A SUCCESSFUL CAREER SITE

FIVE ELEMENTS OF

A SUCCESSFUL CAREER SITE

YOU’VE�MADE�HUGE�STRIDES�THIS�YEAR, but as you continue to grow and expand your business, you need to think strategically about how you will att ract your business’s greatest asset: your employees. As you think about the years ahead – and how you want to grow your business – the people you choose to bring on to your team will be imperative to your success. Having a dedicated career site is a crucial element to any sustainable, eff ective recruitment strategy.

What Is the Purpose of a Career Site?

Your career site is the primary research destination on the Web for curious job seekers and the one place where you own 100 percent share of voice. Your career site is your platform – your golden opportunity – to show off your unique employment brand and “sell” your company and opportunities to candidates.

The ideal career site should answer the following four questions:

• What is it like to work here?

• What does it take to be successful here?

• How can I find jobs based on my skills and interests?

• What benefits will I receive working here?

Your career site should capture the attention of job seekers, provide ample information about your company, the culture and available job openings and make it easy for job seekers to search and apply for jobs. When it comes to the design of your career site, usability is key. Candidates must be able to easily navigate your site and find the information they’re looking for. After years of creating award-winning career sites for some of the top companies in the world, we’ve found there are five elements common to the most effective and engaging career sites.

Five Elements Every Successful Career Site Needs:

RESPONSIVE DESIGN

The 57 percent of companies whose websites are not optimized for mobile are missing a huge opportunity to connect with candidates on a large scale. Candidates are becoming more reliant on their mobile devices – and less patient about waiting for sites to load or manually adjusting content to fit their device. An

astonishing 70 percent of candidates have searched for a job from a mobile device; yet, nearly 40 percent of candidates will leave a website if it is not optimized for mobile. These findings underscore the importance of having a career site that is optimized for mobile devices.

The best way to ensure a quality mobile experience and keep candidates engaged on your career site is though responsive design. With responsive design, the pages of your website adjust to provide the best user experience based on the size of your computer screen – from desktops to laptops to handheld devices. With the variety of smartphones, tablets and other handheld devices available, there is no such things as a “standard” screen size anymore; however, with responsive design, there’s no need to spend time or extra money creating multiple websites to fit multiple screen sizes. A career site with responsive design automatically “responds” to the user’s browser size and adjusts the content accordingly.

It doesn’t matter how good your career site is; if your website is not fully optimized for mobile devices, you automatically disqualify your company from 20 percent of searches. A responsive design ensures complete mobile optimization, as well as the best possible candidate experience across any computer platform, which in turn increases engagement and application rates.

FILTERED JOB SEARCH

Your career site should include a way for visitors to not only search for available positions with your company, but also narrow their search based on their unique interests and skills. Give job seekers the option to search by such filters as location, keyword, job title and job category.

When it comes to applying, the process to apply should be as short and concise as possible. A typical application process has a 95 percent drop-off rate. Lengthy and arduous applications are the top reason candidates fail to complete the application process. The ideal application process should take no more than 30 minutes to complete.

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FIVE ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL CAREER SITE CAREERBUILDER

nearly 40 percent of candidates will leave a website if it is not optimized for mobile.

The ideal application process should take no more than 30 minutes to complete.

Another way to reduce candidate drop off is to keep your apply page clean and simple, with a clear call to action. Make sure your page doesn’t include any broken links and loads quickly; otherwise, candidates are likely to leave your site and move on to a competitor. Most importantly, make sure candidates can link to the application page from any part of your career site – this makes it fast and easy for them to apply.

USER EXPERIENCE

We talked about user experience in the section on responsive design. Now, we’re going to go a little more in depth about what a good user experience involves. Any good website is built with the user in mind – and career sites are far from the exception.

Your career site is a reflection of who you are as an employer; therefore, creating an easy, efficient user experience is key to not only preventing applicant drop off, but also setting you apart from other companies. Moreover, providing a good user experience shows candidates you value their time and appreciate their interest in your company, while providing a poor user experience sends the message that you do not care whether they apply or not. (And if you don’t care about them as candidates, how will you treat them as employees?)

A good user experience is driven by good design. Users should be able to find the information they need quickly and easily, without sorting through multiple pages and sifting through blocks of content. A clean, simple design that takes into account how job seekers search for jobs is ideal. Make sure your site works on multiple Web browsers (from Chrome, to Internet Explorer, to Mozilla Firefox), that it loads quickly and that there are no broken links. Check your career site regularly to ensure things are running smoothly and see where there might be room for improvement. Give job seekers the opportunity to leave feedback so you can make enhancements as necessary.

STORYTELLING THROUGH A COMPELLING DESIGN

Your career site is your opportunity to communicate the story of your company to job seekers. In other words, it helps you establish your unique employment brand. Every company has an employment brand, whether they realize it or not. An employment brand can have a significant impact on your ability to attract talent. Ninety percent of job seekers say a company’s employment brand plays a key role in their decision whether or not to apply, according to CareerBuilder’s 2013 Candidate Behavior Study.

When it comes to communicating your employment brand, design is key. To truly capture job seekers’ attention, you need to show – not just tell – your story. Bring your company’s story to life by using images and video that show candidates what it’s truly like to work for you and authentically represent your employment brand. Make sure the design of your site is compelling (but not over the top) with targeted messaging that speaks to your ideal candidates.

TALENT PIPELINING

Contrary to popular belief, your career site isn’t about driving applications; it’s about creating engagement and building a network of qualified talent. Your career site should entice people to want to work for your company, even if they are not yet ready to apply. Research shows that most candidates research new opportunities and prospective employers for up to six months before they even start to apply; therefore, you want to give job seekers a reason to come back. Engaging candidates early in their job search process allows you to gain a competitive edge in the market for sought-after talent by making your organization top of mind through ongoing reengagement.

One of the most crucial elements of any career site is the ability for job seekers to join your talent network. This

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Users should be able to find the information they need quickly and easily.

To truly capture job seekers’ attention, you need to show – not just tell – your story.

enables you to build a pipeline of interested and engaged candidates for future opportunities. Give candidates the opportunity to leave their information to stay engaged with your company and learn about future opportunities.

For example, companies with a CareerBuilder Career Site use CareerBuilder’s Talent Network to build their talent pipeline. Simply by clicking the “Join Our Talent Network” button, which displays prominently on your Career Site, candidates can leave their online business card, without having to go through the full application process. Once they are a part of the Talent Network, candidates stay engaged with your company, automatically receiving relevant job opportunities so that when they are ready to apply, your organization is top of mind.

Pop Quiz: Do You Need a Career Site?

• Do candidates have a way to engage with your company?

• Is there information about your company, the culture and available positions readily available online?

• Can candidates easily search and apply for jobs anywhere on your website?

• Do you have a way to engage with candidates who are interested in your company but not yet ready to apply?

• Is your website optimized for easy access and navigation on mobile devices?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” it’s time to consider adding a dedicated career site to your recruitment strategy. CareerBuilder’s Career Services solutions can help you meet all of the above challenges.

What Makes CareerBuilder Career Sites Different?

Our Career Sites use our industry-leading HR software, as well as our over 20 years’ worth of job market

research and industry expertise, to create a job search process that is intuitive and easy to use. With Career Sites, candidates can easily search and apply for jobs, learn more about your company and join your Talent Network. Say goodbye to candidate drop-off and build your brand with a custom-built Career Site.

BELOW IS A SNAPSHOT OF OUR COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH:

• We use workforce analytics and job seeker behavior data to build the ideal user experience, increase interest and improve response rates.

• Our proprietary search-and-apply technology powers the job board elements on your site for a faster, more efficient application process.

• Our innovative HR software gives job seekers who are interested in your company but not yet ready to apply the ability to join your talent community – effectively building your pipeline of future candidates.

• Our award-winning creative team understands how to integrate content and design for a compelling look and feel – across all platforms.

• Our award-winning customer service team ensures you have the support you need when you need it to answer questions or address issues as they arise.

Benefits of CareerBuilder’s Career Site:

Visually Tell Your Brand’s Story: Our award-winning creative team combines strategy with design. We customize your site to match your brand while implementing elements we know job seekers respond to (based on our 20+ years of research on job seeker behavior).

Build Your Talent Pipeline: The integration of Talent Network and Luceo software creates a more intuitive, more efficient job search process and enables job seekers to join your Talent Network – so you can build a pipeline of future candidates.

Optimized User Experience: We build every Career Site using responsive design to create an optimal user experience across every device and all screen sizes.

4FIVE ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL CAREER SITE CAREERBUILDER

One of the most crucial elements of any career site is the ability for job seekers to join your talent network.

SHOW, DON’T TELL Bring your company’s story to life with compelling design. Use images and video to show candidates what it’s truly like to work for your company.

MAKE IT ALL ABOUT THE USER Give job seekers an easy, efficient user experience. It will not only prevent applicant drop off, but it will set you apart from your competitors.

MIND THE MOBILE EXPERIENCE Use responsive design to ensure a quality career site experience and keep candidates engaged, no matter what devices they use – from desktops to laptops to handheld devices.

GIVE GOOD SEARCH Job seekers should be able to find relevant opportunities quickly and easily. Give them the option to search by such filters as location, keyword, job title and job category.

EMPLOY THE 30-MINUTES-OR-LESS RULE Keep your application process as short as possible. The longer the application takes to complete, the greater the chances job seekers will abandon the process.

ENGAGE EARLY AND OFTEN Build your talent pipeline by including a call to join your talent network to keep candidates engaged and your company top of mind throughout their job search process.

5FIVE ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL CAREER SITE CAREERBUILDER

About CareerBuilder®

Recruiting is complicated. CareerBuilder makes it easy. We understand as the economy changes, so do the needs of the businesses and individuals we serve. Whatever your situation, we’re here to empower you with the resources you need to find, hire and keep the best people. From candidates sourcing, to comprehensive, easy-to-understand workforce data, to software that streamlines your recruiting process, our solutions are designed to make your recruitment strategy simple, fast and effective, so you can focus on your No. 1 asset — your people.

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Blog: www.TheHiringSite.com

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