Part 1: What’s the purpose of a careers website today?
Introduction
Your careers website has an increasingly vital role to play in your talent attraction activities. Rather than just an online notice board, it’s a significant factor in how a prospective candidate perceives you as an employer. It’s not just a bit of technology, it is a crucial part of your talent attraction strategy, and it needs time, energy, and effort to make sure it’s working as hard as it can.
Plus, with the hiring landscape changing with the effects of COVID-19, making sure your careers website is geared up and ready for action once hiring levels start to pick up will give you a clear competitive advantage.
With a proven track record of success in creating engaging careers websites that drive conversion, in this short series of blogs, I’m going to share our thoughts on the ‘why what and how’ of creating a careers website that people actually enjoy visiting, one that will enhance your reputation and, importantly, gets you more of the right people applying that you need to grow your business.
So, what’s the purpose of a careers website today? Let’s dive in...
Put your employer brand to work
A key part of its purpose is in communicating your employer brand. It’s of maximum importance that your employer brand is front and centre on your careers website. If you’re not using the site to tell your story, amplify your values and build empathy and engagement with prospective candidates then it’s never going to bring you quality candidates that are an excellent fit for your culture. It’s that simple.
‘Content is king’ may feel like an old cliché, but it remains 100% true. Make sure your careers website isn’t just a page with a list of vacancies bolted on to your consumer website. Instead, make sure it stands alone, dedicated and focused, packed with evidence that supports your values, showcases your culture, and gets candidates excited, engaged, and keen to join you. Know their pain points. Speak their language. Articulate what makes your business the right place for their skills, experience and ambition.
Repel the many, attract the few
Yep, repel the many. The most highly-effective careers website doesn’t bring you thousands of applicants that may tick a few of your boxes, it brings you a small number of applicants that tick all your boxes. They’ll have a firm grasp of your culture and values, be fully aware of some of the harsh realities that come with the role, and what it takes to thrive in the organisation.
Highlighting those harsh realities may make you nervous, but they’re what makes the difference between attracting any candidate and attracting the right candidate. And it’s important to be very honest, because if the harsh realities don’t come to light until a person is hired, then they won’t want to stay with you for long. We call this ‘the give and the get’, and our CEO Bryan Adams has written a whole book about it.
Tell the right stories
Use your careers website to communicate your employer brand as authentically as you can. Especially compelling is having content from those that are already working with you, telling of their experiences, the job they do, why they are part of the team, and what makes them stay. Showcasing your people, locations and culture helps paint a detailed picture for those that you want to attract. Talk about your company culture and values, and demonstrate them.
The persona research that is a necessary part of building a successful employer brand will tell you all you need to know about the wants, needs, pain points and aspirations of your target audience. Create content, for your careers website, that makes use of this research, to show empathy and awareness and to show the candidate what they can expect to give and to get by joining you.
Make a splash
When you make your careers website a dedicated channel of authentic and compelling content about what it’s like to work for you, you’re doing much more than informing those that are actively looking for a job in your business. You’re doing much more than reassuring those people that they are doing the right thing. You actually go much further, by making your business attractive to those that aren’t actively looking to join you. You get onto their radar, and they start to wonder if the grass might be a bit greener than they thought on your side of the fence. And even if you’re not seeking someone with their skills right at that moment, you start building a talent pool.
What’s great about having a talent pool is that you’ve got a ready supply of applicants in your CRM that are already aligned with your values and culture. They’ve learned enough about you from your careers website and its authentic content to know that they want to work with you. So onboarding is a simple process once they finally join you, as they can hit the ground running. And retention is better as they already know what to expect and won’t be surprised by harsh realities. And it’s cheaper to recruit them as they’re already hoping for a call. And it’s quicker. I could go on and on...
Conclusion
So that’s my whistle-stop guide to the purpose of a career website. Download our Careers Brochure and learn more about our CMS platform that can bring your Employer Brand to life.