Between 2000 and 2014 alone, the CareerXroads statistics report showed that there was a 94.1% rise in hires coming directly from a careers page.
Why the sudden rise in popularity?
Candidates are spending more time than ever researching companies before they commit, or even apply, to make sure they would be a good fit for the business.
A careers pages is your introduction to a jobseekers potential future workplace. The stakes are high as, if done well, you can reap the rewards of hiring the best talent for your business.
However, getting significant value out of your careers page can be difficult. The online attention span of jobseekers is incredibly short so you have limited time to grab their attention, engage them and convince them to apply. So, whether you have an underperforming careers section, or not one at all, here are our top 8 tips on how to get started and make the most out of it.
1. Grab jobseekers’ attention
We live in a world where you have a matter of seconds to capture the attention of your readers. Advertising guru, David Ogilvy, said “Only 1 out of 5 readers get beyond your headline.” The moral of the story? Cut to the chase and make it good.
“Only 1 out of 5 readers get beyond your headline.”
2. Be mobile friendly
Remember the days when you’d pinch the screen on your phone to zoom in? Well they’re long gone, as should be your user ‘unfriendly’ site.
Nowadays, jobseekers aren’t restricted to where they apply for your jobs, so whether they’re sitting at a bus stop or waiting for their Starbucks, you need to be sure that your site will deliver information that’s easy to access, load and read. Fail to be mobile friendly and you run the risk of potential applicants leaving your site and finding one that is.
3. Use video
They say a picture tells a thousand words so if you’re not using video as a tool to attract potential applicants, you could be missing out. Videos are 5.33 more effective than just text alone to keep visitors on your site.
Invite jobseekers into your world, give them an exclusive look at your company and a taste for what it would be like to work for you. Your videos could include information on the company culture, benefits, what a usual day looks like, the people that already work there and how they would describe working for you.
Your video doesn’t need to be long – in fact, keeping it to about a minute is more likely to keep jobseekers engaged.
4. Use strong cover photos
Along with video, the images you choose to showcase your business are extremely important in helping you stand out from the crowd. Images are processed 60,000 times faster than words and it makes up 90% of the information that we transmit to our brains!
5. A solid ‘About Us’ section
They’ve looked at your site, watched your video and they’re still reading. It’s a good sign – they must be interested. Now it’s time to show who you are in words with a solid ‘About Us’ section. It doesn’t matter if you’re a tiny startup company or a worldwide enterprise. By showing jobseekers what you’re about, you’re more likely to attract and retain a good fit for your business.
Want to turn your tiny startup company into a worldwide enterprise? That’s fine, tell your potential applicants where your business is now and how their hire will be part of the journey to get you there.
According to Glassdoor, jobseekers want to read information on salary, benefits, basic company information, what makes it a great place to work and the company’s mission and values.
6. Make jobseekers want to work for you
Videos, cover photos, a great ‘About Us’ section… Why do I need these again? Don’t jobseekers need to impress me? The answer being, yes and no.
The hiring process is much more collaborative then it once was. While a jobseeker does needs to impress you, a savvy jobseeker will research a company before they apply for it so you also need to impress them by showcasing a desirable company that they’d want to work for.
According to Glassdoor, 76% of jobseekers want details on what makes a company an attractive place to work, while Partner of Recruiting Daily, Matt Charney claims, “Top talent is searching for a company the same way they would any other purchasing decision.”
They say it takes 50 milliseconds for a user to judge a site, so what is your current careers page saying about you?
“Top talent is searching for a company the same way they would any other purchasing decision.”
7. Less is more
Searching and applying for jobs should be a simple process. Overcomplicating your processes or job description will just put jobseekers off. Write your job descriptions like a marketer would – interesting and engaging. It’s an advert after all!
Including corporate buzzwords will just make jobseekers switch off. No-one wants to work for a robot.
8. Set expectations
The application process can take a while so it’s good practice to break the process down for applicants and set expectations about when they are likely to hear from you. It will also save you a lot of time dealing with eager jobseekers contacting you for an update on their application.
What if I don’t have a careers page?
Creating a careers page can seem daunting if you don’t have the manpower to facilitate it, or maybe not worth the work if you only have a handful of jobs. So, what do you do then?
The good news is that our new ‘Recruiter profiles’ are the perfect solution for any size of business. They effectively work exactly the same way as careers page, it’s just hosted by us instead. So for you, that means a central location for all your jobs, including space for an ‘About Us’ section, video and rotating cover photos.
Who are we?
We’re Simply Jobs Boards, the UK’s biggest group of niche job boards, including Aviation Job Search, InAutomotive and Simply Law Jobs. If you’re thinking about hosting a ‘Recruiter profile’ with us, why not see what yours would look like by clicking below.
For Aviation Job Search, click here. For InAutomotive, click here & for Simply Law Jobs, click here.
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