Recruitment marketing guides

Every guide we publish, in one place: what a job applicant costs, where to advertise, how to write the ad, what agencies charge, and the industry data behind each. 44 guides, grouped by the question they answer. Figures come from Boostpoint-managed campaigns and are updated as new data lands.

• Start here
• Where to advertise
• Job ads, creative and templates
• Hiring events and volume hiring
• What hiring costs
• Process, speed and candidate experience
• Rules and compliance
• By industry

Start here

The four pages most people should read first.

• What a job applicant actually costs: 2026 benchmarks891 campaigns, the full distribution by role and sector — not a single average.
• What makes a good job adThe seven parts of an ad that gets applications, with a grader.
• How to fill open positions fastTriage for this week, this month and permanently.
• Recruiting analytics: the metrics that matterThe five numbers worth a dashboard, and the ones that mislead.

Where to advertise

Channels, platforms and what each one costs.

• Social media job advertisingHow paid job ads reach workers who aren't searching.
• Facebook ads for recruitingRules, costs and setup under the Special Ad Category.
• Instagram recruitingThe same campaign, on the screen where the under-30 pool is.
• TikTok recruitingHow TikTok ads work for hiring, and who they reach.
• Programmatic job advertisingHow programmatic buying works and what it costs.
• Indeed alternatives for employersNine channels graded, with published pricing where it exists.
• Beyond job boardsFive alternatives with cost per applicant attached.
• Facebook ads vs. job boardsA 2026 cost comparison on reach, completion and time to hire.

Job ads, creative and templates

What to say, how to film it, and templates to copy.

• Job description templates21 frontline roles with duties, pay data and copy-paste templates.
• Recruiting video ideas and scriptsTwelve ideas and three timestamped scripts you can shoot on a phone.
• Caregiver, CNA and nurse job ad templatesAd copy for the roles that are hardest to fill.
• High-converting job ads on socialHow the first two lines decide the application rate.

Hiring events and volume hiring

Filling many seats at once, or on a deadline.

• Open house hiring eventsFive stations, who owns each, and how each one fails.
• Virtual hiring eventsFormats, registration math and what fills the room.
• On-the-spot hiring and walk-insWhether same-day offers actually work.
• Mass hiringStaffing a surge without a surge budget.
• Peak season staffingPlanning backwards from the first day you need people.

What hiring costs

Agencies, RPO and outsourcing, priced against doing it yourself.

• Staffing agency markup and feesWhat recruiters charge and how the markup is built.
• How staffing agencies make moneyMarkups, fees and where the margin sits.
• RPO costWhat recruitment process outsourcing charges, by model.
• Outsourced recruitment marketing feesFive fee models ranked by how checkable the cost is.
• Staffing agency vs. in-house recruitingHow to decide, with the break-even math.
• Therapy staffing costsPT, OT and SLP: the most expensive applicants we measure.

Process, speed and candidate experience

Where applicants are lost after the click.

• Shorten the hiring processCut the application to under a minute and decide within the week.
• Improve candidate experienceTwo levers and nine fixes, in order of cost.
• Map the candidate journeySix stages and where frontline candidates actually drop off.
• The recruitment marketing funnelStages, conversion rates and how to fix each one.
• How to use text recruitingThe workflow, the rules and twelve message templates.
• Text recruiting softwareAutomating the follow-up that doubles interview rates.
• How to find more candidatesTen ways, ordered by cost and speed.
• Passive candidate recruitingReaching the 23 employed workers for every one who is searching.
• Why you can't find employeesFive fixes, and the market data behind them.

Rules and compliance

What you can and can't do in an employment ad.

• Meta Special Ad Category for employment adsWhat targeting is removed, and what to do instead.
• OFCCP job posting requirementsAd compliance for federal contractors.

By industry

Cost, channel and role data for the sectors we run campaigns in.

• Healthcare and senior care recruitingRNs, CNAs, caregivers and therapy roles.
• Truck driver recruitingCDL drivers, owner-operators and grads.
• Skilled trades recruitingElectricians, plumbers, HVAC, welders and crews.
• Manufacturing and warehouse recruitingMachinists, operators and production staff.
• Frontline hiringRetail, hospitality, call centre, cleaning and security.
• Agriculture and co-op recruitingApplicators, drivers and seasonal crews.