⬆️ Candidate conversions - Cost-Per-Hire ads‼️

Dalia

Why I like it

HR Tech Find: Dalia — What If You Only Paid When You Actually Made a Hire?

I've known Sam Fitzroy, Jason Whitman (Co-Founders), and Dianne Melchionne (Chief Growth Officer) since our days together at Indeed. Not to age me but in the two thousand tens as my 9 year old would say. They were then and are still amazing peeps who genuinely care about this industry and, more importantly, the candidates we're all supposed to be serving.

I've followed Dalia closely since Sam launched the company, and one thing has remained consistent: They keep finding new ways to help employers convert job seeker traffic into actual hires.

First, it was retargeting career site visitors.

Then came assessments, their own apply process, and job match notifications with higher click-through rates.

And now?

Cost Per Hire Advertising.

This one deserves some attention.

Let's Talk About What's Broken in Recruitment Advertising.

I've believed for years that the traditional Cost-Per-Click (CPC) advertising model is fundamentally broken.You buy a click from Indeed. But Indeed controls the auction that determines what you pay for that click. And over time, we've all watched what happens when the cost per click increases. Your recruitment advertising budget goes up. Your ROI goes down.

And you're still paying for clicks, not hires. Indeed certainly dominates hiring in some categories. That's undeniable. But employers are increasingly dealing with rising minimum budgets, higher CPCs, and reduced organic visibility.At some point, the economics simply stop making sense.

And here's another problem that's only getting worse.

Candidate Fraud.

During my last six months at Greenhouse, approximately 12% of resumes were showing signals of potential fraud.

Think about that.

How many clicks did you buy from Indeed last year?

And how many of those clicks resulted in spam applications, questionable resumes, or candidates who were never legitimate prospects? 5%? 10%? 12%?

Gartner has projected that by 2028, one in four candidate profiles could be fake.

Yet employers are still paying for the clicks and receiving fraudulent applications.

We're measuring and paying for activity when we should be paying for outcomes.

Back to Dalia.

What I've always appreciated about Dalia is its focus on improving candidate conversion while making the application experience better.

They've built solutions that help employers capture and convert traffic already visiting their career sites.

They've also addressed a frustrating problem for employers whose ATS integrations leave Indeed Quick Apply candidates stranded in Indeed or buried in an inbox.

And they've continued expanding their product suite:

Reach | Connect | Apply | Convert | CareerSite | Hiring Events

Last year, Dalia launched its own ATS apply offering.

A universal, brandable application experience designed to make applying easier for candidates.

I heard about Apply last fall, but I was still at Greenhouse, where MyGreenhouse was becoming increasingly powerful for candidates, so I didn't get the opportunity to dig into it as deeply as I wanted.

What continues to stand out to me about Dalia is its candidate-first philosophy.

When you make the candidate experience better, you make recruiting more effective for employers.

That's a philosophy I can get behind.

Now Here's What Really Caught My Attention.

Dalia's newest offering, Dalia Reach, takes a different approach to recruitment advertising.

Instead of paying for clicks, employers pay when they make a hire.

Read that again.

You pay when you make the hire.

Not when someone clicks.

Not when someone starts an application.

Not when someone submits a resume.

When you actually hire someone.

Dalia Reach helps attract and qualify talent across major job categories, including:

• Healthcare

• Skilled Trades

• Transportation & Logistics

• Food Service

• Retail

And results are tracked directly in your ATS.

My Take?

If you're hiring in any of these categories, I think it's absolutely worth having a conversation with the Dalia team.

I've watched this company evolve for years, and I appreciate how consistently they've focused on solving real problems for employers while improving the experience for candidates.

And I particularly like where they're headed. Stop paying for clicks. Start paying for hires.

Because at the end of the day, isn't that what recruitment advertising is supposed to deliver?