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The 2021 CareerArc Future of Recruitment Study is full of insightful facts about job seekers and their main motivation for seeking new employment.
Not too surprisingly, the study shows that the No. 1 deal breaker for jobseekers is poor work-life balance and increased workload
with 40% of those surveyed saying they would not apply to a job if the company lacked flexibility
and 39% saying they would pass on a company with poor company culture and morale
The study also shows that 82% consider employer brand and reputation as the main factor for applying for a job so your website can be a powerful tool to tell the story of your company effectively and boost your reputation in the marketplace.
To download the full study see here.
In a more recent recruitment report, Recruitment Statistics 22: Recruiting Trends and Insights Cvviz reports:
67% of candidates visit the company website before they apply for a job.
And 89% of job seekers agree that an employer’s career website is important for finding key information.
These key findings show how valuable your website is for employer branding because a good website will set you apart from your competition and cement your reputation as a great place to work.
So let’s explore the obvious ways your website could be scaring away all the top talent and investigate the simple mistakes that could be impacting your recruitment funnel and conversions.
1. Poor messaging
If your website is not speaking directly to the needs of
a) your clients
and b) prospective recruits
then it’s not doing you any favours in terms of attracting new business or the right people to grow your company.
Customers want to know how the product or service you provide will solve a problem for them.
Jobseekers however want to know how working at your company will enrich their professional and personal lives so key information to include is:
Location – How far will they have to commute and the length of time that commute will take?
Vision – Is your company continually innovating its processes, product or service?
Culture – What is life like at your company? From glancing at your website will the prospect recruit feel you are building better experiences for your employees?
Inclusivity – Work/life balance is important to candidates but diversity and inclusion are too with content around diversity, equity and inclusion in the top three types of social content that would make them more likely to apply for a position.
2. Slow loading sites
There is nothing more off-putting than a website that is so slow to load you feel like tearing your hair out watching the pages take forever to load. Reasons for slow sites include:
Website code needs optimisation
Caching issues
Large media files and high-resolution images
Too many plugins
Excessive Flash content
3. Bad user experience
Imagine you’re a jobseeker searching a prospective employer’s website only to find the website difficult to navigate with no clear user journey. You have to scroll to find contact details and when you source a PDF with company information to download it is so painfully slow that you give up halfway through.
The website lacks clear messaging, so you don’t fully understand what the company does or the benefits of its product or service.
Compare that to a similar business but with a modern, high-performance website with clear and compelling content highlighting the company’s value propositions, mission and culture and the candidate’s journey is a far more seamless experience making it simpler for the candidate to take action.
4. Employer brand
We’ve touched on the fact that jobseekers prioritise company culture, morale and flexible working arrangements above salary. Therefore a recognised employer brand with a great reputation will help accelerate your talent acquisition strategy.
Strong employer branding means having a dedicated social presence on your website and social channels so using things like blog posts, social media updates and testimonials will be to your advantage.
A careers page or section of your website dedicated to careers at your company is also brilliant for your employer brand as you can use it to present the best version of life at your company.
Plus, a careers page will help drive organic traffic to your site as recruits explore in detail what your company has to offer. To get your careers funnel flowing with leads you can optimise your content with key elements like:
‘Life At’ videos
Benefits
Graduate programmes
Alumni Stories
5. No testimonials
Watching a video testimonial of an employee endorsing a company will solidify that company’s reputation as a good employer and a great environment to progress professionally.
Video testimonials placed on your website are the best social proof you can have to showcase a diverse and inclusive workforce and how you are a company that celebrates workers from all walks of life.
6. Mobile unfriendly
Recruitment Statistics 22: Recruiting Trends and Insights shows that 35% of candidates use their mobiles to apply for job positions so if your website is not optimised for mobile you’ll lose out on a certain percentage of candidates who only use their phones for job applications.
7. No blog? Seriously?
Aside from helping to increase your site’s search ranking, blogs are very useful to position your business as an authority in the marketplace, build brand awareness and establish trust.
Companies that post regularly, at least once a month, will drive more traffic to their websites simply by an active presence online.
Let's wrap this up!
As we’ve established, a website is essential to improve your employer brand, set you apart from your competition and cement your reputation as a great place to work.
When job seekers search for a new job they are looking for more than just a change of work environment; they want to move to a company that will enhance their professional lives in an exciting and meaningful way and your website is the best tool you have to paint a compelling picture of the life they could have.
