It’s coming: The onslaught of buffalo chicken dips, foam fingers bigger than most people’s heads, shushing of those talking during the game, shushing of those talking during the commercials, vintage jersey envy, and a whole lot of whooping, shouting, and possibly even “pulling a Tebow” (hey, things can get emotional–I’m not judging).

Of course, I’m talking about this year’s Big Game, happening on February 5. As you may know, CareerBuilder is among those businesses participating in the game’s commercials this year–2012 marks our eighth year of participating–but what you might not know is how this decision is directly related to our commitment to giving our employers better candidates (and more of them). Here’s a little more information about how our investment in the biggest football game of the year turns into real results not just for us, but also for our customers, who are seeking the best people with the right skills in a still-tough economy.

Benefits Of The Big Game and What They Mean for Employers:

TRAFFIC. CareerBuilder’s traffic grew 43 percent year-over-year during the month of the Super Bowl when we first debuted as a Super Bowl advertiser. CareerBuilder has seen continued gains and, in 2011, we had an 18 percent year-over-year increase in traffic in the month of the Super Bowl.

What this means for employers: Increased traffic on CareerBuilder’s site equates to more job seekers looking for jobs–and more of them finding your open position/s. We are constantly looking for ways to make it easier for candidates most closely matched to your position’s requirements to find you, and an extra flow of traffic means more eyeballs on your jobs. You can take further advantage of this opportunity by making sure your job description appeals to job seekers and answers their questions, and by doing things to strengthen your employment brand and help job seekers get to know your company. And of course, more traffic leads to more applications, which leads me to my next point…

APPLICATIONS. Over the last seven years, on average, CareerBuilder saw a 24 percent year-over-year increase in applications to our employers’ jobs in the month of the Super Bowl.

What this means for employers: More applications means, of course, more people applying to your jobs. More than that, though, with CareerBuilder’s many solutions that help employers filter out unqualified candidates so they can focus on only the best-matched ones, the time needed to find the right candidates is cut down considerably with an even larger pool of people vying for your open position and a myriad of options for zoning in on the talent you want.

As Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder, says, “We have invested in the Super Bowl for eight consecutive years because we consistently see a positive return in regard to revenue, traffic, applications and brand awareness. No other venue enables you to reach an audience this large that is actively engaged in watching your ad.”

REVENUE. Over the last seven years, on average, CareerBuilder’s invoicing increased 36 percent year-over-year in the month following the Super Bowl. This consistently outpaced year-over-year growth in other months.

What this means for employers: Sure, who doesn’t love revenue? But increased invoicing means increased productivity internally — and also gives us as a company new opportunities to invest in our employers with even more solutions that address recruitment challenges from social media, to talent pipelining, to the current skills gap. It also helps us fund initiatives like CareerBuilder’s internal Hackday initiative (in which employees can dedicate a full day to creating any new business idea they like) and CareerBuilder’s Re-Employment Initiative, in which we recently recruited ten unemployed job seekers for an intensive, six-month IT training program.

BRAND AWARENESS. Per a Millward Brown awareness tracking study, CareerBuilder’s unaided awareness grew 29 percent from 2004 to 2011. Total awareness of CareerBuilder’s TV ads doubled in the week following our first appearance at the Super Bowl.

What this means for employers: Awareness leads to more traffic, which leads to more applications, but as we’ve talked about at length on The Hiring Site, brand awareness is key in reaching candidates you’re currently missing out on. It’s key for your business, and it’s key for ours — and by building more brand awareness, we’ve been able to gain the attention of a much larger pool of candidates and employers — and help them connect.

Which makes us want to come to work each day.

Oh, About That Commercial…
You didn’t think I’d leave you hanging without a sneak peek of CareerBuilder’s lovable chimps, did you? Below, enjoy a look at this year’s contender: