The corporate website, especially its career section, is a critical link in the knowledge gathering process of job candidates. What then makes a good career section? How can companies use this tool to their advantage? What is best practice? Basically it boils down to providing lots of trustworthy information, a clear communication of the company culture, easy site navigation, and appealing presentation.
Content is king. Inadequate information artfully presented is not sufficient. Style does not trump substance. Candidates will overlook any number of things if they can get a clear picture of the job being offered and the company that is offering it.
2010 Corporate Recruiting Report
According to our research, job seekers want your website to be:
- Easy to use – This means intuitive for the first-time user, not intuitive for someone already familiar with the site. Explain your application process in detail. Let people know exactly what they can expect and when. If your process is automated, explain how.
- Honest – This means unhedged, unvarnished, direct, to the point – in other words, the direct opposite of what your corporate PR department wants you to say. This should be straight, over-a-beer-at-the-bar talk, not diplomatic mumbo-jumbo. You don’t have to emphasize any institutional shortcomings, but don’t hide them either.
- Informative – This means disclosure of salary, promotion, development and training, benefits and everything else that employees really care about. Put up every bit of information you can lay your hands on, then check your click streams and gradually delete what no one uses.
- Clear about who you’re looking for – This starts with complete, comprehensive, competency-based job descriptions. Good candidates don’t want to waste their time any more than you want to waste yours. Do your best to have people qualify themselves in and out. If your department sets a high bar for employment, say so. If you only hire one in 20 applicants, say so. If you only hire at the bottom and promote from within, say so. Here’s a great job description we saw recently: “File clerk: The worst job in a great company. No one has ever liked this job but it’s a great way to get to know how the place works. The president will know your name (she started as a file clerk) and it’s only for six months, max. If you survive, you’ll get promoted to someone’s assistant. $22K.”
- Open – This means showing all the things you’d show off on a full-day, in-person tour of your business, including the ability to interact.
If the corporate website is a “foyer” for inquiring job candidates, the career site is a “parlor” that conveys a conversational, “talk with me” message. There is a lot implied in this metaphor: formality vs. informality, a presentation vs. a dialogue, and coolness vs. warmth. So how does your career site rate? What first impression does it make, and what follow-up does it offer to make the visitor first feel impressed and curious, then welcomed and comfortable?
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