Kansas State University

Each year, Human Capital Services reviews job advertising subscriptions to ensure a broad outreach to generate the most diverse applicant pool and achieve the greatest return on investment. HCS's Talent Acquisition is providing an overview of current advertising subscriptions and introduce a new vendor, Job Elephant. 

Current advertising subscriptions 

Human Capital Services manages a variety of job advertising subscriptions, which include HigherEdJobs.com, Insight Into Diversity and DiversityJobs.com. DiversityJobs.com includes postings on the following sites: 

LatinoJobs.org, All LGBTJobs.com, African American Hires, VeteranJobs.net, All Hispanic Jobs, AsianHires.com, WeHireWomen.com, All Bilingual Jobs, Native Jobs, DisabilityJobs.net, BlackCareers.org and Over Fifty Jobs. 

Kansas State University has been a recipient of the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity, or HEED, award by Insight Into Diversity for seven consecutive years. In addition, the university has been named a Top Employer by DiversityJobs.com for two consecutive years. 

The current subscriptions pull recruitments directly from the K-State Careers website. In addition to these subscriptions, departments can request that a recruitment is shared on the K-State Careers social media, which includes Facebook and Twitter. 

The 2021 advertising review 

Through the Action Plan for a More Inclusive K-State, Action Step No. 9 focuses on hiring and retaining more faculty and staff of color. Aligned with this action step, Talent Acquisition assessed the effectiveness of the university's advertising efforts in yielding diverse applicant pools. 

When applicants apply at K-State, they are asked to self-identify how they learn about a job opportunity. This information is collected in PageUp, K-State's applicant tracking system. Since this information is self-reported, it is difficult to measure the return of investment for advertising resources. 

Job Elephant is a one-stop source for recruitment advertising and will seamlessly manage much of the behind-the-scenes advertising efforts. Their technology allows automation and tracking of advertising efforts. This will help inform us of where most of our candidates learn about our jobs and how we might increase our diversity advertising efforts.

What can Job Elephant do for my department? 

Job Elephant can manage specific requests from K-State departments for hard-to-fill positions or niche markets. They will create an advertising campaign, which is a recommendation for additional advertising options based on the position being advertised or target market. The department can pick and choose what they would like to do based on the advertising options provided by Job Elephant. There is no fee for Job Elephant to create an advertising campaign. If the department wants to move forward with placing additional advertisements outside of what is offered by HCS, they can work directly with Job Elephant to obtain an advertising quote and place the advertisements. 

Remember, HCS will maintain current advertising subscriptions. These requests are only for additional advertising options beyond what is currently provided through subscriptions. 

What is the cost of Job Elephant? 

Job Elephant has been acquired at no additional cost; however, Job Elephant can collect data on the advertisements on the subscriptions we maintain. The only cost for Job Elephant would be associated with any additional advertising the department selects for hard-to-fill positions or niche markets. Otherwise, there is no cost for Job Elephant to the department and positions will continue to be advertised through K-State's advertising subscriptions. 

Why would I want to pursue additional advertising beyond what is already offered for free? 

Departments may have niche markets or hard-to-fill positions which may require additional advertising efforts. Job Elephant has access to advertising data that will show the greatest return on investment for specific positions and markets. If you want to invest in additional advertising, this targeted approach will be beneficial. 

How do I request a quote for additional advertising? 

If your department is interested in developing a specific advertising campaign through Job Elephant, you can establish an account directly with Job Elephant. To establish an account with Job Elephant, your department is encouraged to reach out to Andy Boom at andy@jobelephant.com or 1-800-311-0563. Job Elephant is based in San Diego, California with office hours of 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. CST Monday through Friday.