Isn't technology wonderful? It has changed the way we do just about everything. I have two small children and often think about the world in which they will grow up. They will never have known a world without cell phones or Movies On Demand. And, thanks to on-board GPS, they may never experience stopping a car to ask for driving directions. But the biggest everyday difference between their lives and ours - and it's a difference I observe even now, as they grow up - is the Internet.
The Internet has changed and will continue to change a great many day-to-day functions: researching a term paper, shopping for clothes, communicating with friends, finding news, and yes, even finding their first job. Job searching via the Internet is already a major use for the medium and will only grow in popularity. That said, there's no underestimating the importance of your having a strong online recruitment strategy.
Given the breadth of the topic of online recruitment, I won't explore every facet of it here. Instead, I will focus on the one area that has the greatest impact: your corporate website. Why do I say your corporate website has the greatest impact? Because every aspect of your online strategy (job boards, banner ads, e-cards, blogs, SEO, social networking, etc.) has one goal in mind: to drive traffic to your site. Once you've driven your potential applicants there, you need to capture their undivided attention and sell them on your organization. That's what it's all about.
Think of your corporate website as a touch-point. By touch-point I mean the direct experience or immediate point of contact between you and your prospective recruits. Touch-points are everywhere. Each time an applicant sees one of your recruitment ads, that is a touch-point. Each time an applicant walks through your door for an interview, the immediate environment and interaction are touch-points. Each time an applicant leaves you a message that doesn't get returned, that (unfortunately) is a touch-point. Touch-points combine to create an image in an applicant's mind as to whether your organization is worthy of his or her dedication and skill set.
Your corporate website is the single greatest touch-point you have with an applicant. Every "A-level candidate who explores employment with your organization will be visiting your website and making conclusions about your employment value proposition. Your website will often be what forms their first impression of your company. It had better lock them in and motivate them to take action.
Unfortunately, many websites do not. The overarching problem is that organizations have done very little to capitalize on their website. Dr. John Sullivan, professor, author and HR thought leader, recently wrote the following in a blog:
"These websites are bad, most to the point of embarrassment. When will companies realize that whatever employment branding or advertising you do is instantly lost when 70% of your applicants judge the credibility of what you said based on what they find on your website? Without exception, candidates find dated material, dinosaur technology, and copy that's about as exciting as reading an accounting textbook.
The bottom line is that to capitalize on your website, it must be created in a way that is intuitive, experiential and engaging. In my opinion this is the single greatest opportunity to increase your applicant to close ratios. So, before you spend $1 online, you need to shore up your site. Here are some quick suggestions, easy to implement, that will get you heading in the right direction.
Benchmark your site against your direct competition. Check out your competitors' websites and see what jobs are out there, how your competitors are positioning themselves against you, and where you outperform them or they outperform you.
Benchmark your site against best practices. You don't want to just be better than your neighbor; you want to be best of class. There are abundant resources - companies, articles, how-to's - that can assist you in taking best industry practices and making them your own. Put these resources to use.
Put your site to the test. You would be surprised how many people have not done this. Visit your site as an applicant. Is it easy to navigate? Are the links all active and functional? Is the information dated or generic? Does your site engage a passive candidate to action? Don't be easy on yourself - your applicants aren't.
Buy your ".jobs domain name. For every .com, .edu or .gov site, you can purchase .jobs for less than $200 a year. Drive your applicant traffic directly to the spot you want them instead of requiring them to navigate through your site to the Careers section. This small step goes a long way toward improving your applicant experience.
Build your talent network. Your website must enable "A-level candidates to stay connected to you. These are the people who won't linger on your site for 45 minutes, filling out your 15-page online application. Capture some essential information from them (name, e-mail, area of expertise) and maintain a relationship with them so that even if the timing is not right for them just then, when it is, you will be top of mind.
While more than these five steps are needed to elevate your website to best of class (a whole other topic entirely), following these steps will help ensure that your website is a professional, serviceable tool - not the "embarrassment Dr. Sullivan rails against in the quote above. But remember, your website is not a static document. It requires constant updating and freshening, always focusing on improving the applicant experience.
Matthew Adam serves as Vice President & Talent Strategist for NAS Recruitment Communications, an agency of the McCann Worldgroup and a leading provider of innovative human resource communications solutions with offices in 37 major markets in the United States and Canada.
His role is national in scope and designed to facilitate major account implementation and support strategic project consultation. Having spent the last 12 years as a recruitment strategy consultant for a diverse client roster, including both Fortune 500 and small start-ups, Matthew has worked with a wide-variety of Clients to develop effective online strategies that define and shape an organization's recruiting efforts in the interactive marketplace of today.
