The recruitment advertising glossary, without jargon (and with my figures)

The path of an application, with the word for each step

The words, one by one

CPM (cost per mille). The price of 1,000 views. The platform sets it by auction. My figure: €5.30 in 2026 (17 ads), €5.63 from 2023 to 2025 (26 ads), from €3.16 to €11.79 depending on the ad. The details.

Click-through rate, two definitions. On the link: clicks on the ad's link divided by views. My figure: 0.8% in 2023-2025, i.e. one person in 125. All clicks: link, image, “see more” and profile together. My figure: 1.83% in 2026. These two rates are not comparable, and I cannot yet isolate the first one for 2026.

Cost per click. Spend divided by the number of clicks. €0.71 on the link in 2023-2025; €0.29 in 2026, all clicks combined.

Visit. The moment the page displays after the click. Some clicks are lost along the way: only 70% become a visit (2023-2025).

Application received. A person has submitted the form and it is recorded with me. This is the word I use by default for 2026.

Conversion (counted by Meta). What Facebook's tracker sees: an application submitted from a page where the tracker has been allowed. It is lower than applications received: 378 conversions for 512 applications across my 17 2026 ads.

Lead. The word Meta uses for its conversion. My history from 2023 to 2025 counts leads, not applications received: 1,448 leads, €17.81 per lead.

Cost per application. Ad spend divided by the number of applications. 2026: €9.86 per application received, €13.36 per Meta conversion. 2023-2025: €17.81 per lead. Three numbers, three definitions.

Promising application. An application whose answers closely match what the job requires (a score of 70 or more). The scoring scale is specific to each client: they cannot be compared from one client to another. This is what my simulator counts, not the total number of applications.

Contact rate. The share of applications the employer moves forward: they call, shortlist or accept. It depends on them: from 8% to 60% across three of my clients. See the article.

Instant form (or Facebook form). A form that opens in Facebook or Instagram, without leaving the app. My three ads: from €0.53 to €5.83 per application.

Landing page (or dedicated page). A web page devoted to your job, where the candidate lands after the click. It presents the company and the job, and carries the form with your questions. My 17 ads from 2026: €9.86 per application.

Frequency. The number of times each person reached has seen the ad: views ÷ people reached. Median of my ads from 2023 to 2025: 3.4.

Budget per day. What you allow the platform to spend each day. With me, the minimum is €5 a day: a choice, since Meta accepts less.

Subscription. What pays for my work: €0 with Open door, €95 a month with Plus (€79 on annual billing), €235 a month with Max (€199 on annual billing). Ad delivery is a separate line, paid to the platforms.

Local labour pool. The area where the people likely to come and work for you live. For my estimates, I count the population within 45 minutes' travel of the job's town.

Shortage in a trade. The imbalance between the number of employers who are hiring and the number of available candidates. In my history, a technician's application costs about 1.55 times an operator's (€25.53 versus €16.42, across 13 ads: a clue, not a law).

In short