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Hiring or being hired, is a two way street. Candidates are interviewing you just as equally as you are interviewing them and there's a subtle dance between both you and your potential candidate to learn as much information as possible before either of you sign on the dotted line. For candidates, your career page is the starting point of that journey, where they learn about your company, your offering and whether they're the right fit. The way you design, write and curate your careers page could improve your chances of finding the right candidates.
If you understand the goals, needs and motivations of who you want to hire, and curate your careers page to that information, you should be able to filter out candidates who don't align with your company's mission. Any information that may motivate the right candidates to apply is worth sharing. When done right, a company's career page should leave potential candidates with a sense of how their values, qualifications and culture aligns with your workplace.
Candidates who apply should already have baseline knowledge of your company and your industry, allowing you to ask more in-depth questions earlier in the hiring process. By screening candidates and only engaging with serious applicants who understand the company vision, goals and culture, the qualified applicant pool decreases your overhead costs and resourcing.
A good careers page provides another avenue to highlight your workplace and the wonderful qualities and attributes about it. You can easily tell your story, show your company's genuine nature and offer job seekers an inside scoop on who you are, what makes you tick, how you operate and why you love what you do!
Job hunters are notoriously time poor and are interested in fast, efficient and practical information about a company. Be clear, concise and straightforward with who you are, what you are looking for in a hire and what specific roles are available. This will help potential candidates locate information quickly which will allow them to quickly evaluate if your company or role is right for them.
Help job seekers to easily find information and answers by making your careers section easy to find. You risk losing good candidates if your page is hidden deep in your website.
Aim to facilitate finding information efficiently by curating different job hunting conversations to different pages. Examples include splitting the information between: Careers, Working with us, Our people, Hiring process and Current opportunities. These sections allow your company to define their value offering at each stage of the hiring process and delve deep into who they are and what kind of people they are searching for. Each page should also directly link to "Current opportunities" in order to assist job seekers find an open opportunity easily.
Champion who you are, what you stand for and why your workplace is an attractive place to work. An impactful careers site includes company culture, an employee value proposition and a strong employer brand. This opens the conversation to potential candidates to learn more about the company and allows them to envisage themselves working there.
Furthermore storytelling can breathe life into the site, it can spark a connection and create an emotional bond. Take your potential employees on a journey, foster an emotional connection and drive them to connect.
The biggest endorsement for potential candidates is word of mouth recommendations. What do your current employees like about the company and what kind of traits do they think thrive there?
Showcase these with testimonials and clearly display them on the page in video or text format.
Employee stories and testimonials are an easy way to showcase company culture. By putting a face and name to the brand, it helps candidates envisage themselves in the company, while building trust and transparency.
Don't reinvent the wheel and use creative terms for job titles, save the creativity for the description and make sure the job title is easily searchable and familiar to the user.
Candidates search job titles and keywords on websites such as LinkedIn, Seek and Indeed to find vacancies. By using relevant keywords and optimised SEO URLs, your careers page is more likely to rank higher on google or on job sites.
If your application process is hundreds of pages long, or it is difficult to find the submit button, candidates will more than likely close your application and simply move on to the next. Don't make candidates jump through too many hurdles to submit their application.
Photos, videos and interactive content help capture company culture and increase engagement as it offers candidates a glimpse into the workplace and its culture. However, make sure to avoid slow loading graphics or videos as users may feel frustrated if your page isn't quickly accessible.
A lot of people are searching for new employment opportunities while on their way to and from work, on their lunch break and at night in bed. Make it easy for them to find and engage with your content by designing it for convenience. As an added bonus this should also reduce page bounce rates.
Use short and punchy copy. This helps candidates stay continually engaged without creating an information overload. Create responsive pages for various screen sizes as prospective candidates may view the site across multiple devices.
Features such as responsive navigation and the "back" and "next" buttons allows site visitors to easily navigate through the site, no matter what device they are using. The use of a single conversation or topic per page (as explained above) helps users avoid information overload and scroll fatigue.
When your careers page aligns with the rest of your digital offering, it shows that your company is considered, consistent and curated. Using your careers section as the icing on the cake is a great opportunity to increase your brand awareness, communicate your company values and promote your best side to the very best talent.
It also helps if your site is accessible for anyone who lands on your page, you can read more about website accessibility here!
Ultimately, by focusing on your company's most genuine self, telling your story and slowly building trust, you will naturally attract the attention of like minded individuals who want to grow and develop with your company.
Be proud of who you are and the environment that you have created. Champion existing work ethic and culture, and channel the energy that's filled into your digital assets to help round out the hiring process.
To learn more about how Switch can help your organisation with UX led strategy and design, simply book a consultation with us today!
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