Does your 'jobs' page do the job?!

An effective jobs page should be an attraction:

 - Seven tips that will help you connect with potential employees.

You've shortlisted the candidates that can do the job, and before they come to the interview you'd expect them to check out your website to find out more about you. But there's a website stop before this and the question is...

Does your website encourage the right people to apply in the first place? 

Sure there are lots of candidates out there and it's an employers market, but many organisations are competing in the same talent pool.  And yes, the most sought after employees are often headhunted. But, if you're relying on people to find you, you need to be attractive or they'll move on to the next company (possibly your competitors') site.

I was recently asked to review a 'jobs' page as several recruitment drives had been unsuccessful initially (stars were subsequently found I hasten to add!). What I found was a page was designed to simply fill current vacancies rather than engage potential employees and ambassadors. It was also interesting that when I spoke to staff they felt that the jobs page didn't truly reflect their employee experience, which was better than it'd suggested they'd get.

I recommended to them that they saw their 'jobs' page as a way to sell their organisation rather than just advertise a job and that, as well as a source of information, a good 'career' or 'jobs' page should be a platform for long-term connection and engagement.

So, here are seven suggestions that will help make your jobs page work more effectively in terms of attraction:

1. Make it visually attractive: Having lots of same font text and lists isn't really attractive. People are more likely to click on highlighted texts an engaging image than read through lots of words so use photo's, graphics and video. This is also more diversity friendly.
2. Make the 'jobs' page part of the overall organisational brand or at least have strong links to it such as the colour scheme. But also, be creative: you as an employer may be different to you as a supplier - just because you're a serious player in your field doesn't mean you aren't a fun employer, so make the distinction if there is one.
3. Provide interesting information, as well as the obvious. How about including highlights from your staff survey, case studies, or quotes from your employees? However, don't make it up especially if honesty or integrity is one of your values (see point 7!)
4. It's not just 'what' you say, think about how you say it - Use engaging language that 'talks' to the audience. Use 'we', 'you', 'our' for example, don't be cold and blunt, and remember this isn't the place for too much tech' speak either! 
5. Encourage interaction - for example, ask questions and link to your social media. Also, think about how someone with a disability can interact appropriately such as enabling sound rather than just text.
6. Make it easy to navigate - Job hunting is time consuming so provide easy links and make it easy to go back and forth between pages (but avoid having everything crammed in one place - point 1).
7. Talk about the wider organisation in terms of your values so you attract people who share them: Of course people need to know what the job involves, and what the organisation does but often the biggest disconnect in the employer/employee relationship is around values. (Ooh, now there's an idea for another blog!)

Ultimately the page should:

• Engage potential employees - Remember the strongest potential candidate(s) will want to know why they should work for you!
• Inspire people to stay connected with the organisation for when the right opportunity comes up.
• Be something that your existing employees can refer to as a reminder of why they're with you! 

Want to know what a fab site looks like? Here's my example of max'ing the brand and engaging potential employees: http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/careers 

Get it right* and you'll not just fill vacancies, you'll have people looking out to work for you and employees who are proud to.

(*not on it's own of course!)

Final thought: How do you want people to feel when they look for a job, or more, on your website?!

 

Thanks for reading!

Denise x

For more:

• Contact me using the 'Contact form' above right
• Follow me at: @DamsonHR
• Call direct on: 07887 643807
• LinkedIn: Denise Sanderson-Estcourt, FCIPD