Pay-per-applicant (PPA) allows the recruiter to post a job opening for free and only pay for the qualified application. Pay-per-applicant is a recruiting tool that aids HR with cutting down time spent on reviewing applicants to find a qualified candidate to fill a role.

The difference between pay-per-applicant and pay-per-click is the impact on your recruitment budget. For example, if you have a $900 budget to hire a manager through a social medical job application, a pay-per-applicant application system ensures 90 applicants at $10 an application. The ad attracts the applicant flow to make informed decisions and move through the hiring process while only paying $1 for 900 clicks. A click on the job advertisement does not guarantee a completed application. Pay-per-click allows the job advertisement to be viewed but does not provide the applicant flow needed in recruitment. This means that the organization is paying every time the job advertisement is viewed. For example, the same person could view the job posting two or three times. Each time the individual clicks to view the posting, the organization is paying a cost with that click to view. Viewing a job posting does not yield a positive return on the organization's advertising budget, nor does the click to view the job posting provide any applicant flow for the recruiter.

Pay-per-applicant is a critical recruitment tool to understand. Pay-per-applicant lets HR identify how much was spent on the job, from posting and sourcing to producing applicants to fill the vacant position.

To see a great return when utilizing the pay-per-applicant model, you need rules and guidelines to establish strong analytics. Here are some suggested tips and rules.

Work with your vendor and applicant tracking system to install a tracker on your application page. The use and design on the tracker allows real time data to populate so your organization knows that the marketing strategy worked and that a qualified applicant completed the job application.

Organizations can ensure the recruitment advertising budget is utilized fully and appropriately by establishing advertising rules. These rules allow the budget on the pay-per-applicant platform to focus on key roles that need to be filled. This helps the organization maximize the use of the budget.

Pay-per-applicant means that payment is only made to the platform once a qualified applicant has applied. This eliminates the risk of paying for everyone who reviews the job posting. Before this type of system, this meant paying an exorbitant amount of money for the advertisement alone.

When researching platforms or vendors to request a demo, the terminology used to explain pay-per-applicant will vary by one word or two on vendors' websites. The terminology will appear and vary in the form of PPA, pay-per-applicant, and even pay-for-performance advertising. It will take research to navigate vendors and platforms that will provide you what you are looking for that can also be integrated with your current HRIS system. It is always best practice to first speak with your current HRIS vendor for a recommendation of models and platforms they are compatible with. Below are a few pay-per-application platforms for reference.

Appcast will help your organization maximize the recruiting budget. Appcast focuses on greater ROI with each job posting and completed application.

Talent nexus focus is reaching more job boards. Talen nexus is aimed at advertising and states that you only pay if the advertising works.

Let’s take a look into the steps needed to build a campaign for using a pay-per-applicant system for your organization.

A great starting point is to evaluate and review how many applicants you typically receive for the position you are advertising for. From that total number, identify the number of qualified applicants who move through the hiring process. This information will determine the budget needed for cost per application.

Establish qualifying questions to narrow down the field of applicants. Examine job descriptions, certifications, essential skills, training and requirements needed to complete the job. When creating qualifying questions, be straightforward and have non-negotiables. For example, if you are recruiting a new chief financial officer, non-negotiable qualifying questions might include “Are you a certified CPA?” or “Do you have 10 years of accounting or finance experience and experience with SEC reporting?”

The vendor you utilize will take the time to review applicants and ensure qualifying applicants are forwarded. A quick turnaround time between an application and the next step can retain qualified applicants' interest in the organization. This in turn can accelerate the time to fill for the open position by one to three weeks.