When you're recruiting employees via job boards, ads or social media, all roads lead to your careers page on your website. Your careers page is the ultimate place to not only display your job openings but also to showcase your company culture and capture the interest of the best candidates.
What Elements Should a Careers Web Page Include?
First, keep in mind the user experience of the website page and any online application process. Remember, it's a reflection of your company. All functionality, messaging and design should be high-quality. An online application process may seem like a good idea, but if the end product is difficult to use, you risk losing top talent due to a poor online experience.
Next, elements to consider for your careers page should include:
- An attention-grabbing employee value proposition and supporting messaging; what differentiates your company from others?
- Engaging videos, pictures and graphics that show your company culture
- Job postings, descriptions and requirements
- Employee testimonials
- Benefits
- Mission statement and company values
- Online application process
- Calls-to-action (CTAs) to lead the user to apply for a job or get more information
Speak the Recruit’s Language
How would you describe your workplace to someone? Would you say it's fast-paced, a team environment, flexible or more structured? Is it a casual atmosphere or more professional?
Testimonials are a great way to support this picture of the workplace. Ask employees if they’re willing to share their experience working for the company to add proof to the page. If an employee working there tells a job seeker that it’s a great place to work, the job seeker is more likely to believe that real-life person’s testimonial over your polished company motto.
Final tip: Make the web page content skimmable with bullet points and headers. Online readers typically skim the page first, reading the headings and any other visual elements that grab their attention.
👉Related Read: How to Show What It's Like to Work at a Company
Optimize (for Users and Search Engines)
As with any webpage, it’s important to optimize your company’s career page regularly. For search engines, this means including keywords that candidates are using for their job search. Include them in the page copy, headers, meta descriptions, image alt tags and the page title itself.
From a user standpoint, this means getting in the mindset of your ideal candidate. What’s going to sound good to them? What words do they need to see on your page to make them think, “Hey, this might be a great fit for me!”?
If you have a persona already built out for job candidates, this should be fairly simple. If you don’t, no worries. Look at what career-related keywords your website is already ranking for, check LinkedIn to see what keywords ideal candidates have on their profiles or interview new hires to see what they were looking for during their own search.
Capture Future Candidates with a 'Job Updates' Sign-up
Not everyone who lands on your career page is ready to apply. They may be interested in working for your company but don’t see any open positions that would be a good fit at this time.
Give them the option to sign up for email updates of available job openings. Don’t take the chance that they’ll find you again when they’re ready to apply. Keep your recruitment pipeline full!
Don’t Forget Automated Follow-Ups
There’s a decent chance your ideal candidate is applying elsewhere, even as they hit that “submit” button to send you their resume. In this competitive recruitment market, going the extra mile is never a bad idea—and it’s easier than you might think.
If you set up a form for them to submit their resume online, a simple way to personalize the process is to create an automated thank-you email that sends immediately after a prospective candidate connects to make sure they feel informed and engaged early in the process.
Make the Page Mobile-Responsive
Last, but certainly not least, ensure your website, landing pages and emails are mobile-responsive.
Having a mobile-responsive website is a must in today’s world. Most candidates look at your company from their smartphones - especially if they're job-searching at their current position! If they can’t read the page on the device in their hand, they’ll leave the site.
💲 Related Read: How to Measure ROI of Recruitment Marketing
Start Your Recruitment Marketing Strategy Today
In this competitive hiring market, there’s no time like the present to start a recruitment marketing strategy. Download our free guide, 5 Steps to a Recruitment Marketing Strategy, to learn how to map out a strategy from start to finish.
Looking for an expert in the digital space? We can help with your career web page updates, paid advertising, social media, email and more. Contact us to learn more.
