Screening and interviewing candidates is time-intensive, and when a candidate isn’t a good fit for your company culture, it’s a waste of your limited resources. Here’s how your career website could be driving better results.
Candidates find your open positions in a lot of different ways, but at some point, virtually all will visit your career website. If your career site reflects your employer brand honestly and effectively, it will help you maximize your resources and get the best return on investment. Here’s how:
1. Draw interest and engagement from qualified candidates.
A recent Telecom study found that hard-to-hire candidates (those with 10+ years of experience) are three times more likely to apply after interacting with employer brand content. That means up to 50% more qualified candidates, and cutting your time-to-hire in half.
2. Help unqualified candidates self-select out of the process.
The same Telecom study found that entry-level applicants are 70% less likely to apply for positions they’re not qualified for after engaging with employer brand content. That saves your talent acquisition team time screening unqualified candidates – so they can focus on what really matters.
3. Find the right culture fit.
When candidates have an authentic picture of what your company culture really is, they have a better understanding of whether or not they’ll fit. New Glassdoor research found that 65% of people start looking for another job within 91 days of being hired. Given that the cost of replacing a salaried employee is 6- to 9-months salary on average (SHRM) and 16% of annual salary for hourly employees, that’s a tremendous drain on your company’s bottom line. A career site that truly reflects your employer brand can help you reduce turnover by 28%, and reduce absenteeism by 37%.
Ideas to make your career site more effective
Updating your career website with candidate-focused quality content that accurately reflects your employer brand will help. Here are three ways to make your career site a more effective recruitment marketing tool – and drive better business results.
Create an authentic "Day in the Life" feature. Granted, not every day is the same in most roles, but there are key responsibilities and interactions that can help candidates get a better understanding of the position, requirements, and work-life balance. Ask current employees to log their daily schedule for a few days and provide a few comments, then use these to create a “day in the life” for those positions.
Share your company culture in a meaningful way. The “About Us” page doesn’t cut it. Companies tend to focus career site content on history, stability, and use of new technology – but candidates care more about what it’s like to work there – the culture and management style, who they’ll be working with, and what the work environment is like. Sharing insights in an engaging (short) culture video that authentically reflects the people who make up your company can help candidates connect more effectively.
Show growth opportunity. Candidates want to know how they can grow within your organization, so outline potential growth paths and skill-building opportunities. For many applicants, it’s less about the traditional career path and more about building skillsets – but they still want to know they have opportunities to grow and develop. Include real-life stories of how employees have made career progress in your organization.
By providing candidates with a deeper understanding of the position itself and the environment they’d be signing on for, you’ll attract the candidates who will thrive in your organization, and make a meaningful positive impact on your company’s business results. And that makes everybody happy.
Get more ways to enhance your career website with our career website checklist, or by talking with our team of career website experts.