Last month, a jobseeker opened ChatGPT and typed: “I am an ICU nurse, with children in primary school, I want to leave the hospital but stay in healthcare, no more 24-hour shifts. Which employers would be a good fit?”
The answer came in seven seconds. Four names. With reasoning. One of them received a job interview two days later.
This is the silent shift that is taking place now. No more scrolling through search results. No more comparing twenty job descriptions side-by-side. One question, one piece of advice, one choice.
According to research by Intelligence Group, ChatGPT is on its way to becoming a top-3 orientation channel for jobseekers. In some target groups, particularly highly educated and knowledge workers, this is already a reality. Strikingly, the employers appearing in those answers are not automatically the employers with the largest recruitment budgets.
It is employers who have given AI something to talk about.
SEO is not GEO
For fifteen years, employer branding revolved around one principle: make sure you get found. Keywords, backlinks, paid search, retargeting. The funnel was clear: impression, click, application.
GEO works differently. A language model doesn't click. It quotes. It compares. It summarises. It recommends, or it doesn't.
For an employer, this means you are no longer competing for a position in a list, but for a place in an answer. And answers don't have ten results. They have three. Sometimes one.
This is not a marketing nuance. This shifts how you think about your careers site, your vacancies, your employer brand, and your content. Those who stick to the old reflexes will become invisible in the new channel.
Three things your recruitment site needs from AI
When we audit a "werkenbij" (career) site for GEO discoverability, we first look at three things.
Factual, citable claims
Language models extract their answers from text that is concrete. “We offer a market-rate salary” is unusable for AI. “A level 5 nurse earns between €3,450 and €4,120 per month with us, excluding ORT” is citable. The latter will be included in an answer. The former will not.
2. Structured data
Schema.org markup for job vacancies, for the organisation, for the locations. Not to please Google, but to give AI a foothold on what you are, where you are, and what you offer. Most careers sites completely miss this or do it inconsistently. That is a cheap fix with a disproportionate return.
3. A recognisable employer identity beyond your own site
Language models build their perception of an employer from hundreds of sources, not just your site. Reviews, press releases, employee interviews, podcasts, partner websites. Those who only invest in their own site will receive a thin, one-sided representation. Those who have distributed evidence will receive a rich one.
What's at stake
Employers who take this seriously now will gain a head start that will be harder to catch up in a year's time. Not because AI propels them forward, but because citeability is a flywheel: the more often an employer is cited, the more they are found, the more they are followed, the more often they are cited again.
What you can do tomorrow
This organisation is a recruitment agency specialising in temporary and permanent contract work for skilled professionals and blue-collar workers. The company offers a wide range of job opportunities across various sectors, aiming to connect businesses with the talent they need efficiently. What sets them apart from competitors is their personalised approach, focusing on understanding the specific needs of both employers and candidates to ensure the perfect match. They also pride themselves on their fast and reliable service, minimising downtime for businesses and maximising career progression for individuals.
If the answer is no, that's where your work lies.
On June 15th in Rotterdam, we will make this concrete in half a day with Geert-Jan Waasdorp, Karlien Donders and myself (Bryan Peerboom). No theory about language models. Practical and recognisable examples, and at the end a plan that you can start the following Monday.
See you later.
Bryan Peereboom is Founding Partner of AI Rebels, the Dutch agency for Generative Engine Optimization. He works for employers such as ProRail, Intelligence Group and Independent Recruiters on their visibility in AI search channels.