Learning the anatomy of a perfect career site is a must whether you want to create a brand new career site for your company or you’re just looking to improve your existing one.
All roads lead to Rome. And all steps of the candidate journey lead to your career site!
Your career site is the most important recruiting channel you have.
According to The Talent Board research, your careers page is the #1 place candidates go to research your company.
Even if your potential candidates discover about your open job position somewhere else (on social media, on job boards, through an employee referral program, etc.), they will go straight to your career site. According to LinkedIn’s research, 59% of candidates visit the company’s career site after discovering a job!
So what do your candidates look for on your career site?
According to LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report:
This means that your career site is not just the place to post your . A perfect career site is so much more!
A perfect career site is the one that:
In other words, a perfect career site is the one that attracts high-quality applicants, provides them with great candidate experience and sells them your job opportunities.
So what is the anatomy of a perfect career site? What do perfect career sites look like?
Here are the 15 key elements of a perfect career site:
Make sure you include a concise company description of your career site. This should be a very short explanation of who you are as a company, what you do and why. State your company’s mission and vision in a simple, understandable way.
Example:
Here is a best practice example found on Zurb’s career site!
We love how their company mission and vision is described in a conversational tone, in a way you would explain it to a friend.
What are the key values of your company? Your core company values are the essence of your company’s identity as an employer. Stating your core values in a clear and honest way will help you attract people who share them!
Example:
Check out this best practice example found on Pivotal’s career site!
Why should candidates choose to work at your company instead of somewhere else? What do you offer them? Think beyond compensation and classical perks and benefits. Emphasize a great company culture, interesting projects, career development opportunities, etc.
Example:
Check out this creative best practice example found on Umbel’s career site!
A smiling team photo is a must! Candidates want to see people behind the brand, especially if they consider spending every day with them at the office.
Example:
Check out this best practice example found on Hotjar’s career site!
Office location is a very important factor in choosing a job. Featuring office photos will go a step further and make it easy for candidates to imagine themselves working at your office!
Example:
Here is a best practice example found on Telepathy’s career site!
Did you know that, according to Edelman Trust Barometer, employee voice is 3 times more credible than the CEO’s when it comes to talking about working conditions in that company?
This is why you should let your potential candidates want to hear what it is like to work at your company straight from your existing employees!
Example:
Check out how Porto Montenegro highlights quotes and interviews with their existing employees on their career site!
A career blog is a very important element of a perfect career site. This is because it can provide potential candidates with an authentic, inside look at what it’s like to work for your company. But what exactly should you write about on your career blog? Check out these 10 blog ideas for your company's career blog!
Example:
Allianz’s career site has a really amazing career blog!
Besides career advice, it also features employee insights and a great explanation of insurance in a nutshell.
Proudly present all the awards your company has earned - especially “Best Places to work” and “Best Employer” awards. You can also feature your Glassdoor reviews! Show your potential candidates the proof that your employee experience is truly unique and enjoyable.
Example:
Check out how Asana provides social proof of their company being a great place to work on its career site.
Make sure your career site contains a clear, detailed explanation of your hiring process. Tell your potential candidates what to expect and when. Even better - draw them a roadmap! 🙂
Example:
Check out this infographic featured on Salesforce’s career site that shows 4 stages of their recruiting process!
Make it easy for interested job seekers to find your open job positions. Placing a search bar at the top of your career site will make it easy for job seekers to find their perfect job position in just one click!
Example:
Facebook has placed a search bar with the inspiring call to action (“Do the Most Meaningful Work of Your Career”) on the top of their career site.
If your potential candidates aren’t ready for their next career move just yet or you don’t have a perfectly matched open position for them at moment, offer them to sign up for your Talent Network. Make sure to explain exactly what they are signing up for: job alerts, company updates, industry news, career advice, etc.
Example:
Check out a best practice example found on RMS’s career site!
You can’t have a perfect career site without perfect job descriptions! So what are the perfect job descriptions like? They are not just a list of duties and responsibilities! Great job descriptions are creative! They stand out by providing candidates with an immediate insight into what the job and culture are really like at your company.
Example:
Here is an amazing best practice example found on the City of Edmonton’s career site. Each of their job descriptions contains a 5-minute podcast! 😮
Did you know that 60% of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of their length or complexity?
Having a short application form is one of the best ways to get more job applicants from your career site!
Check out this best practice example found on Pepco Italy's career site!
Candidates can apply by filling in only the basic fields like your name, e-mail address, phone number, CV and phone number.
Let the applicants apply with their social media profiles such as LinkedIn or Facebook. The simpler your application process - the better!
Example:
Check out this best practice example found on HubSpot’s career site!
Make it easy for your career site visitors to share your open job positions! Even if some of your career site visitors aren’t a perfect match for your current openings, they might know someone who is. Make it easy for them to share your job openings on social media or via email in just one click!
Example:
Here is the best practice example found at Agrivi’s career site!
OK, so we covered all the essential, must-have elements of a perfect career site. Now let’ 's take a look at the nice-to-haves!
If you want your career site to stand out, you should think about implementing that little extra something.
Here are 3 great career site best practice examples from big brands to spark your imagination:
In addition to their regular career site, The Heineken Company created the additional interactive website - GO Places. On their GO Places website, candidates go through an exciting, adventurous, and fun gamified job interview.
Another great idea is to enable a direct communication between your candidates and current employees. That way, candidates can get timely answers to all of their answers, with additional insights from your current employees! That’s exactly what Marks and Spencer did on their career site.
A short quiz is a very simple yet fun and effective example of additional interactive content you can implement in your career site. It is also a perfect lead generation opportunity. Take a look at the interesting quiz found on Sodexo’s career site: Which Sodexo Difference Maker are you?
In this blog post, we focused on the anatomy of a perfect career site. We explained all the necessary elements that a career site needs to have in order to be attractive and effective.
However, it is not enough to simply put these elements together to get a perfect career site.
If you want your career to perform perfectly, you need to optimize it!
Some of the things you can do to optimize your career site include:
Finally, it is very important to regularly track the top career site metrics. That way, you can optimize your career site based on the insights provided by data.
Creating a perfect career site doesn’t have to be a complicated and expensive process.
With modern, all-in-one recruitment software as our TalentLyft, you can create your perfect, branded career site in just a few minutes! It is fast, easy, and doesn’t require any HR or IT skills.
Career sites created with TalenLyft have everything a perfect career site needs:
If you’re interested to learn more, schedule a free demo with our experts and let them show you how easy is to create a perfect career site with TalentLyft!
Need more inspiration? Check out Top 10 Perfect Career Site Examples from Industry Leaders!
