This is a 3 part series, focused on deploying and managing effective corporate career sites. The 3 posts will include:
Part 2: Top 5 List for Deploying and Effective Online Career Center
As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series (Effective Corporate Career Sites & Measuring Results), there are articles and white papers all over the web outlining the need to build an engaging, leading-edge corporate career site. In addition, there are hundreds of ideas and tactics on what those elements should be.
While it is not realistic to incorporate every best practice into every career site, it is important to understand your target audience and what elements will create the most engaging experience yielding the highest conversions of quality applicants on your site. Equally important is capturing some basic information from those visitors you don’t convert.
Here are 5 ideas to consider for engaging a candidate on your career site:
- Incorporate a blog. Easier than it sounds given the policies in many organizations, fear of the unknown, and possible risks involved. There are enough success stories in this space, dating back several years. Hats off to those who have pulled it off, they must be ecstatic there is little competition in the blogging space. Blogging is an effective way to build a true candidate community and mutual exchange between candidates and organizations.
- Integrating a chat feature into your site. Experts agree, today’s sites are static, and provide one-way communication. There are several inexpensive ways to build chat into a site, and the payoff can be big. The ideas are endless… Highlight workplace awards, discuss diversity and inclusion strategies, hold information sessions, profile work teams, or discuss new ideas.
- Provide interactive elements. These could include maps, live video streaming, webinar offerings, and career information that is meaningful and excites your target audience.
- Option to download gadgets and feeds. These are important for both active and passive candidates. Options can include information on jobs, postings, company information, press releases, and related career information.
- CRM capabilities to capture leads. 90%+ of most career site visitors do not apply, for a variety of reasons. This provides a significant opportunity to develop and implement a strategy to communicate with this audience.
Technology plays a big role in the recruiting process but it does not replace or address the human element. Not having the resources with the competence or drive to get aggressive about recruiting is a recipe for disaster. A site incorporating these or other best practices is only one element of a broader solution.
