searching for a new career€¦ · print media external services social media platforms employees...

Searching For A

New CareerThe role of internet job

portals

Trends & Insights during

Covid-19 in Germany

Agenda

1. Industry Overview

2. Trends at Microsoft Advertising

3. Search Patterns

4. Impact of Covid-19

5. Summary and recommendations

Industry Overview

Less than one in five uses the internet to find a new

job in Germany

Source: Eurostat; Anteil der Personen, die das Internet zur Arbeitssuche oder zur Übermittlung einer Stellenbewerbung genutzt haben, in ausgewählten Ländern in Europa im Jahr 2019; January 2020

9

11

12

13

14

17

17

17

18

25

25

26

30

32

37

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Poland

Austria

Belgium

Greece

Italy

Ireland

France

Germany

Spain

Netherlands

UK

Norway

Sweden

Finland

Denmark

Online Job Search & Application in Selected European Countries 2019 (in %)

Direct online job portals are the most popular source

for job searches

Source: Faktenkontor; Und auf welchen Seiten haben Sie sich über Stellenangebote informiert? July 2019

69

56

2926

20

10 10

25

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Online job

portals, e.g.

Jobscout,

Stepstone

Online portal of

Bundesagentur

für Arbeit

Online job offers

at daily

newspapers, e.g.

fazjob.net

Career portals

on companies

websites

Xing LinkedIn Facebook Others Can't remember

Usage of online information sources for job searches in Germany 2018(in %)

Job portals also feature as key destination for

executives who are recruiting

Source: Hays; Welche Rekrutierungskanäle nutzen Sie zur Gewinnung neuer Mitarbeiter? *Entscheider aus Unternehmen (65 % aus Deutschland, 16 % aus der Schweiz, 19 % aus Österreich). January 2020

29

30

35

47

53

63

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Print media

External services

Social Media platforms

Employees attract employees

Owned company channels

Internet job portals

Which Recruiting Channels Do Executives* Use; 2019(in %)

Trends at Microsoft

Advertising

Search clicks up year-on-year, but strong COVID-19

impact in April

The careers vertical saw a positive trend with clicks

increasing year over year with up to 20% - 30% growth

rates each month since January 2019.

COVID-19 however impacted growth in March and

especially April with a significant reduction in clicks.

Microsoft Advertising internal data; Careers vertical; January 2019 to April 2020

Steady growth interrupted by COVID-19 and lockdown

The decline in paid clicks corresponds directly with the

lockdown and store closures in Germany. However,

starting with the week of April 11 we saw moderate

signals of recovery.

Click decrease is caused by lower advertiser density as

campaigns were temporarily paused and clicks went to

organic links instead.

Microsoft Advertising internal data; Careers vertical; 2020

CPC below, CTR above last year’s values until March

As a result, mainline CPC saw a steep drop as the

country went into lockdown in mid-March and ad

density was temporarily lowered.

Mainline CTR was significantly above 2019 values in

the first two months of the year, but numbers declined

in March and even more in April caused by the

circumstances.

Microsoft Advertising internal data; Careers vertical; January 2019 to April 2020

More searches in 2020 peaking in January and March

Whilst, we saw an impact on paid clicks as shown

before, search volume has in fact increased year-on-

year.

January is typically a strong month for job searches, as

the new year for many, also means new interest in

career opportunities.

March volume was equally high as the lockdown may

have motivated many to explore open roles or the loss

of one role, triggers the search for another.

Microsoft Advertising internal data; Careers vertical; March 2019 to April 2020; Search volume indexed against March 2019 (=100%)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

140%

160%

Search Volume Index

Indexed Volume

Search Patterns

Example of a user path

Microsoft Advertising internal data; Feb – Mar 2020

This is a typical search path including

geography, specific companies and

multiple job portals.

Conversion path summaryUsers convert more than once, searches are mostly generic

Data based on 115,000 conversion paths across 12 job portalsMicrosoft Advertising internal data; Feb – Mar 2020

16 10.4 7.2 1.5

16% 18% / 82%84% 15% / 85%

Path details – Days until conversion


42% of searchers completed their search path within one

day, but 1/3 needed three weeks or longer.

Typical generic elements of search paths are job function,

location and company names.

Path details – Searches until Conversion


21% of searchers performed just one search and converted

right away.

37% needed 2 to 5 searches, and another 30% modified

their search between 6 and 20 times.

Looking at the path's length, both by days and searches, this

is a strong argument for remarketing campaigns.

10% 10%15% 18%

90% 90%85% 82%

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

First Middle Last One-Click

Branded vs. Generic Searches

Brand Generic

Path details – Brand vs generic searches


The brand name of career portal is not a

dominant factor for users.

Of the 115,000 analyzed search paths, only 10%

contained a brand name in the first search, this

number grows to 15% in the last (typically

converting) search. One click conversions have a

slightly higher brand awareness at 18%.

Of all paths with more than one search 76%

were generic only, 2% brand only and 22%

contained both brand and generic terms.

76%

2%

22%

Path Details

Generic Only

Brand Only

Hybrid

Path Details – Brand Searches by Portal


Users are not tied to one job portal. Throughout

the search paths we see movement between all job

portals as job searchers explore different options.

Portal A seems to be the starting point for more

than 2/3 of searchers, but as the path develops,

they include more and more other portals in their

queries. As seen, users often convert on more than

one portal.

For one-click conversions the distribution is more

even, based on users’ initial brand preference.

68%61%

37% 35%

6%

8%

13% 13%

8%12%

28%26%

18% 19%23% 26%

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

First Middle Last One-Click

Brand Distribution Across Major Portals

Portal A Portal B Portal C Portal D

Impact of COVID-19

Unemployment is rising dramatically

Source: Bundesagentur für Arbeit; April 2020

In April, the unemployment rate in Germany rose to 5.8%, the highest in a long time.

2.56 million people are now without work. Excluding seasonality the Bundesagentur für Arbeit calls this the biggest ever measured increase.

Also, in March the number of new open positions was down by more than half.

4.9 4.9 4.9 5 5.14.9 4.8 4.8 4.9

5.3 5.35.1

5.8

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Apr 19 Mai 19 Jun '19 Jul 19 Aug 19 Sep 19 Okt 19 Nov 19 Dez 19 Jan 20 Feb 20 Mär 20 Apr 20

Actual Unemployment Rate in Germany through April 2020 (in %)

Searches for job portals increase significantly

Microsoft Advertising internal data; Search volume growth for selected terms; Mar 17 – Apr 30 vs Feb 1 – Mar 16, 2020

As a result of unemployment or reduced work hours interest in job portals has grown significantly (+62%) since lockdown.

Searches for ‚Agentur für Arbeit‘ [employment agencies] has also increased by 50%.

The current situation of the unemployed is apparent in the number of searches for ‘Minijobs’ (including 450 Euro jobs). This number has increased by 90%.

Summary

Summary & Recommendations

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