We are asked daily what does an ideal recruitment website look like and in truth the core essence is the same – it needs to deliver a first class candidate user experience, showcase your brand and provide return on investment.
To help achieve these key objectives, it is important to understand how your website will be used by your candidates and what they would like to see. We understand that you are looking for a website that showcases you and sets you apart from the competition, but your candidates main focus is on finding a job, ideally their dream job, as quickly as possible.
Candidate behaviour in recruitment is often driven by their experiences on job boards, so to help make the process as effective as possible it may be worth considering how the job boards in your sector are working.
Some thoughts for consideration when working towards achieving a return on your investment:
Job Search
This is the key focus on your recruitment website – when a candidate arrives they are looking for a job and this helps deliver the required information as quickly as possible. It is worth considering where this is best positioned on the home page and throughout every page of your site.
Job Alerts
A candidate’s main aim is finding a job, ideally their dream job and although you may have close matches, you may not have the exact role that they are looking for. Allowing them to set up a job alert allows continued engagement with your site with relevant content i.e. roles that match their criteria. Candidates are used to setting up alerts on job boards, so are keen to use this functionality
The Application Process
Understanding how your candidates engage with your site is essential and ensuring that they can apply quickly helps maintain this engagement. There will always be unsuitable applications, but an advert has been placed so this is to be expected just try not to put off the good candidate by a long winded application process.
Calls to Action
You are focusing on driving traffic to your site, both candidates and clients, so try to capitalise on directing their user experience with strong calls to action across the site. These need to be relevant and add value to the user experience.
Reports
Reports are essential feedback for understanding how users are engaging with your site and can help identify areas to improve on.
Your Brand
Think how your brand is being show cased and the image that it is portraying, however don’t underestimate how a bad user experience can undo all the cost that has gone into developing super cool graphics. Sometimes it is more cost effective to keep it simple…..
SEO and Social
SEO is a fundamental starting point in promoting your business online. Once you have achieved your desired SEO rankings, it would then be the time to consider PPC and other advertising routes. Don’t forget that current, relevant news articles and social media integrations also help improve SEO rankings.
The Mobile
You may have spent a vast amount of time understanding the user experience on your main website, but typically anywhere between 40% - 60% of your traffic may be from a mobile platform. Do you deliver the best mobile user experience? If a candidate is out and about and they land on your site, they are most likely looking for a job so it is important to get them to the job view as quickly as possible It is also worth ensuring that your contact details are easily accessible.
And so…..
It shouldn’t be under estimated the feedback that you can get from your candidates as to what they would like to see from your site. It may be worth testing your site to see what candidate user experience you really do deliver. Once you have the candidate user experience understood, it is then up to you to showcase your brand and to get the return on investment that you need.
HotLizard has been delivering award-winning sites for over 14 years; from Recruitment Websites and Job Board Software products, through to its unique studio designs and tailored code services.
If you are considering launching or re-launching your recruitment business website speak with one of our business development consultants to find out how HotLizard are able to help.