A career site can be the distinguishing factor that makes potential candidates choose your organization. A must have in the tight labor market we find ourselves in today. In this blog I share the 5 elements that make your career page convincing and converting.
AirBnB, Pinterest, Nike and Spotify. Big brands with one common denominator: access to a careers website. In the current time, where there is a real war for talent, you can no longer do without such a careers website. But what elements should your career website include to convince that candidate to choose your company over your competitor?
Before we answer that question, let’s briefly explain the distinguishing factor of a careers website. The careers website is completely separate from the regular website of a company. While a regular website focuses on drawing attention to the products or services that the company provides, a career website focuses entirely on recruiting new talent. And now the promised elements!
1. Vacancies
The first is a no-brainer, but of course the most important factor within a career site: vacancies The purpose of your careers website is to recruit as many relevant candidates as possible through job applications. You need vacancies for that.
Make sure to write the vacancies in an original way. No crazy job titles! Instead, show the applicant what they are responsible for, and where they will work but most of all how they can make impact. Show more of the bigger picture in your vacancy. For example, Philips has on the careers website: ‘It’s not just about the job, it’s about making a difference.’
2. Make it an experience
Another important function of your career site is to showcase your organization. Try to really capture the experience within your company in text and/or video. Spotify is a good example of this. They really show in pictures and in writing what the organization is all about. They really want you to be part of something cool – Join the band. The url is lifeatspotify.com – making it more than just a job. It answers an important question for potential candidates: what kind of organization they end up in and do they see themselves working there. Do the values of the organization match with the candidate and is there a culture fit?
It’s easy to tell more about your organization, to show the culture and possibilities. For example, have an experienced employee talk in an enthusiastic tone about his or her work within your company. Make fun, spontaneous short films, explain the core values, mission and vision clearly or tell some fun facts about the origin of the company. For example, where does the name come from?
3. Target the right audience
If your company offers a broad spectrum of jobs, it is important to clearly define the right audience for each vacancy. Write your content and vacancy text targeted at the right audience. Advice from Ronnie: Don’t shy away from creating full landing pages for different audiences. This also helps in increasing the SEO score and thus the findability, and gives more room for inspiring content. As a result, you receive many more relevant applicants and you avoid unnecessary digging through numerous candidates.
4. Mobile First Career Site
Make your career site Mobile First! I can’t stress this enough. It means you design your website focused on traffic from mobile devices. Mobile traffic keeps increasing. If your career site is not mobile first, you will notice a high bounce rate! Most applicants still apply on desktop. If you miss your shot at leaving a great impression, the applicant will not come back. Today, more than a quarter of applications come in via mobile and this share will continue to increase sharply in the coming years. A careers website that is not mobile-friendly therefore reduces the chance of applicants.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
I quickly mentioned SEO before but a great way to literally stand out with your career site without paying budget, is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). By applying SEO properly, your careers website will rise on the Google rankings and that is extremely valuable. Because Google is still the number 1 search engine online. You want to be on the first page of Google when applicants search for your jobs. 91% of visitors do not click beyond the first page of search results. Not being on the first page of Google is therefore disastrous. Let SEO be just that tool that guides your careers site to the first page of Google!
For SEO to succeed, you must first do a keyword research. This will result in keywords that are relevant to your target group and on which you would like to rank. With the help of these keywords you will create pages with content in which you keep using the keywords. Do this on landing pages, blogs but of course also your vacancies. You cannot do that keyword research off-the-cuff, you need tools for that. For my keyword research I use NeilPatel. It is a free tool that allows you to perform a limited number of keyword researches per day and helps you discover new keywords.
Your career site is your most important Employer Branding channel!
A careers site is the calling card of the Recruitment and HR department within your organization. So it really contributes to employer branding internally and externally. With these five elements you lay the foundation for the search for up-and-coming talent. Be distinctive, tell great stories and put the experience first. The result: relevant applicants will apply!