And Best Practices for Making a Good One
Good help is hard to find. Especially in today’s market where the unemployment rate is at a low 3.9%.
In fact, according to a recent survey, CEOs cite their biggest concern for 2018 as talent acquisition and retention. So, what’s the best way to ensure that your business finds and recruits the right people?
A career-focused website for your business.
Company career sites or microsites are the most valuable resource candidates use when looking into applying for a position at a company according to a research report, which means your career site needs to be the best it can be.
And if you don’t have a careers site, you should develop one or risk losing talent to competitors who are better able to demonstrate their value to potential employees.
In other words, a few social media posts or a link to a job board is not going to cut it anymore.
If you’re losing potential employees to competitors, it could be because you are not doing a good job showing candidates compelling reasons that your company is a great place to work. Candidates are thinking, “What’s in it for me if I work here?” You need to have a good answer.
You also need to tell the story of your brand and culture in a way that make people want to be a part of it. Videos, such as the ones our partner Digital Brew produced for SaddleCreek Logistics, can be a powerful and engaging way to tell that story.
Here are some other best practices for your career site:
- Make it responsive, which means people can easily access it on mobile, tablet, laptop or desktop. More people now search the web on mobile devices than on desktop computers, so your user experience must be optimized for mobile visitors. This is even more important when trying to recruit millennials.
- If you have a number of job postings, make it super easy to sort through and find jobs of interest – by department, location, job level or other criteria.
- Streamline the application process to make it easy for applicants to apply. Some companies allow candidates to populate their applications via Linkedin so they don’t have to retype all of their information. Also, be sure to allow for attachments so you can accept resumes.
- If you are pulling in a third-party job listing service, design the interface to match your brand and the look and feel of your website for a seamless experience.
- Include a culture section that describes the feel of your workplace. Include photos, employee testimonials, videos, etc. to bring your culture to life for candidates. You may also want to include information on how employees give back through volunteer activities and good causes your company supports.
- Consider creating specific sections of your site specifically targeted for hard to hire or high-level positions (hospitals, for example, may want to have a section specifically for physicians).
- Include benefit information and be sure to highlight any benefits that may set your company apart from competitors. (Unlimited vacation! Free gym membership! A new car!)
Need help developing a career site that helps you hire the best people? We can help. Let’s Talk.
Diane Callihan
With more than 20 years of experience writing for some of the country’s top brands, Diane helped to shape Roger West’s content strategy, lead generation, and PR efforts as Director of Marketing. She currently serves as President of Callihan Content Creation.