If your own career site isn’t your top source of hire (but you want it to be), here are five things to consider evaluating that won’t take 25 meetings and an IT department.
We know you have a career website. You might even have found the job you have right now on your company’s career site, which you are now responsible for (yay!). Your IT department has it under control. It’s not a great source of applications for you. You’re going to check on it next quarter. It’s on your to-do list. It’s on the back burner, simmering.
Well, move it on up to the front of the stove and set it on fire. Even with all of the job boards and Google and employer review sites, your career site is likely the first place a potential candidate interacts with your company. And you’re aiming to impress, not depress. Converting candidates is the name of the game, so let’s do some quick housekeeping and spice it up!
ONE: Watch the redirects.
Use a dedicated URL (i.e. not behind your ATS site) for search engine optimization (SEO). Why is this important? Google will not index what lies beneath your site. If you have job postings on your career website (and it’s fine to link there to your application), search engines like Google will find your job postings and index them (for free!) which makes it easier for candidates to find your company’s job openings when they search online.
TWO: Make your jobs easy to find.
Candidates shouldn’t have to scroll to find the “apply now” call-to-action button. This is especially important on mobile, as a button at the bottom means that candidates have to scroll and scroll…why is it at the bottom of your posting? Candidates cannot apply now if they can’t find your “apply now” button. Did you know that you can use more than one button? If your job listings have the CTA at the button now, consider adding a second CTA button to the top, test it for a month and track your career site source of hire metric to see if it made a difference.
THREE: Your language!
Your job postings should have complete and accurate details, salary ranges, a summary, responsibilities and required qualifications. Sometimes we’re too close to the subject matter or we use industry jargon. Unless it’s for a very specific certification, spell out what you mean. Using “you” language, like “you have two to four years of customer service experience, you love to work with people, you can handle multiple tasks at once,” and so on.
FOUR: Showcase your “why.”
What’s so special about working for your company? This is where you can show candidates why they should choose to apply for a role with you instead of your competitor. Promote your perks, such as PTO, flexible hours, end-of-year bonuses, etc., use testimonials like employee videos or quote cards, demonstrate how you support your employees’ needs, wants, and interests. Video is a great tool, from testimonials to quick introductions to a team or department. On average, you can expect a 34% greater candidate application rate when you add video to your job postings.
FIVE: Make it accessible.
If your career site user experience doesn’t take accessibility into account, including things like using alt tags on images and video captions, passing design contrast tests for low-vision, and color blindness, it will limit your pool of applicants and potentially open you up to lawsuits. Don’t believe us? In 2020, more than 2,500 lawsuits were filed in federal court claiming websites were not designed to be accessible to people with disabilities, in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you’re not sure where to start, The Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT) has a great online resource just for employers:
TalentWorks: Accessible eRecruiting for Employers - Peatworks
We know you’re busy (too busy to fix a few mistakes made by the person who had your job before you did), but at Talentcare, we do this career site makeover thing all day long. And we love it. Drop us a line or slide into our DMs.
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