Your career website is your company’s window into its culture and work environment. Are you using this powerful recruitment tool to make a striking first impression? In today’s hyper competitive talent market, it’s critical to have a career website that is fresh, dynamic, engaging and tells prospective employees why this is a great place to work.
If your website is not putting its best foot forward, job seekers will look to competitors who may have more detailed information, better creative presentation or more powerful employee testimonials.
In a SHRA article on recruitment marketing, John Cotton, Recruitment Technology and User Experience Strategist at CH2M, a global engineering firm based in the Denver area, said his team has been working to deliver an exceptional candidate experience at every stage of the recruitment process.
One of the major initiatives: Launching an updated, mobile-friendly and responsive website. “The site integrated content between what have typically been separate channels — corporate marketing and recruitment marketing, featuring employee stories and videos, project information, careers pages and key business sectors — all in a cohesive experience,” Cotton said.
These five tips will help your career website work for you:
- Bring your company culture to life through employee testimonials. Use real people telling real stories about why they love working at your company. Keep in mind that research shows that 66% of candidates believe employee testimonials are the best way to get insight into a company.
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Harness the power of video. Job posts receive 36% more applications when accompanied by a recruitment video.
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Write winning job descriptions that highlight the benefits and rewards of working for your company. Focus on how the position is likely to benefit the candidate and include links to additional content.
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Optimize for mobile. Today’s tech-savvy, mobile generation will have little patience if your site is not mobile friendly.
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Be applicant-friendly. Make sure it’s easy to apply. Simplify the process. Do away with complicated log-in. Try it out yourself: How long did it take? How easy was the process? Did you get a personal reply?
Your company’s culture and brand image should come to life on the pages of your career website. When 83% of global recruiting leaders say employer branding is critical in their ability to hire top talent, take heed. The website should get prospects’ attention AND be technically and creatively configured to convert them to job applicants.
A great career website will lower recruitment costs and increase the quality and quantity of applicants. Start today — even a few small steps will give you a competitive recruiting advantage.