An effective career site can be much more valuable than a basic job listing. It can and should be a living, breathing extension of your company’s personality and employment brand.
Before your prospective candidates decide to hit "Apply", they need to be engaged with a vision of what it’s like to work at your organization. This includes the type of people they’ll be working with, the environment they’ll be working in, and the goals they’ll be working toward. It’s your career site’s job to paint that picture. At Recruiting.com, our years of experience have taught us that there is a certain recipe of components that make a career site truly successful.
When candidates first visit your career site, they should have a clear understanding of your brand message. In return, the right candidates will become excited to work for and represent your brand. To translate your employment brand into your career site, consider the following:
Ask your current employees what they value about the workplace. Then, communicate that to your prospective candidates as a compelling pitch—or unique employee value proposition. Whether you use copy or video, try to focus on the intrinsic factors your employees enjoy. This will help your company connect with the right candidates on a deeper level. Don't forget to include strong call-to-actions within pages of your career site to make it easy for prospects to take the next step from there: applying. It’s never too late to start building your employment brand. Start honing your efforts and create a brand your ideal candidates are drawn to.
Today’s internet user is constantly inundated by highly visual elements. As a result, our attention is now geared toward components that are aesthetically pleasing. If you want to transform visitors into potential employees, include strong visual elements on your career site that engage prospects to learn more. These include vibrant photos and employment videos. Showcase your workspace, your employees interacting, or your company's surrounding area if you're recruiting nationwide. Anything that will catch candidate’s interest and compel them to keep learning.
An effective career site must have a clear area for available job positions. Categorizing jobs by department or location is a smart way to help candidates quickly find the positions they’re looking for. Plus, you can use the separate space to detail what each role involves. This helps candidates better identify whether they are a fit for the open position. It’s also important that your prospective candidates get excited when reading about your positions. Think of your job ads as a marketing tool. Sell your company, your team and the opportunity to be apart of it.
Every facet of your career site should provide a positive candidate experience, including the application process. If candidates have to fill out several pages of information before they even get to apply, then you’ll lose them before they even submit a resume. An effective career site should have a seamless way for candidates apply with minimal barriers to application and time required, as well as easy search tools and clean navigation.
Because most job seekers begin their search on sites like Google and Bing, an effective career site should have a clear strategy when it comes to SEO. Including custom URLs, custom page titles and keyword-rich content into your job postings and career site pages can increase your search engine rankings—improving your visibility for online job seekers.
Today’s world is more socially connected than ever before. Make it easy for candidates to subscribe to your social channels by integrating them into your career site. Include links to your Facebook page, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn Company page, and more. Doing so will help potential candidates stay in touch with your latest opportunities and company news.
The number of job seekers who search for opportunities from their smartphones and tablets continues to rise with each passing year. In fact, our data shows that more than a third of career site visitors come from mobile devices—an increase of 54 percent from the previous year. If you want more applicants, your career site must be optimized for mobile. Capture candidates who are searching while on-the-go by making site navigation and job ads easy to browse on a tiny screen.
When an interested job seeker visits your career site, they may not always find the position they’re looking for. If that’s the case, he or she may decide to leave without ever handing over any information. Don’t miss the opportunity to obtain an interested prospect’s details. Provide a Talent Community widget that allows candidates to send you their resume without actually applying for a position. This will let them raise their hand in interest, and you get to strengthen your talent community.
A corporate career site can be your organization’s best vehicle for attracting the right candidates. When built successfully, your career site will clearly highlight the essence of your company and the type of people who excel there. These details can help boost the yield and quality of your direct hires, which will ultimately strengthen the success of your business. Start attracting and driving the right candidates to your open positions by incorporating these elements into your career site today.
