When most business owners and directors think about their website, they think about it in terms of their customers. Usually, this means ensuring the website helps generate interest from new customers, although websites can also play an important role in retaining existing customers too. What about recruitment in your business, though? Is your website attracting the team members your business needs to deliver for your customers and achieve your objectives?
Remember, almost all prospective candidates for vacancies in your business will check your website as part of the application process. Often, this happens before they submit their CV.
So, your website needs to sell your company to candidates considering applying for a job. Does your website concisely and accurately describe what you do, for example? Does it clearly outline the company’s mission as well as your vision and future ambitions?
Presenting the Right Image
One of the goals of your website should be to make job applicants want to work for you. This doesn’t just happen on the career or recruitment pages of the website. Instead, you need to think about the whole site.
Here are some tips to help you achieve this:
- Describe the culture of your company – this is one of the key things that prospective candidates will look for when they visit your website. After all, your website is one of the best windows that candidates have into what your company is really like. So, tell them.
- Ensure the content on the recruitment pages of your website appeals to the candidates your business needs – make sure you highlight things that will appeal to the candidates you want to attract. For example, salary, promotion prospects, flexible working options, training opportunities, etc.
- Publish a mission statement – a mission statement is a summary of the objectives and values of your company.
- Use video to tell your story – videos will give you an edge over other companies competing for the same talent. It could be a corporate video that you can use for other purposes in the business, or you could develop something specific, such as a behind the scenes-type video that includes introductions to key personnel.
- Optimise the application process – if candidates apply for vacancies directly through your website, make sure the application process is as streamlined and intuitive as possible. If you don’t have a facility on your website that lets candidates apply for vacancies, you should consider adding this feature.
- Include testimonials – testimonials give clients confidence in the abilities of your business. You can get similar benefits with employee testimonials. After all, an employee describing the culture of the company from their perspective is often more powerful than your own description.
- Include a strong call-to-action – the final tip is to make sure you directly ask potential job applicants to take the next step using a call-to-action. In most cases, this will be something like an “Apply Now” button. As with other calls-to-action on your website, make sure it gets to the point and is highly visible on the page.
Your website can’t solve all your recruitment headaches but optimising it will make a significant difference.