A Step-by-Step Guide on How Newcross Revolutionized Their Approach to Recruitment with Wonderkind

We have absolutely vowed you with the success story of Newcross - thanks to Wonderkind’s technology, they saved 95% of their time and increased applicant inflow by 35%, all while reducing their CPA by 50%. A lot of companies have been asking the same question “But how exactly have they done it?” or “How do I repeat the success of Newcross?”

Hereby, we share the exact steps with tips you can follow that are the same steps Newcross went through to achieve such impressive results.

1. Introduction

Background & Objective:
Before diving into the process, it is essential to understand what was the starting point for Newcross Healthcare. The company turned to us, aiming to reduce reliance on increasingly expensive job boards by exploring next-generation recruitment channels, particularly social media. Initial in-house efforts were not ideal due to:

• Misalignment between ads served and the intended audience.
• Negative brand sentiment from poorly executed campaigns.
• A time-consuming, unscalable process.

To address these challenges, they partnered with Wonderkind for a data-driven, scalable solution to diversify their recruitment strategy.

2. Struggles & Challenges

Newcross faced several interwoven challenges as they sought to optimize their recruitment strategies in an increasingly competitive hiring market.

Key Questions Driving the Need for Change

• How to implement a successful job ad campaign with optimal pixel integration?
  Accurate tracking and optimization of job ad performance were hindered by inconsistent or suboptimal pixel integration. This limitation made it challenging to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and refine them based on real-time insights.
• How to target the right audience effectively without over-reliance on job boards?
  While job boards had been a reliable source of candidates, the rising costs and broad reach often led to mismatched audiences, leaving Newcross struggling to attract the right talent. This mismatch added strain to their recruitment efforts, lowering efficiency and increasing time-to-hire.
• How to create a scalable recruitment strategy that balances cost and performance?
  As Newcross expanded its hiring initiatives, they faced increasing difficulty in scaling their recruitment campaigns. A reliance on manual processes meant more time spent on execution, leaving less room for strategic focus. They needed a solution that could handle growth without inflating costs or compromising quality.

The Challenge of Rising Job Board Costs

One of the most pressing challenges was the rising cost of job boards. With job boards increasing their prices, the cost-per-hire surged, placing strain on Newcross’s recruitment budget. This, in turn, affected their recruitment ROI, making it increasingly difficult to justify heavy reliance on these platforms.

To maintain sustainable recruitment efforts, Newcross realized they needed to find a cost-effective alternative that could help them target the right audience while maintaining a competitive edge.

3. How Newcross Overcame These Challenges with Wonderkind

Step 1: Connecting Job Inventory in One Click

Of course, your AI recruitment marketing revolution has to start somewhere. This starting point is always connecting your job inventory with Wonderkind so we can align openings with high-potential audiences.. Currently, we have standardized two XML formats: Standard one inspired by Indeed and Advanced one if you want to add pictures and geo-targeting.

This is where you can import your job listings:

How:

1. Name your data source (Tip: For naming convention, we advise you to make it simple. If it contains all your jobs, call it All Jobs or All company name Jobs.
2. Choose your XML format. Choose Standard XML for the Indeed-inspired format. Choose Advanced if you have images in your source and want to use the geo-location functionality. 
3. Share the link to your XML Job Feed
4. Select the frequency of your data sync (In this case, Newcross wanted to run the Wonderkind Dynamic Ads, so we advise you to update Daily for a more optimal result)
5. Click on Create, and your data source will be read.

Step 2: Choosing Images that Attract Top Candidates

How: When PreferProvidedImages is enabled and the XML feed includes images, those images will automatically be used in your campaigns. If there are no images in the XML feed, images from the library will be used instead:

Achieve The Best Results with Overlay Ads

Even Newcross has not yet implemented our newest feature, which has already been proven to drive even more engagement. Introducing to you Overlay Ads - the most effective job ads that showcase the most important details like job title, location and salary at a single glance. 

How? 

1. In the menu on the left, look for an icon with an image - this is where you assets are saved
2. Scroll down until you find “Overlay Ads”
3. Click on Actions → Create New
4. Customize your overlay according to your brand identity
5. Click “Save”
6. You will now be able to use it when you run a campaign

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Step 3: Filtering & Targeting

Whether you're targeting specific job titles, locations, or other criteria like company and budget, these filters help you streamline your recruitment process and focus only on the most relevant candidates.

Advantages of Job Filters

• Opportunity to automate commercial flows.
• Reducing time spent on ordering data sources as preparation for your campaigns.
• User-friendly way to refine your feed and further analyse your job data.
• Will allow you to push 1 job via a single campaign flow.

Requirements for Applying Job Filters

• In order to apply filters to a desired field, it should contain input coming from your data source.

E.g. you cannot filter on the ‘budget’ field if there is no information about the budget in your data source.

How:

• Select Criteria: Choose filters based on job title, location, category, and more.
• Automate and Save Time: Use these filters to automate the creation of targeted job lists, saving precious time and resources.

Step 4: Pixel Implementation

Newcross has made significant progress in optimizing their recruitment advertising by improving how they track and leverage conversion signals. However, like many companies, their journey has evolved through three key stages of tracking technology—each providing more accurate data and better optimization capabilities.

1. Browser-Based Tracking (Pixels & Cookies) – The Starting Point

Initially, Newcross relied on standard browser-based tracking using pixels and cookies. This method allowed them to:

• Track Click-to-Apply conversions (when a candidate completes an application).
• Optimize their campaigns based on who applies rather than just who clicks.
• Gain basic insights into ad performance.

While this was a major step forward, browser tracking comes with limitations:

• Data loss due to cookie restrictions (especially with iOS & privacy changes).
• Tracking gaps when candidates switch devices or browsers.
• Limited visibility beyond the application page—no insight into who progresses to interviews or hires.

2. Server-to-Server Tracking – Closing the Data Gaps

To address these limitations, Newcross is moving towards server-to-server tracking. This ensures:

• More accurate data collection (no reliance on browser cookies).
• Consistent tracking across devices and browsers.
• Stronger attribution, ensuring ad platforms receive the right signals to optimize campaigns.

This shift is crucial because it eliminates data discrepancies and ensures that all candidate interactions—from job ad click to completed application—are tracked without being blocked by browser settings.

3. Conversion API (CAPI) – The Next Evolution

The next step for Newcross is leveraging Conversion API (CAPI), which takes server-to-server tracking even further by:

• Sending real-time conversion signals directly from their systems to platforms like Meta and Google.
• Allowing them to optimize based on deeper hiring signals—such as interview completions, job offers, and actual hires.
• Enabling AI-powered ad platforms to target candidates most likely to complete the hiring process, not just apply.

Currently, Newcross is still optimizing based on career page activity and Click-to-Apply via Server-to-Server tracking which is already more accurate than via Browser-based tracking. With Conversion API integration, they will move towards optimizing for actual hires—ensuring recruitment campaigns are driven by real hiring outcomes rather than just application volume.

This step-by-step evolution from browser tracking → server-to-server tracking → Conversion API is what allows companies to move from guessing to precision hiring at scale.

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Step 5: Optimize Campaigns that Convert

Wonderkind isn’t just about setting and forgetting. It’s about continuously improving. By diving deep into the analytics provided, you can see which aspects of your campaigns are hitting the mark and which need tweaking.

• Key Metrics: Track clicks, impressions, conversion rates, and more.
• Adjust in Real-Time: Use real-time data to make immediate improvements to your campaigns.

Newcross grouped job ads into clusters, prioritizing campaigns with the highest ROI potential.

4. Results of the Proof of Concept (PoC)

• Initial Struggles During PoC:
  
  • Measuring effectiveness: switched focus from CPA to Cost Per Start Apply.
  • Optimization challenges due to dependency on job board metrics.
• Optimized Process Implementation:
  
  • Server-to-server pixel implementation reduced data discrepancies by X%.
  • Clear campaign objectives and job cluster prioritization improved scalability.
• Key Outcome:
  
  • Reduced Dependency on Job Boards:
    
    • Achieved significant cost savings by shifting spend to social media channels.
    • Diversified recruitment mix to mitigate rising job board costs.
• Impact:
  
  • Performance improved by X%, with a scalable process in place.
  • Dependency on job boards reduced by X%, minimizing the impact of price hikes.

5. Next Steps

1. Lead Form Implementation:
   
   • Simplified candidate detail capture to lower CPA further.
   • Enabled a seamless application process for candidates.
2. Continued Channel Diversification:
   
   • Expand social media efforts to further reduce reliance on job boards.
   • Optimize campaigns for ongoing cost and performance improvements

6. Conclusion: Your Roadmap to Recruitment Success

Newcross Healthcare’s journey with Wonderkind proves that recruitment success is achievable with the right strategy and tools. By following the exact steps outlined in this case study, you can replicate their impressive results: saving time, increasing applicant inflow, and reducing costs.