230,328 Boston area companies fit the description of being a small business, according to the US Census Bureau. A recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business Owners found that after inflation, the most critical problem facing these businesses is the inability to recruit and retain quality employees.
Right now, says the Federal Reserve, unfilled jobs remain near an all-time with 1.7 openings per unemployed person. As a result, only one person is being hired per every four job openings. To put this dismal hire-to-opening ratio in perspective, ten years ago, there was one hire per every job opening.
Compounding the recruitment woes of Boston's small business owners is the very stubborn quit rate. According to the Federal Reserve, for every ten hires made, seven current employees quit.
Although the labor crunch affects Boston business owners of every size, nearly half of all job vacancies are at companies with fewer than 50 employees.
So what is the best way for local small business owners to attract qualified candidates to fill open jobs? Most metrics indicate that advertising on Boston radio may be the optimal choice.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the people quitting jobs are in no hurry to return to work anytime soon. Consequently, Boston small business owners need to focus their efforts on candidates that the Society For Human Resource Management (SHRM) calls "passive" job candidates.
SHRM defines passive job candidates as "individuals who are currently employed and not actively looking for a new job, but who may be open to a good career opportunity if one came along."
The SHRM website goes on to explain that "many employers target passive job seekers because they are looking for candidates who have positive employment records and who are satisfied with and successful in their work. Employers often target passive job seekers because of the lack of qualified job candidates to fill critical roles. Locating, wooing, and successfully luring passive job seekers are vital for organizations to remain competitive in a tight labor market."
According to Nielsen, significantly more passive job seekers are reached each week by Boston radio than all other media, including online job boards and LinkedIn.
The reach advantage of Boston radio is consistent among both passive white-collar job candidates and blue-collar candidates.
In addition to radio's mammoth reach among Boston's coveted passive job seekers, radio advertisements have an exceptionally high recall rate among consumers who hear them...an attribute that captured the attention of Zip Recruiter.
If you were one of the 3.2 million adults who tuned in to Boston during August of 2021, then chances are excellent that you heard advertising for ZipRecruiter. That's because the company purchased 1153 advertisements to air on local stations during that month, according to Media Monitors.
ZipRecruiter is an online recruitment site that helps companies of every size advertise open jobs. Overall, more than 2.8 million companies have posted an opening on ZipRecruiter.com.
During the first line of their radio commercial, ZipRecruiter's announcer proclaimed, "82% of people remember radio ads."
"That means," the announcer continues, "82% of you listening right now will remember this is an ad for ZipRecruiter.
During the entirety of its 60-second commercial, ZipRecruiter mentions '82%' a total of seven times and the word 'radio' six times.
By the way, ZipRecruiter didn't pull the 82% commercial recall statistic out of thin air. Many studies confirm radio advertising's high memorability advantage.
One of these studies was conducted by Nielsen. They looked at advertising campaigns for four specific brands. Although recall varied by the advertiser, on average, 82% of consumers exposed to one of the target company's commercials remembered it...just as ZipRecruiter claims.
A similar study by research firm Local AdRecall also found that, on average, brand recall was five times greater for 18 companies that invest in radio advertising.
For more information on these two studies, click here.
That data is conclusive. The enormous reach of Boston radio, combined with the exception recall of radio commercials, provides the best way for local business owners desperate to fill open jobs to reach qualified candidates.
More Advertising Advice For Boston Small Business Owners