Are you one of those companies that say that it’s your people that make your business? Are you determined to beat your competitors when it comes to attracting top talent? Then you need to make sure you have a great career site that demonstrates that your business is indeed the best place to be.
In today’s recruitment world, the landscape has changed dramatically from a few years ago. Your business, like any other with a website, has the option and ability to use the internet to target and attract the best candidates for your business – from all over the world. With access to a talent pool as large as that, it’s no surprise that many employers are putting serious time and effort into building a great career site that candidates love. And you can do the same!
But what are the elements that make up a great career site for attracting top talent and then converting them into interested applicants? What are they really looking for in your company? Let’s find out…
The first thing potential candidates look for is a company careers site that stands out from the crowd. But not just that, they also look for a careers site that makes it easy to navigate and apply for the open jobs. A great career site must be optimized to help candidates apply quickly as easily. It needs to incorporate your employer brand and be representative of your company’s people culture to truly reflect your organization and what it’s all about.
This doesn’t just mean that the visual aspects need to be in harmony with your brand. All elements need to be carefully branded, from the tone and style to telling any visitors your company story and what type of person you’re looking to hire. If you pay attention to branding and take the time to customize a careers site that engages and informs potential candidates, you will find that your visitors and prospects are more likely to apply.
This is practically an extension of your branding efforts. There are a few things that many businesses overlook and that you can do to make a great career site. And it’s all to do with making a compelling case for why anyone would want to work for you. Provide your visitors with the content that highlights why your company is a great match to what they might be looking for. Mention why your environment is a great place to work. Not only will this keep great quality applications flowing, it would also help in really setting yourself apart from the rest.
A short video introducing your company, testimonials and blurbs from existing staff members, clearly portraying the perks and benefits of working for you, infographics, blog posts, and many other forms of content can all help display why your business is awesome and the place to be.
If all this seems overwhelming and something that may require a lot of time and effort, you can certainly evolve your site into a great career site over time. Having a good and effective applicant tracking system in place will further make sure that you are able to easily maintain your great career site over time.
The secret to any great website or web page is easy navigation. The last thing you want to do is confuse potential candidates to the point they get frustrated and jump ship to apply at one of your competitors. So whatever you do, keep it simple! Asking visitors to create online accounts on your career site and then login to apply will surely send away many potential candidates.
Clearly list the vacancies you have and the skills you’re looking for to fill the role. Categorize these by function as appropriate. Make sure you have separate areas for different types of applicants (graduates versus apprentices, for example). And above all, make sure you clearly list how to apply and have a straightforward application process.
All too often businesses make employees jump through hoops just to apply for a job, and often this is to their own detriment. Yes, you may want to get all the information you can from a candidate to help you make a hiring decision, but you can also do this later after they’ve actually submitted an application.
Complicated or convoluted application processes are likely to put potential candidates off. It’s frustrating when you have to spend an hour just to apply for a job, and understandably, most candidates won’t bother if it looks like too much effort.
A great career site will let candidates apply in just a few steps with their resume or a social profile and a bit of basic background info (a cover letter can suffice). It’s also wise to welcome speculative and general applications. You never know who may be on your careers site, and although you may not have the right position for them right now, letting interested visitors apply or sign up for notifications could mean adding superstars to your growing talent pool. With the right recruitment CRM in place, you can easily reach out to your talent pool at any time.
Follow those steps and you should be well on your way to making a great career site. However, there are many other clever tricks and tips that can help you attract the very best candidates. Let us know (contact us) if you have any questions or if you would like to learn more about building a great career site or improving what you already have. Our team will be happy to review your site and make recommendations.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash