How do you fill hard-to-recruit roles when the right candidates aren't job-hunting?
By reaching passive candidates where they already spend time, not just on job boards. Route plans and buys recruitment media across paid social, programmatic, paid search and video, building integrated campaigns that our First Bus driver recruitment work has won national awards for.
Who this is for
Talent, HR and marketing teams facing competitive or hard-to-fill roles, and the recruitment partners who support them. If job boards alone are not delivering the candidates you need, media planning earns its place.
Why Route
Because recruitment is a marketing problem as much as an HR one. We reach passive candidates through the channels they use daily, plan integrated campaigns rather than isolated adverts, and measure applications and hires, not clicks.
Our experience in recruitment marketing
Our driver recruitment work for First Bus shows the approach in full. We planned and bought an integrated campaign spanning programmatic, paid social and paid search to reach potential drivers who were not actively applying, supported by strong creative. The work won Best Integrated Paid Media Campaign at the 2024 UK Paid Media Awards, and the accompanying film, Connecting Communities, won Best Use of Video at the 2024 Northern Digital Awards. Recruitment media works best when awareness, consideration and application are planned together, targeted locally to where the roles are, and measured through to the candidates who apply.
Award-winning recruitment work
First West of England - driver recruitment
Winner
Best Integrated Paid Media Campaign, UK Paid Media Awards 2024
Video-led recruitment media across on-demand TV, social, radio and search that met First West of England's 2023 driver target.
Read the case study
Connecting Communities
Winner
Best Use of Video, Northern Digital Awards 2024
The recruitment film behind the First Bus driver campaign.
See our awardsCommon questions
How do you reach candidates who aren't actively looking?
We use the channels people spend time on regardless of whether they are job-hunting, such as paid social, programmatic display and video, with targeting built around role type and location, so the opportunity finds the candidate rather than the other way round.
Which channels work for recruitment campaigns?
It varies by role, but our recruitment work has combined programmatic, paid social, paid search and video into a single integrated campaign. Planning them together, rather than running isolated adverts, is what makes the difference.
Can you target roles in specific locations?
Yes. Recruitment media is usually local, so we target down to the areas where the roles sit, concentrating budget where suitable candidates actually live and commute.
Do you measure applications, not just impressions?
We plan towards applications and hires, setting up tracking so that reporting reflects candidate response rather than reach alone.
Struggling to fill important roles?
Call +44 (0) 191 933 7588, email info.route@route.agency, or send us your brief and we make every effort to respond within one working day.