6 Steps To Build An Award-Winning Careers Site

The conversation in the talent market has changed. Today, jobseekers are doing the talking, and they want to know what’s in it for them.

With 64% of candidates turning to careers sites when deciding whether to apply for a role, now’s the time to update your employer brand and content – or you risk losing out on top applicants.

Leading companies have recognised the value of maintaining a world-class careers site that they use as a virtual “shop front” to attract jobseekers. By showcasing employee videos, images, testimonials and rich content, savvy recruiters can use their careers sites to drive applications – and ROI.

The first step in any new corporate strategy is to build the business case. To get buy-in from stakeholders you need to consider:

• What does the business want to achieve?
• How will this project support those goals?
• Why is this a good use of company resources?

Next, drill down into the numbers. Data is the key to communicating value, so consider what metrics are important to your stakeholders. Look at core metrics to get a baseline of your current performance, like:

• Cost per hire
• Source of hire
• Time to fill

Then, think about what you want to achieve. Using market data, understand how investment in your careers site can improve your core metrics. Remember, your aim is to:

• Increase application quality
• Reduce agency or advertising spend
• Boost team efficiencies
• Drive ROI

Research shows careers site enhancements can lead to 20% decrease in cost per hire 

Now, plan some clear goals and KPIs to keep you on track. By showing what return you expect the project to deliver, you can link its success to a tangible metric – which will come in handy when communicating value to stakeholders. Lay out a clear, realistic timeline of what you expect to achieve and when.

Once you’ve got your data-backed business case, your project timelines, your baseline measurements, and your anticipated results, you’re ready to present your case to key stakeholders.

Questions to consider:

• What does your business need to achieve?
• What role can talent acquisition play in achieving those business goals?
• What are your baseline metrics?
• How will you measure success?
• What is your project timeline?

Part of what makes a great careers site is the ability to target specific talent segments. Research shows that a bespoke careers site can achieve a 40% conversion rate from visitor to applicant.

First, you’ll need to identify which groups and roles are key to your company’s talent strategy.

Questions to consider:

• Who are your key talent segments?
• What role do these positions play in the overarching business strategy?
• What matters to them?
• What questions do they have about working for you?
• What can you include in your EVP that aligns with those values?

With your crucial talent segments highlighted, it’s time to dig into the content required to engage them. Take a look at the content you already have, chances are, there’s a lot you can leverage. Then identify the gaps and decide what content you need to create to fill them. 

Now, we know what you’re thinking, content is a marketer’s job, right? How are HR and TA teams supposed to produce this huge volume of high-quality, engaging content alongside their other responsibilities? To create content at scale, try an employee ambassador programme.

“Who better to recommend Which? as an organisation than the people who currently work there? We saw a really positive response from people who wanted to champion why this is a great place to work and why people should consider entrusting the next part of their career to Which? as an employer.”

– Julian Harris, Head of Resourcing, Which?

Ambassador stories provide a direct window into daily life at the company. Jobseekers trust real employee testimonials three times more than corporate messaging, and employee videos convert 25% more visitors into applicants. Ultimately, employee-generated content is 200% more effective at engaging jobseekers. It’s authentic, non-produced, and really resonates with potential candidates, answering their questions and convincing them to apply.

Creating content for your careers site isn’t a one-and-done approach – it evolves all the time. Start with a few assets that speak directly to your priority talent segments, and build out more as you go. Our top tip: don’t create hundreds of assets at once.

Questions to consider:

• What content do you already have?
• What content do you need to talk to your key talent segments?
• What processes do you need in place to make ongoing content creation scalable?
• Who are your employee ambassadors and what roles will they play in your careers site content strategy?

Now you’ve ticked off your benchmarks, your goals, and your content, you’re ready to build your careers site. It’s best to tackle this in stages. First, think about your key requirements, then build a skeleton framework and go from there.

First-stage priorities

• Look and feel: Put your employer branding front and centre of your careers site. Make it authentic and recognisable. This is where people “meet” your company for the first time – you want it to be memorable, in a good way!
• Structure and navigation: Consider your target talent segments. Candidates should be able to find relevant information quickly and easily. Sites that are simple to navigate will also maintain traffic and rank well for SEO.
• Targeted CTAs: Have a customised call to action for each of your talent segments, and a call to ‘join your talent community’. The goal is to encourage people to sign up to your talent pipeline, even if they’re not ready to apply for a role.
• Mobile accessibility: Make sure you’re appealing to candidates of all ages. 27% of millennials expect to be able to apply for a job on their phone. Having a mobile-friendly site is essential.
• Sub-landing pages: Personalise the candidate journey. Curate your EVP, content, and CTAs to reflect what your talent segments want to know about your company, and create dedicated landing pages where they can access this information.

The main takeaway? Decide on your key deliverables for your first stage, get them right, then expand on that success in future builds. Don’t try to do everything all at once.

Questions to consider:

• What channels could drive traffic to your careers site?
• Of these channels, which are the most cost effective, and which deliver the most applicants?
• How can you promote your EVP and employer brand at all stages of the funnel?

If you think of your careers site as your company’s “shop front”, the next step is getting people through the door. Your goal: drive traffic to your site via external channels. 

Job boards are high-traffic, high-exposure channels, and are especially useful when you’re just starting out. Harness this exposure to drive people back to your shop front, where they can learn more about the business, and find relevant content and stories.

Encouraging employee ambassadors to share links to your careers site is another way to drive traffic via social networks. Once visitors arrive on the site, you can present targeted, on-brand messaging to engage and capture interest. When done well, this will drive more applications at a lower cost per hire, creating a pipeline of talent for future opportunities. 

Questions to consider:

• What channels could drive traffic to your careers site?
• Of these channels, which are the most cost effective, and which deliver the most applicants?
• How can you promote your EVP and employer brand at all stages of the funnel?

Finally, it’s time to review and improve. Remember, your careers site is a living, breathing reflection of your company – it needs constant TLC.

Take stock of your results. For Which? this was:

• Return visitors to their careers site increased from 9.2% to 16%
• Average website page views per session increased from 1.89 to 2.2 pages
• Visitors converted to potential candidates increased from 2.82% to over 16%
• Potential candidates converted to completed applications now sits at 61%

Review your initial business case and the metrics you laid out as benchmarks. How do they compare with current results? Have they improved? Have any declined? Get a solid grasp of what worked and what didn’t. Then, tie this back to the strategic business objectives. How has this change in your recruiting metrics impacted the company’s bottom line or operations?

Look at how your careers site content is performing. Some measures of success are:

• Careers site visits and time on page
• Careers site conversion rates from application, to shortlist, to interview, to offer
• Email open rates
• Top-performing content (Clinch’s Recruitment Marketing has heatmap functionality to show this)
• Uptake of CTAs on landing pages
• Ambassador reporting: active ambassadors, number of articles published, content pipelines

After analysing what worked and what didn’t, think about what’s next. Do you need to attract a new segment? Are you missing any content? What other metric can you focus on?

Make sure you:

• Review your initial benchmarks, project goals and KPIs against current results.
• Build a roadmap for the next phase of your journey and ensure it aligns with business goals.
• Celebrate what worked and learn from what didn’t.

If you’re ready to get started on your careers site journey, PageUp Recruitment Marketing can help.

Get in touch today to find out more.