Four tips to maximize career site effectiveness

Sometimes the simplest things are the least obvious. Take your career site, for example. How can you ensure that it is engaging candidates effectively and efficiently? Do it by making a few small tweaks that can make a big difference in your recruitment success.

1. Make your search button stand out.

It may seem like a no-brainer, but you can go online and find instances where the search button requires its own search. Let’s face it, 80% of candidates who come to your career site want to search jobs. Sure, other content is important, but make no mistake, the search button is prime real estate. Anchor it at the top. Make it prominent. Candidates will get what they want, and so will you.

2. Make it real.

Add photos with testimonials and/or videos of your actual employees to tell your story. Your people are your best ambassadors because they are relatable and understand your culture. Select a range of employees that show your diversity of age, tenure, ethnicity, job families and employment value propositions. Cover all your bases and candidates from every group will feel included.

3. Review your headline messages for specificity and appeal.

Do your headline themes reflect your company and your culture? Or do you have a generic message that could easily be used by “any” employer. Try to bring the flavor of your organization to your message – something that engages and attracts the top talent that you need to keep your organization humming along.

Put yourself in the shoes of your candidate. What resonates with them will draw them in and enhance your recruitment success. A great way to connect with talent is through the employment branding process, which involves intensive discovery and interaction with your recruitment team.

See our employment branding work for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.

4. Include job family pages that sizzle with “sell.”

Your hard-to-fill jobs are probably the same as your competitors. These coveted candidates are not only interested in your general employer information, but also want to know about their specific area of interest. Is the job family supported by mentoring and training? Are there well-defined career paths, as well as flexibility to move into other disciplines? Testimonials and videos on these job family pages are especially effective.

The other advantage of job family pages is that you now have a valid destination for marketing purposes. You can send candidates directly to relevant information, whether by forwarding a link or by using a targeted, paid promotion through Facebook or Google. Remember, Google rewards you for relevant content, and job family pages are directly relevant to a specific candidate pool.

Here’s a case study for a site we created for Value City Furniture, with job family pages, videos, testimonials and more.

Make 2018 the year your career site works for you as a candidate attractor.

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