11 Ways Recruitment Agencies Attract Candidates, by Consultation Rate

The basic approach to candidate acquisition for a recruitment agency is to choose channels that fit the candidates you want, compare them by whether they lead to consultations rather than by registrations, and allocate your budget accordingly.

Candidate acquisition for a recruitment agency means creating touchpoints with people who are thinking about changing jobs, and turning them into registrations with your company and consultations with a career advisor (CA).

NowVillage does not run ads based only on cost per registration (CPA). We help agencies get the most out of their acquisition by organizing their candidate database and tracking cost per consultation and cost per placement by channel.

In this article, NowVillage, with 150+ recruitment companies supported (as of October 2026), compares 11 ways to attract candidates. We compare them on four points: the candidates each suits, how costs are incurred, how long results take, and the effort involved.

Who this article is for: agencies that want to rely less on scouting / agencies that started ads but are not getting more consultations / agencies that want to decide which channels to fund

How messaging differs for experienced and inexperienced candidates and by job type, and how to follow up after registration (CS) to get consultations booked, are covered in detail in The Complete Guide to Recruitment Marketing.

Think about candidate acquisition in terms of volume, quality and stability

Candidate acquisition means securing enough candidates to fill your CAs’ consultations, then using a mix of channels to build quality that leads to placements and stability that does not swing from month to month.

A recruitment business grows when candidate acquisition, job opening development, and running the process from consultation to placement all work together. Within this, acquisition is responsible for delivering a steady flow of candidates for CAs to meet every month.

Check how well your acquisition works in the following order.

1. Volume: Are there enough registrations to fill your CAs’ consultation slots?
2. Quality: Do registrants go on to consultations, and do they match the job openings you can offer?
3. Stability: Do monthly registrations and unit costs stay fairly steady?

Without stability, you cannot decide how many CAs to hire or how far to increase ad spend. If you rely on one channel, rising unit costs or policy changes hit your consultation numbers directly. Spreading acquisition across channels such as scouting, ads and affiliates is the quickest route to stability.

Which channel works depends on the candidates you want. Experienced candidates who have already decided on a job type tend to respond to the job openings themselves. We believe inexperienced candidates who have not yet decided on a job type tend to respond to the advice they can get from a consultation. Whatever the channel, candidates will not choose you unless they can see your strongest job types and regions and what your support involves. For details, see “Experienced vs. inexperienced candidates” in The Complete Guide to Recruitment Marketing.

Comparing 11 ways to attract candidates

Channels for attracting candidates are easier to choose when you compare them on four points: the candidates each suits, how costs are incurred, how long results take, and the effort involved.

Channel	Best suited candidates	Pricing model	Time to results	Effort
Scouting	Job seekers with experience in the job type	Platform fees (contract terms vary by platform)	Fast	Writing, sending and replying to messages
Indeed (job search engine)	People looking for specific job openings	Sponsored listings, pay per click	Fast	Creating and updating job descriptions
Search ads	Motivated people searching for terms such as “job type + job change”	Pay per click	Fast	Improving keywords, ad copy and landing pages (LPs)
Display ads (Google, Yahoo!)	People who have not started searching yet, and people who visited an LP without registering	Pay per impression or pay per click	Fast to medium	Creating banners, adjusting placements and targeting
Meta, X and TikTok ads	People who have not started searching yet, inexperienced and younger candidates, people in specific job types	Charged by impressions or clicks	Fast to medium	Creating and refreshing images and videos
Affiliates and referral services	People comparing recruitment agencies	Performance-based (per registration or other result)	Medium	Choosing sites to be listed on, managing result conditions
SEO, social media, YouTube	People still gathering information	Staff costs or outsourcing costs for content and operations	Long	Ongoing content creation and updates
AEO (AI search optimization)	People comparing recruitment agencies by asking ChatGPT or Google’s AI	No ad spend; the main cost is the effort of creating and maintaining content	Medium	Keeping your company information (brand context) in order and continuing to publish it in a form AI can cite
Referrals	Past registrants, and friends and colleagues of people who changed jobs	No money involved (only the effort of asking)	Medium	Building relationships and asking for referrals
Re-engaging past registrants	People who registered before but did not reach a consultation or placement	Mainly the effort of contacting them	Fast	Checking their preferences and introducing job openings
Events	People who have just started thinking about a job change, new graduates and second-career starters	Venue and promotion costs	Medium	Planning and running the event

This table summarizes general trends based on NowVillage’s support experience. In addition, ChatGPT ads became available in Japan in August 2026. We cover them at the end of the section on each channel.

The cost ranges for the main channels are as follows.

Channel	Pricing model	Cost range
Scouting	Varies by platform, for example a combination of platform fees and success fees	Varies widely by platform and contract, so no single figure applies
Indeed	Pay per click. Since March 18, 2026, recruitment agency job postings must be sponsored (paid) listings (Indeed official help)	About ¥100–300 per click (varies by job type and region)
Search ads	Pay per click	From a few hundred yen to about ¥2,000 per click in the recruitment and job posting field. Cost per click tends to rise year by year
Display ads (Google, Yahoo!)	Pay per impression or pay per click	From a few tens of yen to about ¥200 per click
Meta ads (Facebook, Instagram)	Pay per impression, pay per click, etc.	About ¥40–300 per click
X and TikTok ads	Pay per impression, pay per click, etc.	Varies widely by campaign objective and audience, so no single figure applies
Affiliates	Performance-based (plus separate ASP fees)	About ¥3,000–10,000 per registration. Depending on the field and where you are listed, it can reach tens of thousands of yen per registration
Referral services	Charged per consultation held, flat monthly fee, etc.	About ¥15,000–35,000 per consultation
AEO (AI search optimization)	No ad spend; the main cost is the effort of creating and maintaining content	Depends on the scope of work, so no single figure applies

NowVillage research (as of October 2026). Prices change with timing and conditions, so treat these as rough guides. They are not market rates limited to recruitment, and they are not NowVillage’s fees. SEO, social media, YouTube and events are not included because their cost ranges are hard to state in a single figure. Referrals and re-engaging past registrants involve no money.

Which channel to start with depends on the candidates you want. To attract experienced candidates, scouting and Indeed are usually the core. For inexperienced and younger candidates, search ads, Meta, X and TikTok ads, and affiliates are usually the core. We explain how to prioritize online ads in more detail in Ad strategy for recruitment agencies.

How to use each channel, and what to watch out for

With any channel, if the candidates you attract do not match the job openings you can offer, more registrations will not lead to consultations or placements. Here are the key points for each channel.

Scouting: the first channel for attracting experienced candidates

Scouting means searching job site databases for people who meet your criteria and sending them messages directly. Because you can tell people with experience in the job type about the appeal of a job opening directly, it is the first channel to consider when attracting experienced candidates.

Rather than writing long messages, briefly explain how the person’s experience matches the job opening. Record messages sent, replies and reply rate for each target group, and improve by changing four things: day and time, how you narrow the target, the message, and the job openings you attach.

Some platforms have tightened their screening of new recruitment agencies that want to use scouting. NowVillage’s view is that you should sign up early with platforms where your target candidates are.

Indeed: sponsored listings are now required

Indeed is a job search engine that reaches people looking for specific job openings. Since March 18, 2026, recruitment job postings by recruitment agencies must be sponsored (paid) listings. The source is Indeed, “Job posting businesses other than hiring companies, and aggregators” (checked October 19, 2026).

Each job posting must show the actual employer’s company name, and the job description must clearly state that the posting is from a recruitment agency. Wording such as “company name confidential” is not allowed. Sponsored listings are pay per click, and the cost per click is set by bidding (Indeed, “Pricing and sponsored job listings”).

Indeed tends to bring in registrations easily, but the share of registrants who go on to a consultation tends to be lower than with ads or scouting. We explain how to run it in Running Indeed for recruitment agencies.

Search ads: reach motivated people through search

Search ads appear in Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft Bing search results. They reach people who search for themselves, with terms such as “second-career job change”, so these people tend to be more motivated to change jobs and more likely to go on to a consultation.

What drives results is how well the ad copy matches the landing page (LP) it links to. Place the registration form near the top of the page, and see How to structure a high-converting LP for LP design. Keywords and typical costs are covered in detail in Search ads for recruitment agencies. For an example of lowering cost per application by revamping online ads and the job site, see the Dimple Inc. case study.

Display ads (Google, Yahoo!): reach people who are not searching, and people who have visited once

These are image ads and similar formats shown in Google and Yahoo! ad space on websites and apps. Besides raising awareness among people who have not yet searched for a job change, they are used for retargeting, which shows ads again to people who visited an LP without registering.

Cost per click is lower than for search ads, but display ads are less likely to lead directly to registrations. Combine them with search ads and check their effect by cost per consultation.

Meta, X and TikTok ads: reach people who are not searching through their concerns

This means running image or short video ads on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok. Because they also reach people who have not yet searched for a job change, they are used to attract inexperienced and younger candidates. TikTok reaches younger people easily, and X works well with topics that gather people in specific job types and with posts that get shared.

Inexperienced and younger candidates tend to respond to ads about their current work worries or about good experiences from a consultation, rather than job conditions. For experienced candidates, ads about job openings at well-known companies or about information sessions can work. These ads bring in registrations easily, but the consultation rate can be low, so check them by cost per consultation.

Affiliates and referral services: get chosen by people who are comparing

With affiliates, you get listed on recruitment agency comparison or ranking sites and pay a fee for each result, such as a registration. NowVillage’s rule of thumb is that if there are five or more comparison sites in your field, it is worth considering seriously.

Do not leave everything to the ASP (affiliate network). Search for and choose the sites you want to be listed on yourself. This also applies to referral services that send you candidates: before signing, check what counts as a billable result and how duplicate registrations are handled. We explain how to proceed in Affiliate advertising for recruitment agencies.

SEO, social media and YouTube: slow, but useful when candidates compare you

This means getting registrations from search and viewing through articles and job pages on your own site, social media posts and YouTube videos. Results take time, so these channels cannot fill an immediate shortage of consultations.

On the other hand, people who learn your company name through scouting or ads search for it before registering, to check your reputation and strengths. At that point, pages that show your strongest job types and your support process help push them to register. For job site design, see Tips for building a recruitment job site.

AEO (AI search optimization): get your name mentioned in AI answers

AEO is the work of making sure your company is cited in the answer when candidates research recruitment agencies with ChatGPT, Google’s AI Mode or AI Overviews. It is a way to present your company as an option to people who compare agencies by asking AI.

You need to prepare information such as the following.

• Accurate service and company information (company name, strongest job types and regions, support process)
• Pages structured to answer the question at the top
• Answers to questions candidates often ask (FAQ)
• Facts that do not conflict from page to page
• Track records with dates

Unlike ads, AEO does not produce results as soon as you start. Check regularly which questions’ answers cite you, and keep updating your information. NowVillage organizes its own company information using this same approach.

Referrals: use the networks of people who changed jobs and past registrants

This means asking people you helped change jobs, and past registrants, to introduce friends or colleagues who are thinking about a job change. Because the referral comes from someone who knows what your support involves, these candidates arrive with the right expectations and are more likely to go on to a consultation. Build a flow in which you can ask naturally during follow-up contact after they join their new company.

Offering job seekers money or other benefits beyond what is socially reasonable, for example as a “congratulatory payment”, to encourage them to register is prohibited under the guidelines based on the Employment Security Act. NowVillage recommends asking for referrals without offering rewards.

Re-engaging past registrants: create consultations without ad spend

This means contacting people again who registered before but did not reach a consultation or placement. When their timing or situation changes, they may reconsider a job change. The basic idea is to be ready to contact people whose preferences match as soon as a new job opening comes in.

When you contact them, confirm their consent and current preferences before introducing job openings. How to connect registrant information with LINE conversations is explained in Using LINE for recruitment agencies. For how to run re-engagement in HubSpot, see Running a recruitment agency on HubSpot.

For companies that want to keep matching in PORTERS and use HubSpot only for ongoing contact with registrants, there is also an API integration service for HubSpot and PORTERS.

Events: create a place to meet people who have just started thinking about a job change

Job change seminars and company information sessions create touchpoints with people who are not yet looking at job openings. Participants can easily go on to book a consultation on the spot, which makes events a good route to consultations.

Events need their own promotion, so announce them with Meta ads or similar, and set up a flow that lets participants schedule a consultation right after the event.

A new ad channel: ChatGPT ads

ChatGPT ads are shown below ChatGPT’s answers. They became available in Japan on August 11, 2026 (OpenAI, “Testing ads in ChatGPT”).

OpenAI’s ad policies (updated September 10, 2026) do not allow ads for individual job openings. The fields targeted in the early phase of the pilot include household goods, local services, travel, digital products and education. Recruitment and job openings are not listed (both checked October 19, 2026).

For now, the right stance is to follow developments and watch how the eligible fields expand. If you try them, compare them by consultation rate and cost per consultation, as with any other channel.

Measure acquisition by consultation rate and cost per consultation, not registrations

Compare acquisition channels by the cost of one consultation (cost per consultation), and make the final decision by the cost of one placement (cost per placement).

Do not compare them by the cost of one registration (cost per registration). Some channels deliver cheap registrations, but few of those registrants go on to a consultation.

NowVillage looks at the path from registration to consultation in three stages: registration, consultation booked and consultation held. The consultation rate is “booking rate × show-up rate”. In recruitment, about 30% of bookings are cancelled, so the show-up rate settles at around 70%.

NowVillage’s consultation rate targets are 50% for scouting, 35% for ads, and 25% for Indeed (The Complete Guide to Recruitment Marketing).

For example, a channel with a cost per registration of ¥10,000 and a consultation rate of 25%, and a channel with a cost per registration of ¥20,000 and a consultation rate of 50%, both have a cost per consultation of ¥40,000. Looking only at cost per registration, the first seems cheaper, but the cost of one consultation is the same.

Placements take time, so compare by cost per consultation in the short term, and check cost per placement once placements have come in. There are only three ways to lower cost per consultation: lower cost per registration, raise the booking rate, or raise the show-up rate.

To compare channels, you need to record the registration date, consultation booking date, consultation date and placement date for each channel. How to raise the consultation rate through follow-up after registration (CS) is explained in The Complete Guide to Recruitment Marketing.

Improve in this order: handling up to the consultation, then the LP, then ads

Start by checking how you handle candidates from registration to consultation, then the LP, and finally ads. Increasing ads before you are ready to handle registrations will not lower cost per consultation.

For handling from registration to consultation, check how quickly you contact people right after they register, how easy scheduling is, and whether you send reminders before the consultation.

Make decisions by cost per consultation. Then, when looking at ads alone, the LP registration rate has the biggest effect on results. On the LP, place the registration form near the top of the page, limit the number of questions, and let people answer one question at a time. We explain how to build them in “LPs for mid-career hiring” and “Forms” in The Complete Guide to Recruitment Marketing.

Finally, review your ads. If ad targeting is off, registrations do not come in at all. Even if you get registrations, the show-up rate falls.

Compare all channels on one screen in HubSpot

To see cost per consultation and cost per placement by channel, everything from registration to placement must be connected in one dataset. Along with running ads, NowVillage helps you build this database in HubSpot.

With HubSpot, the channel each candidate came from is recorded automatically when they register. You can put registrations, consultations booked, consultations held and placements by channel side by side on one dashboard. Because you can compare the consultation rate and cost per consultation of every channel by the same measure, it becomes easier to decide where to shift your budget.

You can also handle follow-up after registration in the same place. By building scheduling links, automatic CA assignment and pre-consultation reminders into the system, you can raise the booking rate and show-up rate. Re-engaging past registrants can also run on the same data.

As a HubSpot Diamond Partner, NowVillage supports HubSpot implementation for recruitment agencies. How to use it along your workflow is explained in Running a recruitment agency on HubSpot.

Look at acquisition costs as media costs, management fees, production costs and internal effort combined

Estimate acquisition costs including not only what you pay to media, but also management fees, production costs for LPs and ad creatives, and the effort of your own team, and judge them against cost per consultation.

Cost	What changes the amount
Ad and media costs	Job type, region, delivery volume, media contract terms
Management fees (if outsourced)	Media covered, scope of improvement work, reporting frequency
Production costs for LPs and ad creatives	Whether you build new or revise, and the type and number of creatives
Internal effort	Sending scout messages, contacting registrants, consultations, updating job descriptions

The cost ranges for each channel are summarized in the table in the previous section. When ad management is outsourced, the fee is most often 10–20% of ad spend (NowVillage research, as of October 2026).

These are not NowVillage’s fees, and they are not market rates limited to recruitment. When comparing quotes, check on the same basis whether there is a minimum fee, and how much of production, tracking setup and improvement proposals is included. We summarize what to look for when choosing an agency in How to choose a search ads agency.

You can also run ads in-house. A realistic approach is to start with outside help to build a working model, then switch to in-house once your team has people who can run it. Through our marketing support for recruitment agencies, NowVillage takes consultations on everything from running ads for you to helping you bring them in-house, matched to your stage of business.

How to start: 5 steps

Decide which candidates you want and how many consultations you need, lay out the numbers for your current channels, then start with one or two channels and expand while watching cost per consultation.

1. Decide which candidates you want and how many consultations you need: Compare against the job types, regions and experience of the job openings you can offer, and work backward from the number of consultations your CAs can handle.
2. Lay out the numbers for each current channel: For each channel, list registrations, consultations booked, consultations held and placements, and see where things stall.
3. Set up contact after registration and your LP: First, make sure you contact people right after they register and can schedule a consultation. Then align what your ads say, what your LP explains and the support you provide in the consultation.
4. Start with one or two channels and decide how to measure: Start running them once you can record everything from registration date to placement date for each channel.
5. Shift budget based on cost per consultation: Move budget to channels with a low cost per consultation, and test new channels with a small budget.

Channel mix by stage of business

In NowVillage’s support experience, the main channels and the first metric to watch change with the stage of the business. Treat this as a guide to channel mix, not to amounts.

Stage	Main channels	Supporting channels	First metric to watch
Launch (few CAs)	Scouting, referrals	Indeed	Booking rate
Growth (adding CAs)	Search ads, Meta ads, affiliates	Indeed, events	Cost per consultation by channel
Stable (strengthening your own acquisition)	SEO, social media, YouTube, re-engaging past registrants	Ads (shift budget by cost per consultation)	Cost per placement, share of your own channels

At launch, focus on scouting and referrals, which reliably produce consultations even with a small team. As you add CAs, add volume with ads and affiliates. Once things are stable, increase the share of channels that do not depend on ad spend, such as your own site and past registrants.

The consultations NowVillage receives most often are “our ads are not producing results”, “we are unhappy with our current agency” and “we do not know which acquisition method suits us”. In our support, we do not just change delivery settings. We first check how candidates are handled from registration to consultation, then the messaging and LP, and finally the ads.

Common acquisition mistakes and how to fix them

Most acquisition failures come from how you measure and how you handle candidates after registration, rather than from which channels you choose. Here are five we often see in NowVillage’s support work.

Common mistake	What happens	Fix
Relying on one channel	Consultations drop suddenly when unit costs rise or policies change	Spread across channels so several sources support your consultation numbers
Judging by registrations or cost per registration alone	Budget flows to channels that do not lead to consultations	Compare by cost per consultation, and check cost per placement once placements have come in
Slow contact after registration	Candidates lose interest in changing jobs, and the booking rate falls	Make it possible to schedule a consultation right after registration
Counting LINE friend adds as ad results	Cost per registration falls, but the consultation rate drops and follow-up takes more effort	Count form registrations as ad results
No one looks at the numbers by channel	Differences in booking rate go unnoticed, and the same budget split continues	Assign someone to review the numbers by channel every week

You can spot all of these early if you track each channel from registration to consultation and placement. Specific steps for contact and follow-up after registration are summarized in The Complete Guide to Recruitment Marketing.

Case studies: supporting candidate acquisition for recruitment agencies

NowVillage has supported candidate acquisition for recruitment agencies through ad management, LP and website revamps, and moving away from platform-dependent acquisition.

One example is Mirai Jinzai Support Inc., a recruitment agency focused on Aichi, Gifu and Mie. Since September 2022, we have helped them create LPs and bring Google Ads, Meta ads and affiliate advertising in-house. Inflow from scouting, which made up more than 90% before the project, has been reduced to about 60%, and about 30% now comes from their own acquisition. The ad spend ratio to sales from their own acquisition fell to 20% or less within 10 months (Mirai Jinzai Support Inc. case study).

Other examples include the following.

Company	What we worked on	Results (as stated on the case study page)
CREEK & RIVER Co., Ltd.	Redesigning marketing strategy, ad management, building a job site, etc.	Number of people reaching consultation up 150% year on year, and final placements up 130% year on year
Dimple Inc.	Online ad management, job site renewal, column article production	Cost per application cut to about 1/4 of the initial level. Column sessions grew about 10 times
TREX Inc.	Online ad management, scout messaging, LP production, KPI management	Company-wide monthly placements went from about 10 to about 30 in about one year from the start of support. Sales are about 10 times the pre-implementation level
DEiBA Company Inc.	Google Ads and affiliate ad management, website revamp	Steady growth in inflow. Inquiries also increased after the corporate website was revised

Each of these is an individual case and does not guarantee the same results.

FAQ

Q. Which channel should a recruitment agency start with?

It depends on the candidates you want. Agencies often start with scouting to attract people with experience in the job type, and with search ads or affiliates for inexperienced and younger candidates.

Q. Can we attract candidates on a small budget?

Yes, if you narrow down your channels. However, check separately whether you can secure the consultations you need. Also combine channels that do not require ad spend, such as contacting past registrants again.

Q. If cost per registration goes down, does that mean acquisition is working?

No. You cannot judge until you look at cost per consultation. Even if cost per registration is low, if few people go on to a consultation, the cost of one consultation can actually be higher.

Q. Can recruitment agencies still use Indeed?

Yes. However, since March 18, 2026, recruitment agency job postings must be sponsored (paid) listings. Each posting must show the actual employer’s company name, and the job description must clearly state that it is from a recruitment agency (Indeed official help, checked October 19, 2026).

Q. Can we attract candidates from ChatGPT?

There are two ways: getting cited in AI answers (AEO), and ChatGPT ads. AEO means organizing your information so that your company is cited in the answer when candidates ask ChatGPT or other AI tools. ChatGPT ads became available in Japan on August 11, 2026, but the ad policies do not allow ads for individual job openings. Recruitment and job openings are not among the fields targeted in the early phase of the pilot, so for now it is a matter of testing carefully while watching developments (OpenAI official sources, checked October 19, 2026). NowVillage supports ad management for recruitment agencies and also runs ChatGPT ads. Whether or not you decide to try them, please reach out through our contact form.

Q. How long does it take to judge whether acquisition is working?

Judge registrations and consultations monthly, and placements after some time has passed. Because placements take time, first compare by cost per consultation, then check cost per placement once placements have come in. Do not stop a channel as unsuccessful while recent registrants are still in the selection process.

Q. Do we need HubSpot to manage acquisition?

It is not required. However, if you cannot track the consultation rate and progress to placement by channel, setting up a CRM is worthwhile. How the process works with HubSpot is explained in Running a recruitment agency on HubSpot.

Summary: combine channels and shift budget by cost per consultation

Candidate acquisition for a recruitment agency becomes stable when you combine several channels that fit the candidates you want and shift budget while comparing them by cost per consultation.

Scouting and Indeed are usually the core for experienced candidates, and ads and affiliates for inexperienced and younger candidates. SEO and referrals take effect over time. Also add re-engaging past registrants and referrals to the mix as ways to create consultations without ad spend.

NowVillage has supported 150+ recruitment companies (as of October 2026). If you are unsure which channels to fund, or are struggling to get more consultations, see our marketing support for recruitment agencies page or feel free to reach out through our contact form. Our support is also summarized in the service guide for marketing support for recruitment and staffing businesses.