Your company website needs to be at the heart of your recruitment strategy and tell people all about who you are as an employer are and what you can offer. You need to make sure that your site offers users an interactive and informative experience and that you make the most of search engine optimisation (SEO) to raise your profile and generate jobseekers.
Your website shouldn’t just list current vacancies but articles, blogs, videos and feeds from all related social media channels, says David Johnston, senior business development manager at 4mat recruitment website design consultancy. It should act as a hub for users and encourage them to come back and share interesting and relevant content. “The best sites have more in common with ecommerce sites, such as Amazon and Waitrose, and utilise design, technology and marketing expertise,” he comments. They make it easy for the visitor and include images and links to other relevant content. “The result is a career website designed around the candidate, providing relevant information and a seamless user experience. It will also form the centre of marketing campaigns.”
Make sure that you put search engine optimisation (SEO) at the top of your agenda to generate as much traffic to your website as possible and raise your online profile. “A well-run SEO campaign and targeted career website will bring new applications, candidates and hires. A well-optimised website with indexed jobs is a start, but an on-going SEO plan has the potential to generate excellent return on investment (ROI) in the form of relevant applications and placements,” says Johnston.
Optimise your job listings and, if you have an Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) system in place, make sure that it doesn’t prevent jobs from being discovered by jobseekers. If, for example, your ATS system redirects applicants to another server when they click on a job advertisement and application form, the job title and key words probably won’t be picked up by Google and it won’t always be listed under your company’s name on a search engine. Some ATS systems can also make it difficult for users to navigate and return to the career website after clicking through to the vacancy.
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When it comes to social networking sites, you need to make sure that you, as an employer, are engaging and talking with potential candidates and jobseekers to personalise your brand.
“Respond, comment and converse with messages. Encourage interaction by posting questions,” Johnston advises. “Cross-market your channels. People want ways to engage with you so post your career website content on Twitter. Tweet about your email campaigns and email about your Facebook page. Link back from marketing channels to the website, with the aim of ultimately converting them into an applicant.
