Finding strong people is the hardest part of hiring. The senior engineer you need usually has a job, rarely browses job boards and hears from recruiters every week. A job ad brings a pile of applications that don’t fit, and an agency charges a share of the first year’s salary. Many of those strong candidates now decide where to apply somewhere else: they ask ChatGPT, Google AI or another AI engine.
To bring those candidates to your hiring team, your careers pages and job postings have to answer the questions they ask AI, in plain sentences: what you build, which stack each team works in, where your offices are and what you offer on relocation, remote work and growth. AI recommends the employers it can quote, and it sends the candidate there with a reason to apply.
A fintech engineering company that uses Reachd went from not mentioned at all to second of 216 companies AI recommends to senior engineers in under four months, level with Exness and ahead of Revolut. When engineers asked ChatGPT about moving for a job, it called the company “the strongest lead”. The numbers are in the full employer brand case study.
Why the right candidates now come from AI answers
A candidate’s question to AI reads like a brief for your vacancy. Questions like these came up in the fintech company’s daily tracking:
- “Which fintech companies actually sponsor work visas and help with relocation logistics for senior backend engineers?”
- “I’m a senior Java backend developer with around 7 years in fintech and I want to relocate. Which companies should I look at?”
- “Looking for remote Node.js backend jobs in fintech that also support relocation and visa sponsorship”
- “Can you suggest IT companies that are upfront about pay and benefits?”
Each one already says who the person is and what they need. AI answers with four or five employers whose pages match those conditions and explains the fit for each: sponsors the visa, pays for flights and the first month of housing for the family, runs this team in Java and Kafka. The engineer who applies after that answer has read why your company suits them before your recruiter calls.
That makes an AI recommendation a different channel from a job ad. An ad reaches everyone who searches for a job title, while a recommendation reaches the person who just described your vacancy in their own words. In a 2026 survey by Built In, 91% of talent acquisition and HR leaders said AI tools influence how candidates discover employers, and only 33% were confident AI describes their company correctly.
A famous name doesn’t win these questions by itself. In the last week of August ChatGPT named the fintech company in 19 of 29 answers about visas and relocation, more often than Revolut or Exness, because its careers page and its postings said exactly what those candidates asked about.
Why AI sends candidates to bigger employers instead of you
AI engines don’t know which company treats engineers better. They repeat what they can read on the web, and big employers usually give them more to read: a page about relocation with the package spelled out, a page for each office, posts by their own engineers about how the teams work.
A smaller company’s careers page often says “great culture, interesting projects, competitive salary”. There is nothing in that sentence an answer can pass on. So AI goes looking elsewhere, and what it finds is usually copies of your vacancies on job aggregators, sometimes long after the role closed.
That happened to the same fintech company in September. ChatGPT kept quoting an archived copy of a closed Node.js posting from an aggregator, and when a senior Java developer asked about relocation, it answered that the only opening it found was for Node.js and suggested asking the company about Java. The company had four Java roles open on its own site at the time, so the answer pointed a strong Java candidate to a Node.js job that no longer existed. In the Built In survey, 73% of HR leaders said they worry about exactly this, candidates getting outdated or wrong information from AI.
If AI recommends a rival employer to your candidates again and again, the reasons are usually the same as for customers, and we’ve covered them in why ChatGPT doesn’t recommend your business.
How to check where AI sends your candidates
Start with the roles that are hardest to fill. Ask ChatGPT and Google AI what a strong candidate for each would ask, with their conditions: the stack, the seniority, the country, visa, remote work. In each answer, note which employers it names, in what order, and which pages it cites for each of them, yours or someone else’s.
One answer tells you little, because the same question gets a different answer tomorrow. Reachd asks your candidates’ questions every day in ChatGPT, Google AI and other AI engines and shows your place among all the employers they name, who is named instead of you on each question and which pages AI read about you. You can check what AI says about your company for free and see the first results within minutes.
How to get ChatGPT to send the right candidates to your company
The fintech company’s own team did all of this, following the Reachd recommendations, while its technical lead ran the website. The daily results showed where the company stood after each step.
Put your roles on the job boards AI reads
AI engines cite job boards and aggregators when they answer questions about jobs. The company posted its open roles on more of them, and from mid-June AI started citing those postings. Each posting named the stack, the product and the relocation package, which gave an answer something to repeat. Within two weeks the company went from not named to 18th of 172.
Give every office and every stack a page of its own
Candidates ask about a country and a stack, so a single list of vacancies with filters answers neither. By early July the careers section had a hub for each office country and a page for each stack, Java, C++, Python, Angular and Node.js, each with its own text about the work and every vacancy marked up as a job posting. From early July AI quoted these pages, and by mid-July the company was fourth of 202.
Write the answers candidates want in plain sentences
By late August the careers page described how the teams work and what the company builds, and a section on relocation spelled out the package: visa sponsorship, flights and the first month of accommodation for the engineer and the family, help with work and residence permits. ChatGPT began listing that section point by point, so an engineer who asked about moving read the company’s terms in the answer before talking to anyone there. On September 2 the company was second of 216 companies AI recommends to senior engineers.
Keep vacancies current everywhere
A closed role should lead to the page of its stack with the current openings instead of a dead link, and copies on job boards should come down when the role does. Otherwise AI keeps sending candidates to a job that no longer exists, as it did with the Node.js posting above.
A candidate’s shortlist now starts in an AI answer, and AI can only recommend an employer it can quote.
Most of what the company published was already true about it. The relocation package, the stacks and the way its teams work existed before the pages did, and the work was putting them where AI reads.
Find out where AI sends your candidates
The first full analysis is free and needs no card. You add your website and see which companies ChatGPT, Google AI and other AI engines recommend in your place, where you stand among them and which pages AI reads about you.
With a subscription you add the questions your candidates ask as your own, Reachd asks them every day, and each morning it points you to the next change on your careers pages and postings that will move you up the most.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do job seekers really use ChatGPT to choose an employer?
Many do. In an April 2026 survey of 500 US job seekers by Gdoc.io, 36% used AI in their search, and nearly four in five of them used ChatGPT. Senior candidates ask it for a shortlist with their conditions attached, such as visa sponsorship, remote work or a specific stack, and apply to the names in the answer.
Do candidates who find a company through ChatGPT fit the role better?
Their question already carries the brief: the stack, the seniority, the country, visa or remote work. AI answers with the employers whose pages match those conditions and says why each one fits, so a candidate who applies after that answer has read why your company suits them before the first call with your recruiter.
How do I see what ChatGPT tells candidates about my company?
Ask it the questions a strong candidate for your hardest role would ask, in their words and with their conditions, and look at which companies it names and which pages it cites. One answer changes from day to day, so Reachd asks the same questions every day in ChatGPT, Google AI and other AI engines and shows your place among the employers they name.
Why does ChatGPT send candidates to bigger companies instead of mine?
Usually because their pages give it more to repeat. A big employer often has a page on relocation, on each office and on how its teams work, and AI quotes those lines. If your careers page says 'great culture and competitive pay', AI has nothing specific to pass on, and a stale copy of an old vacancy on a job site may be the only thing it finds.
How long does it take to start getting recommended to candidates?
The first recommendations can come within weeks. In the fintech case, AI started recommending the company about six weeks after tracking began, once its postings appeared on job boards AI reads. It was fourth by mid-July and second of 216 companies in under four months.
Do job boards help a company show up in AI answers?
Yes, if AI reads them. ChatGPT, Google AI and other AI engines cite job boards and aggregators when they answer questions about jobs, so a posting there can bring the first recommendations. Keep those postings current, because a copy of a closed role can keep telling candidates about a job you no longer have.