IMPROVE YOUR COMPANY CAREER WEB PAGE AND GAIN ACCESS TO MORE JOB APPLICANTS
Today we firmly believe that to attract the best talent to your company it’s critical that your branding message extend all the way to the Career Page. Nothing tells a candidate more about a company and their brand than how the company communicates with their potential applicants.
Building a talent pipeline
Research today confirms that today’s job seeker and talent is seeking quick interaction with hiring managers and they want a do-it-myself level experience. If your website does not provide ease in the application process and transparency, you may be losing out on connecting with great candidates. The user experience is becoming more important to both hiring managers and candidates…more so than ever before. The candidate wants a clear path to the hiring manager and conversely the hiring authority wants a system that can track candidates through the process. This is what I call building a talent pipeline.
Take a test drive on your career page – from a user level viewpoint
If you’re wondering why you’re not getting lots of applicants online and unable to create that all important pipeline of candidates starts with a review from the “user level viewpoint”.
Step one:
Begin by going to your career site and starting out like an applicant. One more thing…make sure you do the review from a mobile device. Start this process on your own write out notes.
Step Two:
Engage with a Millennial and or Gen Y candidate and ask them to apply online and then ask them to provide you with their feedback.
As you review your site focus on two key areas. How does your career site portray your brand to the applicant and is there ease and transparency found within the applicant experience?
Branding review checklist
Review the Competition: Would your Careers or Employment site page attract top talent candidates from your competition? How does it compare to your competitor’s sites?
History and Culture: Do you have a page that tells the company story and describe the culture and top reasons to work for the company?
Benefits: Are benefits summarized and highlighted. Note: how do they match up with your competition?
Success Stories | Career Pathing: Does your site relate success stories within the company about current employees.
Community Involvement: What does your page communicate about your company and its interaction with the local communities within your trade areas?
Job posting links: all job postings should be linked back to your page even if you are using an aggregator board like Indeed, Career Builder etc.
Checklist of what the online applicant looks for
Is it easy to apply are there links to get the relevant job information?
Does it tell them clearly what they need and how long the process will take?
Is there an applicant tracking system or some type of pipeline system in place?
Can they apply using their LINKEDIN or Facebook profile and sign in?
Does the candidate get a response and the ability to opt in for more information and updates from the company when a new position of interest is posted?
Getting this type of feedback is critical. Your goal is to determine if you online application process is easy and mobile friendly.
Case Study
A few month ago, I spoke with a client who was having difficulty in hiring entry level support positions including the critical commission sales role. They were frustrated that they were not seeing any applications coming in and they rarely got any e-mails from applicants from their website. Note: This company has a very good website including online transaction capability and multiple stores within their region. They operate in a highly competitive marketplace.
After a quick review of their website I found the following:
In addition to sending your resume as an attachment to a HR@ address they required a big extra step. They asked the applicant to print out a PDF document, fill it out send it back. Sounds easy right? Not so fast.
Candidates today are used to using their smart phone for everything. Today there are apps to do everything asked on the smart device/phone however, this added step of requiring an applicant to print out a PDF document is a definite turn off for many candidates. Also, the reply e-mail was to a generic HR address which is a complete lack of transparency in the process. I affectionately call this type of system “the resume wilderness”.
As you’ll see from the following – lack of clarity and a less than smooth applicant process will drive applicants crazy. This simply is code for…they’ll stop the process with you and move on to another opportunity.
The 5 Things Driving Online Applicants the Most Crazy
According to ERE Recruiting Intelligence These are the top five frustrations for candidates in the U.S., according to data from the 2018 Potential park Study (37,000 responses, wide range of industries).
Lack of Clarity in the process - Candidates ranked the lack of clarity in the application process their No. 1 frustration. Fifty-six percent of U.S. candidates experience frustration about not knowing what happens from the moment they send in their application till the moment they get a response.
How Long the Application Takes - Returning to transparency of the application process, this information should be available before they even apply.
The Application Takes Too Long - Not knowing how long an application will take is more frustrating than the length of the application itself.
Unnecessary Questions Doubting the relevancy of your questions. How much sense does every question make in your application form? Remember: Transparency!
Suddenly Requesting Documents - we’ve seen a wide range of applications from the minimalist “Apply through LinkedIn” to those that require a CV, cover letter, university diplomas, references, and GPA. Only you know what works best for your process. Focus on a smooth candidate experience. And remember to tell the candidate upfront before starting the application process!
ONE SIMPLE GOAL
Even small to mid-size companies can create a seamless online applicant process. When you look to create or develop a Career website here are some primary goals to have which will lead to stronger engagement with today’s talent and more hiring leads.
Create a process where the applicant can clearly see the job including a short narrative on the requirements and register online with a few lines and clicks.
The Hiring Authority should be notified as soon as an applicant applies and that begins the (Pipeline).
Hiring authorities should be coached and trained on the importance of immediately engaging the applicant/talent by e-mail or by phone. Texting is the preferred method of contact by many of today’s best candidates.
CLOUD BASED SOLUTIONS ARE NOW COST EFFECTIVE AND SCALEABLE
It used to be that only big companies could afford applicant tracking software and great solutions. Today this is changing and there are literally hundreds of cloud-based applicant tracking systems (ATS). If you need a large- scale solution you can engage a company like KRONOS.
Important: In today’s app marketplace there is an application for everything. Even for a smaller or medium size enterprise there are great options with solutions from companies like ADP and ApplicantStack.
I hope you’ll take the opportunity to test drive your website from a user’s perspective including your website career page. If you don’t have a career page you are literally missing an opportunity to brand your company as a go to employer and make sure you cast the widest net possible.
Hiring today is getting more and more challenging. The U.S. Department of Labor unemployment statistics consistently shows a trend of the economy reaching nearly full employment. I can tell you from where I sit as a leading Executive Recruiter “today’s candidate is assessing the company as closely as you are looking at their background. They are in the driver’s seat and have many options to choose from.
