Many
organisations make the same mistakes with their online recruitment Sue Weekes
reveals all – and how to fix them.
It is not just the City that is in interested
in a company’s website. They must also appeal to consumers – potential employees. Based on research
carried out by UK employment site Workthing, here are the most common mistakes
and how you can enhance your employer branding.
1.
Poor links
If a potential candidate struggles to find the
information they want, they quickly go elsewhere. Many links to important
content or areas – the graduate recruitment area, for example, are not obvious
and easily missed.
Solution: Ensure the homepage has a clear, one-click link to the
recruitment site. Make links stand out with underlining or arrows – subtle
differences in text colour may not work on some computer screens, so make links
obvious.
2. Uninspiring designs
There is a risk here of losing the corporate
identity and wasting a good opportunity to impress a potential candidate.
Solution: Steer clear
of abstract, unrelated pictures or graphics, and go for a design that reflects
the business. Test the design out on people by asking them: “Does this leave
you knowing what our company is about?”
3. No company ‘sell’ to potential employees
Most sites give adequate
financial and investor information but very few give an insight into why they
are a winner within their industry. It is included in the corporate brochure,
so why not here?
Solution:
A candidate must be ‘sold’ a company to encourage
them to apply. Include information that sets the company apart in the industry
– give details of awards, official rankings and any good press coverage, for example.
Include basic company facts and information on how the products or services
compete in the marketplace.
4. Little or no insight into the
company’s culture or working day
Potential candidates can’t
find this kind of information anywhere else. To attract the best candidates in
the market this level of insight is crucial.
Solution:
Good sites include information on rewards, working
hours, holidays, training and career progression. Give a real insight into what
it is like to work at the company and include details of any social activities.
5. Job adverts not being posted
on the website or being out of date
Out-of-date or incorrect
information is a reflection on the company image.
Solution: After investing the time
into getting a recruitment site up and running, ensure someone promotes the
system internally, and encourages recruiters to post their jobs online. Making
managers and recruiters aware of the number of employees that applied via the
site can have a huge impact on the sites usage. Remove old jobs or change the
deadline date. To encourage speculative applications clearly state the
requirements rather than leave an out-of-date advert on the site.
6. Limited ways for candidates to
find out more information
The corporate website is
the most effective way of giving out information – so use it.
Solution:
Give candidates access to further information in as
many ways as you can. The more information a candidate can get, the better the
quality of application. Ensure all numbers and addresses are geographically
relevant – don’t give a US phone number on a UK site, for example.
7. Graduate sections contain
out-of-date information
The market for graduates
is highly competitive. Companies need to stay on the ball if they want to
recruit the top graduates.
Solution;
The study revealed a clear split in graduate
recruitment areas –they either were done really well, or not all. The main
failing was the volume of out-of-date information. To attract the new wave of
graduate talent coming to the market, ensure the graduate section is regularly
updated.
8. Little or no search function
Companies need to allow
the right candidate to find the right opportunity easily, or they risk losing
them to a competitor.
Solution: Good sites will offer candidates the opportunity to search
via role details, position type (full or part-time), location and the date the
advert was posted.
9. Limited candidate relationship
management
Candidates are customers
of the business, so should receive communication.
Solution:
Companies can limit the number of candidates they
lose to competitors by encouraging them to register their interest. This could
range from asking candidates to send a letter, e-mail or CV for speculative
positions to setting up an e-mail job alert.
10.
Companies with multiple brands have no uniformity of recruitment sites
By displaying information
and links from one brand’s site to another, companies could capture more talent
and save money on recruitment campaigns. Capitalise on the time a candidate spends
visiting a site to educate them on the opportunities within the group as a
whole.
Solution:
Multiple brands owned by one company often find
themselves competing for the same candidates in the same area. Once candidates
apply online to one brand, their CV could be shared across the group and
accessed by recruitment managers from other brands looking to fill the same
role. Linking recruitment sites and ensuring they are all of the same quality
will help improve a company’s employer brand.
Workthing
conducted a detailed review of how 25 FTSE companies from a cross section of
sectors use their websites to recruit.
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