Ten tips for a great careers site What makes a great career site? What makes candidates want to apply for your jobs? We look at the top ten tips for creating a great careers site.

1: It's a careers site

Think about the key purpose of your careers site. Its function is to advertise jobs and promote your recruitment brand. Make sure that whatever you create, it meets these two key functions.

2: KISS

Create an easy-to-use layout and navigation scheme. You want a careers site that encourages the best people out there to apply for your jobs. Don't over-complicate matters. Adopt the KISS principle: 'Keep It Simple, Stupid.'

3: Employment Brand

Keep a consistent employer brand throughout the entire website. Don't limit your recruitment brand message only to your careers site. Make sure that the rest of your site reflects your recruitment brand too. (Read our article 'An introduction to recruitment branding' for more details.)

4: List your vacancies

Obviously, when you create your career site you should make sure it's easy to list your vacancies. Most websites will have a CMS system that allows you to add and edit pages. Get those live vacancies on the site as soon as possible. Remember too that these listings are job advertisements. So, sell the job and sell your company. Read our article 'Writing job ads for job boards' for tips on writing effective job ads. If you don't have any live vacancies in your company, are you happy to accept speculative applications from people? Let candidates know.

5: Explain the recruitment process

Explain to candidates how to apply for jobs and what they should expect once an application has been received. For example, do you require an email application or postal application? Do you require a covering letter? Will candidates be invited for interview or will there be an initial telephone interview? In other words, let candidates know exactly what will happen.

6: Sell your company

Detail your organization working environment, benefits and culture. Show candidates what kind of place your organization is to work in. If it is a funky creative place that looks for funky creative people then say so; if it's a hard-working hectic environment where closing the deal is key, then say so. Being clear about what your company is like will help you find the right people to work in it and help the right people to find you.

7: Get feedback

Ensure you have a mechanism for getting feedback from candidates and applicants. Be sure to monitor, respond and embrace this valuable information.

8: One size doesn't fit all

Your careers site is not the be all and end all of your recruitment strategy. You will still have to advertise your jobs on job boards and in newspapers. What's more, not all jobs that you list on your site can or should be recruited in the same way. For example, recruiting an administrative assistant might only require candidates to send you a CV for you to review before inviting suitable candidates for interview. Hiring for a Financial Controller, however, might necessitate your allowing candidates an initial confidential call to discuss the opportunity before they send in their application. Again, your careers site is about hiring the best people for your company. Ensure that it and your recruitment process are flexible enough to do this.

9: Clarify your internal recruitment process

How are candidates going to apply for jobs? Do you have an email address like jobs@mycompany.co.uk? Who is going to respond to applicants. Who is going to screen applicants? What happens then? To ensure the best candidate experience and successful recruiting, ensure that you establish a clear internal recruitment process in your company.

10: Test, test, and test again.

No matter what kind of careers site you create, whether it's a one page site with a single vacancy listing or a 10-page fully interactive video-laden microsite, be sure to spend as much time as possible testing it. Make sure it actually works; make sure the content makes sense; make sure everything is spelled correctly, make sure the links work. You only get one shot at candidates: make it your best shot.

Next step? Check out these articles

• Five steps to successful online recruitment
• An introduction to Recruitment Branding
• First things first: write a Job Specification
• Writing job ads for job sites

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