Your careers site: An essential platform to attract candidates to your roles, and often the first place applicants will go to find out more about working for your organisation.

It’s therefore vital to make it the best it can be.

When you’re getting ready to launch your careers site, perhaps after implementing a new ATS, there are three things you need to consider:

  1. Decide who it belongs to

The first step is to decide which department’s responsibility your careers site will be – Marketing or HR.

It’s important to establish whose remit your careers website sits within early on in the process, so everyone is clear on who will design and manage the site, as well as create the content for it. Without this, a careers site can go forgotten – creating an outdated and out of touch portrayal of your employer brand.

Your HR team has the recruitment knowledge and long-term view needed to ensure the careers site supports and plays a key role in your organisation’s hiring strategy, so it’s essential that this team remains involved. Meanwhile, Marketing have the skills to make sure the site stays on brand, and is written and presented in an engaging manner.

We believe a dual approach works best – take full advantage of the skills available to you and you’ll see this reflected in your careers site.

  1. Differentiate your careers site from your corporate site

Visually, your careers site should align closely with your corporate site; a consistent brand is essential in order to instil trust and confidence in candidates. You should consider, however, including different information on your careers site.

It can be tempting to use your About Us page from your corporate site, for example, as your ‘starting block’, and end up effectively copying and pasting the text. We would advise against this, as jobseekers are going to have different priorities and interests to general website visitors.

Instead, tailor your site to your recruitment strategy and the jobseekers you’re looking to attract.

Consider what company information applicants would be interested in, for example company culture and working atmosphere rather than company history. Steer towards ‘We’re a close-knit team in a fast paced environment…’ and away from ‘Established in 1885, our customers include…’.

Why not dedicate a section or page of your careers site to a particular sector you’re trying to appeal to (for example if you’re launching a new department)? Or if you’re approaching a specific recruitment drive (for example graduation season), why not adapt the copy to aim at graduates for that period of time?

As a member of your HR and recruitment team, you know the recruitment landscape best – so prepare content in advance with the help of your Marketing department.

  1. Consider what jobseekers really want to see

In a similar vein, think about what key content you can include that will attract candidates to apply.

Step into the shoes of your jobseekers to decide what they need (and want) to know. Think about how much information to include – you don’t want to overwhelm your potential applicants with reams of unnecessary information, or put them off with a bare careers page.

Case studies and ‘real people’ stories can give an insight into what it’s really like to work for you, and offers candidates the opportunity to feel more familiar with your company and its values.

Using your careers site to create a sense of familiarity in jobseekers also applies to your use of images too. Over-smiley, over-polished stock images can be off-putting to candidates who want to see the ‘real you’. Using photos from company socials or candid office photoshoots help provide a truer insight and allows candidates to feel more of a connection to your organisation.

A part of your wider recruitment strategy

Often, after an organisation invests in an ATS, they’re so focused on the workings of the system, and configuring and refining their processes, that the careers site becomes a bit of an afterthought until the end of the project.

However, your careers site is a strategically valuable tool in your talent acquisition activity, and should be viewed as such. Take time to think about how you can get the most from it; your careers site shouldn’t be the forgotten child of your exciting new recruitment process.

Follow these steps and you’ll be on your way to a new and fit-for-purpose careers site, and an indispensable tool in your talent acquisition strategy.

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About the author

Tristan Potter

Helen is Hireserve's Communications Executive, planning and executing both external and internal communications, along with a range of other marketing activities. She loves to write about working wellbeing, ATS features and Hireserve news.