeed, or College Recruiter. Some might be into social media sites like Instagram or TikTok. What should the advertising agencies that advice and buy media on behalf of these employers choose where to allocate the Q1 and Q2 recruitment advertising budgets?”

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In Q1, agencies should use tactical separation between high intent job boards and those of social media with high engagement. These agencies will reflect the student lifecycle within the companies themselves. In Q1, the agency should have enough budget allocated for visibility for the locations where students will be actively searching for job opportunities. This includes both LinkedIn and niche career sites, as this is where students exhibit intent, and both clear job specifications/ role requirements and ease of application will generate the highest volume of qualified leads for the company.

In Q2, the agency’s recruitment strategy should pivot from one focused on visibility or attracting students to one focused on providing students with brand immersion/ conversion experiences. During Q2, the ‘immersion process’ for the candidate should occur primarily through social media platforms like TikTok/ Instagram. It has been shown consistently through research that candidates with a technical degree (specifically those in Engineering/ Technology) will respond to obtaining ‘day-in-the-life’ experiences from current employees of the company through social media more consistently than they would from polished corporate advertisements. A company that invests its Q2 budget dollars creating digital media content that provides potential candidates with a look at their team culture and mentorship opportunities will have better luck securing candidates who have multiple job offers late in the Spring.

The primary benefit of the digital first allocation to external recruiting strategies is the advantages gained through retargeting candidates who have engaged with the company on job postings through the use of videos. For instance, a potential candidate that clicked on a post during February, when combined with receiving culture videos from the company in April, can create a connection or build trust with that candidate by providing them with multiple exposures to your brand via different channels. This builds a level of familiarity/trust with and between your company, your brand, and the candidate, which cannot be accomplished through an isolated campus visit to your company in today’s ever-evolving distributed workplace.

Amit Agrawal, Founder & COO, Developers.dev

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Agencies like mine should see a 70/30 professional network/social feed split. LinkedIn fulfills targeting precision requirements, but the Q1/Q2 graduation instinct requires aggressive spending on TikTok and Instagram. These platforms are achieving engagement rates near 3.7%, grabbing GenZ candidates with a penchant for scrolling over searching.

In other words, short-form video must be able to make big money bags in order to create employer rep: the old chicken and egg scenario. And this enlightened strategy of approaching a campaign converts passive watchers into active applicants. By prioritizing what’s important cost-per-hire, not clicks – recruiters can work at an accelerated pace during the most pivotal months.

Zack Moorin, Founder, Zack Buys Houses

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Instead of selecting from a number of options for advertising agencies’ recruitment budgets during the first and second quarters, agencies should focus on their entire recruiting funnel. In Q1, agencies should spend the majority of their budget on higher-intent recruiting platforms (LinkedIn, Indeed, and targeted early-career job boards), as these real-time platforms are where candidates (who are already in the decision-making process) are most likely to apply directly to available job postings.

In Q2, agencies will want to continue to allocate a greater portion of their recruitment budget to social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube) to build their employer brand for the graduating class. Job Boards will reflect demand; Social Media will create demand; and by using retargeting, agencies will connect the two. Ultimately, agencies should allocate their recruitment budgets based on a variety of metrics (qualified applicants and interview percentages), instead of relying solely on the number of clicks or impressions generated.

Dora Bloom, Chief Revenue Officer, iotum

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Based on my experience of building consumer platforms that connect people with opportunities, I’d suggest encourage agencies to focus heavily on a multi-channel approach, particularly LinkedIn for professional networking and Indeed for job discovery as those are the channels that give the most direct access to job seeking behaviour. That said, agencies must not discount Instagram and now TikTok in the effort to create employer brand awareness to Gen Z candidates as they found this through social content more often. The answer is to funnel 60-70% of your Q1 and Q2 budgets into proven job boards where intent is at its highest, while leaving a contingency pot (around 30-40%) open for the social media channels which actively drive early-stage interest, and nurture long-term brand awareness among future generations of personnel.

Scott Brown, Founder, Focus Group Placement

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Agencies should split Q1 and Q2 with a 70/20/10 allocation to capture the furthest reach in early career. Spend 70% on high-intent job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed) that deliver 66% of total applications and have consistent ROI. Allocate 20% to social networks like TikTok and Instagram, where you might access passive “Next-Gen” talent who spend vastly more time in their feeds than job boards. Set the remaining 10% aside for experimental programmatic advertising and niche industry journals. This delicate balance, achieves high volume hiring while creating long term brand equity with the younger generation.

Zachary Smith, Founder & CEO, Ready House Buyer

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Based on OysterLink’s expertise in managing employers who are either first-time or hourly workers, budgets for Q1 and Q2 should be allocated using data from hiring velocity and intent rather than traditional guidelines.

In Q1, the focus for agencies should be on advertising on platforms that demonstrate high-intent for job seekers, places where applicants are actively looking for jobs. These would include job boards and performance-based channels where applicants can be tracked in real-time, as well as where employers can quickly evaluate their messaging. Many times employers at the beginning of the year are attempting to fill existing gaps within their workforce as quickly as possible while also developing predictable pipelines for future hires.

Q2 has traditionally been the time when employers begin to shift some of their budgets toward awareness and branding. This would be especially true in light of impending graduation season. Various social media sites are now available for creating awareness and generating impressions with passive early-career talent prior to their transition into actively searching for jobs.

The best way to develop an allocation strategy is to utilize a combination of conversion-focused data-driven media along with brand-building exposures. While there is still attraction to campus recruiting programs, the shift to digital-based means of discovery through the internet has taken precedence. Agencies should concentrate their budgets according to the locations that qualified applicants are interacting and converting with employers currently versus those locations where employers have historically invested.

Milos Eric, Co-Founder, OysterLink

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Indeed should be the lead for volume because it creates 66% of job applies with a 99% apply acceptance rate for entry-level positions. But LinkedIn is a quality game changer with half the number of total applicants but 2X+ more interviews. Invest money toward TikTok and Instagram for Gen Z. Short-form videos are now engaging 90% more than long-form ones delivered in traditional formats.

Given that 73% of millennials found their last job through social media, these sites tap into passive candidates in a big way. Agencies need to accommodate not only “active intent” job boards that are built for velocity but also “passive intent” social feeds suitable for brand-building.

Shannon Beatty, Real Estate Investor, House Buying Girls

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Companies should be investing in lifestyle-driven social platforms with those early-year dollars — not stale job boards. And, as the data shows, this is where most of working professionals find job openings today: Their social video feeds on TikTok and Instagram. These spaces truly present companies with the opportunity to “show” corporate culture – which is way more effective than simply describing it in a text-based listing.

Strategic spend would tout algorithmic targeting to reach passive candidates where they’re already flocking by the droves. LinkedIn is my professional home base, but the best velocity occurs through short-form visual storytelling. This dramatically lower the cost of scouting by winning mindshare before a candidate has gone active.

Mary Sullivan, Business Owner, Company That Buys Houses

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Clerks should shift Q1 and Q2 spend to a mix of high intent professional networks and social discovery platforms. LinkedIn offers up to 10.1% engagement, explaining both why it demands a $22.28 CPM for top-tier quality. It is true that for volume Indeed is important, serving 66% of all job applications.

To catch Gen Z, TikTok and Instagram are the top places to be. Those offer crucial brand awareness at a discounted $5.17 CPM. With total 2026 early career hiring expected to expand by only 1.6%, accuracy is key. Shifting some of that traditional on-campus spend into these digital outlets delivers a more extensive and measurable reach in recruitment.

Geremy Yamamoto, Founder, Eazy House Sale

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Control of the media mix between Q1 and Q2 2026 has to be made strategically. Allocate about 45% of your budget to programmatic social ads on TikTok and Instagram. Capturing the 66% of Gen Z candidates that are already leveraging social feeds for career discovery and authentic brand engagement.

Allot 30 percent to LinkedIn for professional credibility it’s still the main watering hole for 90 percent of active job seekers. Save the rest 25% for story-driven employer branding. This evidence-based strategy also enables you to effectively reach passive talent while you run a high-conversion recruitment funnel.

Jonathan Carcone, Principal, 4 Brothers Buy Houses

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Separation of the spending associated with Q1 & Q2 Early Career Early Learn (ECL) between discovery and conversion is crucial in the identification of effective strategies for the acquisition of candidates.Branded social video channels (TikTok, Instagram and YouTube) provide excellent low-cost channels for awareness and contact with your target candidates. You should always plan to discuss candidates’ Intent-to-Apply (ITA) on high-Intent channels (job boards, campus platforms and paid search).

If your Pipeline Plan is unable to prove the origins of candidates “discovering you” vs. “applying” to you, you will have a tendency to overspend on whichever channel has the highest click-through-rate. 

A general guide for your ECL media mix would be to budget for 50-65% Conversion Media,25-35% Discovery Media, and 10-15% Retargeting/Nurture/CRM and Retargeting with clear next steps. 

Keep in mind that Q1 is the month of warming your future pipeline (convert, build and develop tech candidates) & Q2 is the month you close and seal your Tech Candidate Pipeline (apply now). 

As your deadlines and decision-making timelines approach, you will begin to increase budgets for conversion & apply now creatives in your media mix. Measure models from Apply-Start to Apply-Complete, qualification rate of applicants and offer acceptances. 

NOTE: Lin Meyer, CEO, Crucial Exams, provides successful preparation for Certification & Academic Exams through Test Preps and Study Tools, through targeted practice tests and effective communication.

Lin Meyer, CEO, Crucial Exams

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During the first quarter of any given year, agencies should focus their attention and money primarily on high-intent channels, where prospective students are actively engaging through the application and filtering process. Therefore, agencies should allocate most of their expenditures to channel platforms (campus network and job board) where candidates are actively searching for jobs; social media should only be used as an awareness tool to build awareness or as a retargeting source.

In the second quarter of any given year, funding should continue to support high-intent sources that were previously emphasized, but there needs to be a shift towards more budget toward conversion and follow through. Agencies should retarget site visitors, “silver medalists,” and even accepted candidates to provide them with content that resolves their uncertainty, such as an example of what the job will actually look like, the timelines associated with the job, and what to expect within the first week of employment.

When creating a content marketing strategy, it is important to consider the different types or stages of the applicant, as media performance will be closely aligned with the level of friction in applying or interviewing for a job. Any friction that results in an applicant dropping out of the process needs to be tracked in order to support budget creation based on downstream performance metrics such as completed applications and show rates, rather than clicks.

Anton Strasburg is a Content Producer for FreeConference.com, where he develops practical communication strategies for audio conferencing, virtual meetings, and collaborating with others on a daily basis.

Anton Strasburg, Media Manager, FreeConference.com

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My recommendation is to track candidate behavior, not habit. Q1 and Q2 are excellent times to hire, and I would spend significantly on TikTok and Instagram awareness campaigns – reaching candidates who are not necessarily job hunting but would consider the right opportunity. LinkedIn and Indeed are still worth spending on to reach active candidates closer to a hiring decision, but not at the expense of the overall budget. The agencies I’ve reviewed that have performed well on this brief have approached it as a funnel: social for interest, job boards for intent.

Saini Rhodes, Real Estate Expert, Clever Offers

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Job boards such as Indeed and College Recruiter are effective for high-intent candidates actively searching, making them efficient for quickly filling specific positions. LinkedIn is effective for credentialed positions but ineffective for general early career volume at an affordable cost per application. The better opportunity exists on TikTok and Instagram, where candidates are reached before they are actively searching, or where employer brand perception is actually made. Allocate budget to job boards for immediate conversion and social media for top-of-funnel awareness. Then focus that budget from February to April, where candidate engagement in academic cycles is at its peak.

Rafael Sarim Oezdemir, Head of Growth, EZContacts

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Agencies should drive a priority-based approach to a 2026 hybrid strategy. allocate 40% of the budget to run programmatic ads (LinkedIn, Indeed) across channels for wide reach. As 46% of Gen Z now find jobs via these social platforms, you should dedicate 30% of your work to short-form video content on TikTok and Instagram.

Utilize the last thirty percent for thoughtful campus partnerships and mobile-forward niche boards. Q1 is really about brand storytelling and passive candidate engagement. Q2 must adapt through active conversion with the best skills-based ads available. This 50:50 split strikes the best balance between giving new grads what they want and what makes millennials tick as a whole.

Darcy Turner, Founder, Investor Home Buyers

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Spending 40% of Q1 budgets on social feeds is a good trend. Gen Z candidates are landing up to 46% of jobs through TikTok. Static ads have 41% less ROI compared to short-form videos. These platforms “suck up” passive talent that do not go on job boards. Where graduates hang out, you stay top of mind. Fund LinkedIn for relevance Only 13% of applications come from LinkedIn with 2X interview rates. For those hesitant visitors we recommend programmatic retargeting. This strategy maximizes both reach and quality.

Robert Fausette, Owner, Revival Homebuyer

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Before spending a single penny, audit hiring data from the previous year. In my practice, I frequently see employers wasting money on platforms that seem to be popular yet fail to convert. A few clients, we saw one client drop their cost per hire by 40% by moving money from social media to a niche board. The biggest change that I have noticed is that most teams ignore their own data and just follow trends which leads to high spend without results. 

Let’s proceed forward with the actual implementation. Budgeting for Q1 requires a heavy emphasis on niche platforms as general social media is great for reach, but poor for applications. Our data indicates that specialized student sites experience 3 times more engagement than LinkedIn for entry level roles.  Most agencies will tell you that you should be everywhere all the time. But focusing your spend on two high performing channels beats a thin spread against ten.

Angeline Licerio, PR and Communication Officer, RizeUp Media

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Instead of just posting job listings, we found it works better to go where younger people are. Running ads on Instagram and working with some campus influencers got way more comments and shares than a basic post. My advice is to try a few different channels, see what sticks, then put your money there. It works much better than just guessing.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email

Josiah Lipsmeyer, Founder, Plasthetix Plastic Surgery Marketing

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At Hela Lanka Ads, we’ve found a 50-50 split usually works best. We’ve tested everything, and job boards like LinkedIn and College Recruiter consistently bring in solid applicants. But Instagram catches people who weren’t even looking for a job, then they just apply anyway. My advice is to watch your numbers closely in the first quarter. When one channel starts pulling ahead, move your budget there immediately. Don’t wait.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email

Arnab Dey, Head Of Digital Marketing, Hela Lanka Ads

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Here’s what actually works. I put most of the recruiting budget toward LinkedIn and Indeed because that’s where you find younger candidates fast. We also get good people just by making sure our jobs show up in Google searches. TikTok is a long shot, but sometimes it catches great people who aren’t even looking. By the end of March, I cut whatever isn’t delivering. It’s the simplest way to see what’s worth the money.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email

Karsten Madsen, CEO, Morningscore

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Here’s what works for hiring. Don’t just assume where to post ads. Run a quick test, like putting the same job on Indeed and Instagram Reels. The numbers will surprise you, either with a flood of applicants or a much lower cost to hire. My advice is to use part of your Q1 budget to experiment, then pour the rest of your money into whatever actually worked in Q2.

Ben Rose, Founder & CEO, CashbackHQ

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I’ve managed ad budgets in competitive markets. Split your money between LinkedIn for specific roles and TikTok to get your name out there. We tested ads across platforms, then put more cash into whatever brought good people who actually stuck around. Other approaches might work too, but checking Q1 performance and reallocating funds has consistently helped us fill junior positions.

Marcus Clarke, Owner, Searchant

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From what I’ve seen with local businesses hiring younger people, the secret is mixing job boards with real stuff on TikTok and Instagram. We once spent 60% on job boards, but switched half that budget to social media after we noticed way better responses there. So just test things early. See where the applicants you actually want are coming from, then put more money there. It never works the same way twice.

Justin Herring, Founder and CEO, YEAH! Local

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When you’re hiring recent grads, don’t put all your budget in one place. I’ve seen companies do well with online ads on places like LinkedIn and TikTok, which helps them reach students who are always online and lets them change direction fast if something isn’t working. My advice is to run some small tests in Q1. By Q2, you’ll know whether to spend more online or by actually showing up on campus.

Jennifer Bagley, CEO, CI Web Group

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For Q1 and Q2, I’d put most of the money toward LinkedIn, then run some creative tests on TikTok and Instagram. We shifted part of our spend to short video content and saw student interest pick up almost immediately. You have to test different mixes early on to see what actually works for bringing in recent grads.

Andrew Yan, Co-Founder and CEO, AthenaHQ

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When I ran ShipTheDeal, we focused on where students already hang out, like LinkedIn and Instagram. Job boards brought a steady stream of applicants, but social media let us show what it’s actually like to work here. Using both was the answer. We split our Q1 budget 60/40 between job boards and social ads, which made our applicant flow more predictable. Just watch the numbers and be ready to shift your spend fast if one channel takes off.

Cyrus Partow, CEO, ShipTheDeal

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Job boards by themselves were a dead end for us. Once we added Instagram and TikTok, our response from people early in their careers went up. It took time, but it worked. My advice is to run targeted ads on career sites, but also show what the job is really like on social media. You have to go where students already spend their time.

Vince Tint, Founder, 12 Steps Marketing

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Look, job boards are predictable, but job seekers are actually on TikTok and Instagram now. At Magic Hour, we tried Reels and short videos and got way more and better candidates than traditional channels alone. We used data to guide the video creative, which made the whole thing easier to handle and the results were better. Start small, see what visuals work, then double down on what does.

Runbo Li, CEO, Magic Hour

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You know, working with those direct-to-consumer brands, we stopped doing campus recruiting and started putting money into Indeed and Instagram ads instead. What a difference. We got way more applicants, and they were a much better fit. So my advice is, test out a few job sites at the same time early in the year, see which one actually works for the roles you need, then put your money there. It’s that simple.

Sean Chaudhary, Founder, AlchemyLeads

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At Treehouse, we learned that younger people respond better when you’re not just selling them a job. Real stories about how the team works and what they’ll actually learn get way more interest. We’ve found LinkedIn and the smaller job boards students visit for career advice work best. For the first half of the year, we’re putting our ad budget there. Showing a quick employee testimonial or some project samples makes it feel like a real place to work, not just another posting.

Kari Brooks, CEO, Team Treehouse

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For our SaaS team, we stopped doing career fairs. Short, unpolished videos on LinkedIn and TikTok actually brought in better junior candidates. I’d suggest moving some budget to online ads early in the year. You get a few months to see what sticks before the big hiring push.

Andrew Gazdecki, CEO, Acquire.com

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In our recruiting work, we ran ads on both Indeed and TikTok. TikTok brought in better entry-level applicants, so we moved the budget over. The results improved right away. I’ve found that setting aside some money to test different channels like this, seeing what works, then doubling down on it almost always works better for hiring.

Giles Lester, Marketing Specialist, Supplements 4 Muscle

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For early career recruiting, try a mix of LinkedIn and TikTok. They reach different people. The real work starts after you post the ads. Check which platform gets more applications and shift your budget there. Adjusting your spend based on actual clicks and applications is how you find the best people. At least, that’s what’s worked for me.

Joshua Eberly, Chief Marketing Officer, Marygrove Awnings

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At WebSensePro, we found that combining LinkedIn with Instagram Stories worked best for our junior roles. We ran some targeted ads, but the applicants with the right experience actually came from social media. If you want to reach younger candidates, put more money where they already spend their time. Also, try using AI to create your posts. It helps you stand out.

Bilal Naseer, CEO, Websensepro

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Here’s the thing about recruiting budgets for recent grads. Forget spending everything on general job boards. We moved money from a big board to Instagram and LinkedIn once because the applicants were just better. The response rate went up fast. It’s not complicated. You just have to see where your audience actually is, test it, and then double down on what works. At least, that’s what’s worked for me.

Azman Nabi, Organic Growth & Content Lead, CoinGape

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For recruiting budgets, I’ll put some money on the usual job boards but also spend on social platforms where students actually hang out. At Lusha, that mix gets us good applications, especially when we tweak our posts for each site. Honestly, you have to watch the numbers so you can pour money back into what’s working before Q2 hits.

Yarden Morgan, Director Of Growth, Lusha

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• Your organization is going to be unique, so you should go into this with the understanding that there’s no one size fits all approach to recruiting. It’s incredibly important, therefore, to track where your applicants are coming from. You can do this via UTM codes online, or simply adding the question “How did you find this opportunity?” to your interview questions.

• LinkedIn remains the default for early career hiring, but “default” doesn’t mean “optimal.” We’ve seen clients over-index on LinkedIn while completely ignoring platforms where their actual target candidates spend their time. For entry-level and recent grad roles especially, you have to go where the applicants are.

• Reddit is genuinely underutilized as a recruitment channel, and I’d argue it’s one of the most powerful tools agencies aren’t using. When we work with clients recruiting in specific markets – say, healthcare employers targeting nursing graduates in New Orleans, or a hospital system looking for new allied health professionals – local and profession-specific subreddits give you access to real communities having real conversations about their careers. That’s not something Indeed can offer. Reddit’s targeting has matured significantly, and organic engagement in the right subreddits can outperform paid placements on traditional job boards at a fraction of the cost. The agencies sleeping on Reddit right now are going to regret it.

• TikTok and Instagram still belong in the mix for Q1 and Q2, though you’ll want to keep an eye on it after their ownership change. 

Flynn Zaiger, CEO, Online Optimism

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I would suggest, when advising an employer about how to best use their recruiting ad money during Q1 & Q2, splitting their advertising dollars between old, traditional outlets (i.e., LinkedIn & Indeed) and newer, social media-based outlets (i.e., Instagram & TikTok). Traditional outlets (LinkedIn & Indeed) will continue to be effective ways for employers to reach job seeking professionals; however, social media outlets (Instagram & TikTok) will allow them to connect with younger, early career talent. I would suggest to split most of your marketing dollars toward LinkedIn & job boards for active job seekers, then utilizing Instagram or TikTok as an outlet to build your employment brand and engage passive job seekers. The types of content that have done well on social media include video showcasing company culture, video showcasing employee experiences & day-in-the-life type videos; this style of content has been able to create interest with potential candidates who may not be currently looking for a job, but could potentially be interested in a new opportunity.

Karina Tymchenko, CEO & Co-Founder, Brandualist Inc.

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Having worked on crusade optimisation for early career reclamation planning, I have witnessed numerous agencies make channel split opinions out of habit rather than exploration. That strategy is no longer dependable. The factual gestures of campaigners, the urgency of the hiring need, and cases where the stoner’s intent is apparent should all be reflected in the Q1 and Q2 budgets. Lot allocations grounded solely in history aren’t a plan. 

The process generally begins with broad visibility for early-career hiring and swiftly narrows into an active-hunt gesture. Beforehand in the cycle, platforms like Instagram and TikTok work well for establishing employer familiarity and propagating real plant stories. They help organisations become identifiable before scale peaks. Still, raising mindfulness without a clear way to put it into practice infrequently yields results. Spending must change significantly in favour of stoner-intent-driven platforms like job boards and early-career platforms, where campaigners are formerly making opinions. 

Layering three factors: visibility to increase recognition, intent to convert active campaigners, and retargeting tore-engage those who have expressed interest,  generally yields the stylish Q1 and Q2 results. Hiring timelines and budget pacing should coincide. Q2 should prioritise high-intent channels that reach campaigners who are set to apply if positions start in the summer. 

Integration is a bigger problem. Rather than contending for criterion credit, channels ought to support one another. Developing connections on a lot is still precious, but digital media offers scalable reach and quantifiable effectiveness. Stationary allocation models are consistently outperformed by agencies that track operational velocity and reroute spend to channels that drive strong responses. moment, early career reclamation is further about sequencing mindfulness, intent, and conversion across the spaces campaigners  formerly trust than about choosing between lot and digital.

Nandini Khandelwal, Social Media Executive, Digital Academy 360

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Agencies setting recruitment budgets for Q1 and Q2 should focus on adapting to shifting candidate behaviors rather than historical data. On-campus recruiting maintains brand recognition and high levels of engagement, but shouldn’t be the only strategy employed. Today’s early career talent utilizes mobile-first, algorithm-driven platforms just as they do for all other aspects of their lives. There should be emphasis on a diversified strategy from the bottom funnel upwards. This means combining intent-based recruitment advertising on LinkedIn and Indeed with recruitment marketing on Instagram and TikTok to capture the attention of early-stage candidates. Q1 is a great time for building your brand and testing new audiences, as students are still in the exploratory stage, and Q2 should be focused on implementing strategies for retargeting, job advertising with a focus on conversions, and integrating campus and digital recruiting. The best allocation of budget is not either/or, but a performance-verifiable funnel approach where social media advertising promotes discovery, job boards capture intent, and automated budget optimization solutions shift focus based on the quality of applications received, rather than volume.

Tez Ferguson, Founder, Xploited Media

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I have worked with employers in many industries and see that most ad agencies still treat Q1 and Q2 budgets like 2015, putting most money on job boards and little on other places. That works if you’re only interested in people who already are looking for a job. But new workers, especially new graduates, spend a lot more time on Instagram and TikTok than they spend on job boards like Indeed. At Paperstack we analyzed many client campaigns and found that campaigns that combine job search sites with social media always bring in more qualified job candidates and cost less per hire. Social job ads cost around 50% less per click than the traditional board ads and reach Gen Z audiences a lot more.

Use the job-search intent to divide the budget. Job boards get people that are already looking, so they help finish hiring later. Social media reaches people before they consider changing jobs and that is what you want for Q1 for Spring Hiring. If I were to advise an agency now, I would allocate maybe 60% of the budget to platforms where people are searching for jobs and 40% of the budget to social media as a sort of way to build a talent pool before peak Q2. Agencies that wait until the second quarter to spend on social pay more for worse results as everyone is also targeting the same audience.

Caleb Johnstone, SEO Director, Paperstack

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Quit placing all of your money in the job board monopoly and start looking at your advertising budget for Q1 as a true high-yield investment. Because of the saturation level of early-career candidates on large job search engines, it becomes impossible to stand out statistically without a hefty cash bleed.

During every reporting cycle with clients’ P&L statements, we consistently find companies treating recruitment advertisements like a fixed expense rather than a true measurable asset. They pay huge premiums for thousands of impressions from candidates who simply hit “easy apply” and never read the job description—only to not interview them.

Agencies should invest their advertising dollars from Q1 and Q2 into hyper-niche daily briefings such as Morning Brew or specific stock market information applications. When you make placements through targeted daily emails and apps that ambitious students of business will read prior to the stock market opening, you will see a much greater return on your investment.

Brian Chasin, CFO & co-founder, SOBA New Jersey

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When you use static text ads to recruit software developers, you are sending the best candidates to your competition. The most qualified entry-level software engineers are not reading your job description; they are looking at the actual code that you have written and the digital fingerprints that you leave behind.

One of the most common traps that tech founders fall into is spending thousands of dollars having their job postings viewed on Indeed, only to learn that the candidates hadn’t used a cutting-edge tech stack in three years. Therefore, they are looking for quantity instead of quality when they hire.

Agencies should shift their total Q1 budget into sponsoring an open-source project on GitHub or spending heavily on highly technical ads on Stack Overflow. Put your brand where the young engineers go to solve their coding problems, not where they go to apply for jobs.

Darryl Stevens, CEO & Founder, Digitech Web Design

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Generation Z desires to be part of a community that genuinely considers their opinions rather than a large, impersonal company. Unless you phrase your advertising to include community connections in addition to outlining qualifications and compensation, your advertising will lose the top talent to competitors who demonstrate a sense of belonging.

Study after study shows the same conclusion regarding hiring patterns for local credit unions: the locations with the longest-tenured young employees feature marketing materials highlighting their horizontal leadership format and community involvement. Young professionals are in desperate need of mental safety and peer interaction.

Redirect your Q1 and Q2 advertising budgets away from standard job boards and toward micro-influencer marketing on Instagram by promoting your employee resource groups. Purchase advertising demonstrating how your junior employees volunteer together or work together; once you demonstrate you have a robust, humanistic culture, you will be able to successfully recruit junior professionals.

James Mikhail, Founder, Ikon Recovery

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The use of ‘spray-and-pray’ advertising on large job sites is an incredibly difficult process to deal with for the HR department; it will destroy your department in no time. Note that large job sites do not filter for qualifications/experience; they only filter for people in desperate situations.

A couple of weeks ago during an operational audit, we did an audit on a client’s hiring pipeline, and we found that they were completely clogged with 1000’s of unqualified resumes from a poorly placed ad blast. The client’s internal screening process was overwhelmed due to too many resumes being submitted.

Agencies need to advise their clients to use Q1 and Q2 budgets for the purpose of targeting specific candidates. The best way to achieve this will be to conduct highly targeted programmatic display advertising via certain university alumni portals and professional certification sites. Doing this will have a built-in compliance filter to be sure that the recruiter’s time is only spent on candidates who will meet the minimum education required for the position.

James Scribner, Co-Founder, The Freedom Center

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Because this generation has been exposed to online advertising for so long, they reject polished corporate videos and distrust corporate advertising. The most recent graduates do not care about corporate messages for them and instead will seek out raw, unedited advice.

When watching students at the best universities preparing for entry-level jobs, it is clear that they are avoiding looking at the slick website of the company and are instead using YouTube to watch “day in the life” vlogs posted by current employees to learn the actual job reality rather than the marketing message.

Agencies need to spend their Q1 budget on YouTube pre-roll ads that will run only before videos about how to prepare for career interviews or how to conduct successful career-related interviews. By using this strategy, the agency will have the attention of highly motivated students at the exact time they are actively working to develop their professional skills.

Joel Butterly, CEO & Founder, InGenius Prep

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By confining your recruiting advertisement expenditure to international college zip codes, you are making a significant strategic error in a limitless digital marketplace: By only purchasing advertising within your own local market, you are unnecessarily limiting the potential for finding qualified job candidates while concurrently paying a high price for doing so.

When looking at worldwide productivity models, those organizations that are able to scale rapidly are those that seek out ambitious, entry-level job candidates in emerging international areas. They know that the highest-quality outcomes are not limited to the three primary metropolitan areas in the United States.

Agencies should aggressively use their Q1 and Q2 budgets to identify and target international digital job boards and specific Facebook ad campaigns targeting foreign universities with the greatest potential for producing qualified job candidates. The ability to access this global pool of talent creates an enormous advantage in your competitive landscape while also dramatically reducing your recruiting cost per person in the United States.

Jonathan Orze, CFO, InGenius Prep

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Overspending for a large recruiting campaign during the first quarter is a common cash flow trap for companies. When attempting to hire entry-level employees, businesses often will issue “blank checks” to job boards; there are no guarantees any employees will actually start or work.

Recruitment costs are almost always the largest unknown leak in a business owner’s quarterly budgeting process. Companies pay for job board clicks, not for actual employees who will remain employed.

Agencies should advise clients to allocate their first and second quarter budgets evenly between two efforts. The first half of the budget should be used for highly targeted LinkedIn outreach to specific college/university programs, while the second half should be used for retargeting ads. Following candidates who visit a company’s career page and retargeting them after they leave the site is significantly cheaper and more effective than relying solely on capturing the cold traffic that arrives via Indeed.

Joshua Zeises, CEO & CMO, Paramount Wellness Retreat

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New grads fear corporate burnout and are avoiding your recruitment ads due to the pressure. They will not commit to their first job at a company that does not know their boundaries.

Throughout the behavioral health industry, we are witnessing top talent decline high-paying offers because the company’s online presence appears to be both draining and to have no apparent social cause. To attract potential candidates, those candidates need to see that their daily contributions to the company will have an impact and that their mental well-being will be supported by that company.

Recruiting agencies should consider using Q1 budgeted funds on social media outlets such as TikTok; however, the content viewed on these platforms must only depict work-life balance and mental health initiatives. Using short videos to show that you have flexible schedules and provide wellness stipends will entice highly skilled employees who ultimately stay with the organization for a long time.

Ryan Hetrick, Co-founder of Epiphany Wellness, Epiphany Wellness

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Guessing where Gen Z spends time online is a quick way to create a huge hole in your quarterly recruiting budget. If you are using gut feelings to drive your decisions instead of making decisions based on factual data, then you are creating large financial risks during the recruiting process.

Every day we see companies spending large sums of money promoting themselves through visual social media simply because visual social media is cool, yet they are totally ignoring hard data surrounding the actual cost to acquire an individual employee. They use vanity metrics such as numbers of video views; however, they fail to track the actual cost involved in getting someone into office.

Agencies should be utilizing Q1 as a time to conduct A/B testing across many platforms on very low budgets to develop a historical mathematical baseline for use in future quarters. Once the data has been analyzed, and you have determined the platform responsible for providing the lowest cost-per-hire, you can then use your Q2 budget to focus on that single winning platform for the rest of the quarter.

Sean Smith, Founder & CEO, Alpas Wellness

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To young professionals, plastering a “perfect” recruitment ad that has been created by a professional agency on social media shows that your company has something to hide. Young professionals have grown up with advertisements asking them to purchase products, and they have developed very good radar for corporate spin.

Based upon current hiring trends, a candidate may immediately run away from an advertisement that describes the “perfect work environment” and doesn’t mention the hard work and commitment that will be required for them to attain that “perfect” work environment. Candidates are searching for non-glamorized, honest evaluations of potential employers.

San Diego-based agencies should spend their Q1 and Q2 budgets purchasing ad space in independent, highly respected Substack newsletters for their respective industries. By placing an honest and transparent recruitment advertisement next to independent journalism, your agency’s ad will receive a credibility boost from the independent journalism, which will attract high-integrity candidates.

Tzvi Heber, CEO & Counselor, Ascendant New York

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On-campus and online hiring, both have their advantages. 

Online platforms give you a vast pool to choose from. You’re likely to find the perfect fit for your required job quicker. The cost per hire is lower. You can target various different applicant audiences on different platforms.

On-campus hiring is more suited for businesses that require fresh minds. This recruiting method gives you the first hand access to top students. You build a brand presence for all attendees who’ll continue applying to your company in the future, even if they aren’t interested at the moment. Even if you don’t hire someone on the spot, you’ll get access to relevant resumes for free. 

While online hiring is more cost efficient and diverse, on-campus hiring encourages relationship-driven hiring. So, divide your budget smartly. I’d recommend 70% budget for online hiring and 30% to become a part of at least 2-3 on-campus job fairs. 

Ultimately, you should keep track of the quality of employees, acceptance and retention rate, and cost per hire for both methods to finally decide where you should pour more money.

Ed Hones, Attorney At Law, Hones Law Employment Lawyers PLLC