A new reflex
Picture this: a 24-year-old software developer is looking for a new job. She used to open Google, type “best tech employers Amsterdam”, and click through ten blue links. Scanning reviews, comparing career pages, checking Glassdoor. An hour later, she had maybe three interesting options.
Now she opens Claude, Perplexity of ChatGPT and asks: “Which tech company in Amsterdam suits me if I value remote work, a strong engineering culture and growth?”
Within seconds, she gets a personal reply. No ten links to dig through, but instant advice.
From search to questions
The traditional candidate journey looked like this:
- Google → “best employers [sector]”
- Click through lists
- Read Glassdoor reviews
- Visit career page
The new, AI-driven journey:
- LLM questions → “Which company suits me as [profile]?”
- Direct response with recommendations
- Piercing for more context
- Perhaps visit another website
The difference? Zero-click orientation. Candidates no longer have to click through. They get the answer immediately.
The figures
LinkedIn's Global Talent Trends report (2024) shows the shift:
- 38% of jobseekers under 30 Uses LLMs such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude to research employers
- 72% Has positive experiences with AI-driven job application processes
- 81% Values AI assistants for 24/7 answering of recruitment questions
And this is just the beginning. Gen Z (now the fastest-growing group in the labour market) sees AI assistants as their primary research tool. Not as a supplement, but as a starting point.
Why candidates trust LLMs
Josh Bersin, HR analyst and thought leader, sums up the core problem:
“Candidates compare stories, not websites.”
Candidates perceive answers from LLMs as more objective than corporate marketing. They know your career page is written by marketing. But an LLM? That one pulls information from hundreds of sources: reviews, news articles, social posts, employee testimonials.
Whether that perception is accurate is another question. But the perception of objectivity is there.
What this means for employers
1. Your career page is no longer your first impression
Increasingly, the first introduction to your employer brand happens in an LLM response, not on your website.
2. Consistency across sources becomes crucial
LLMs synthesise information from multiple sources. If your LinkedIn says something different from Glassdoor, and your website says something different again, the candidate gets a confused picture.
3. “Not mentioned” = “nonexistent”
If an LLM does not mention your organisation when asked “Who are the best employers in [your sector]?”, you simply do not exist for that candidate.
Practical steps
Today: Test the candidate journey yourself. Open ChatGPT, Claude of Perplexity and ask the question: “Which companies in [your sector] are good employers in the Netherlands?”
This week: Document the answers. Are you mentioned? Is the picture correct? Where does the information come from?
This month: Compare the answers with your desired employer brand positioning. Identify the gaps.
Next article
In the next article, we dive into the concrete difference between SEO and GEO - and why your Google strategy does not automatically work for LLMs.
This article is part of a series on GEO and employer branding.
Sources:
- LinkedIn, Global Talent Trends (2024).
- Josh Bersin Company (2024).