The secrets behind a great career website

By Helena Wennergren

Finding the right talent is a constant challenge. It is also a challenge for jobseekers to find the company that they want to work for. You need to make sure that your website demonstrates what it is like to work at your company.

When looking for a new employer, jobseekers use a variety of sources for information about the company and for jobs. According to our latest research for Webranking by Comprend 2021-2022, the three most used sources were companies' corporate websites, LinkedIn, and Facebook. For the first time, our surveys have also shown Instagram to be a popular source for jobseekers when looking for roles.

Jobseekers expect corporate websites to be the most up-to-date source for vacancies and the one place where they can get the full picture of the company that they might want to work for.

"...the corporate website is a more trustworthy source. Many vacancies have already expired on other sources of information."

Your corporate website and company LinkedIn page are the most trusted sources, so if there is a need to prioritise, put your efforts here.

"Companies' websites are very important for me to see the whole picture of the company I'm applying for."

Jobseekers and the corporate website

On a corporate website, jobseekers tend to visit the About section just as much as the Careers section. To ensure that jobseekers can find other important information such as code of conduct, diversity, and sustainability initiatives, it is essential to map the user journey and provide cross-links in the relevant places.

Jobseekers appreciate information split up into sections for junior and senior applicants. This makes it easier for them to get tailored information that is right for them.

The most important information

In our survey, we asked 200 active and passive jobseekers across Europe what information is most important to them on a future employers' corporate website. Their responses can be summarised into two areas:

• What it's like to work at your company?
• The job ad and description of the recruitment process

Show what your company is like

The career website is where jobseekers go to find out more about you. This is also your tool to show what your company is all about and why someone should join. It is your window to make your employer brand come to life.

Culture and work environment are two of the things that make a company unique. They are also so much more than just words posted on the wall, so find different ways to show them. There isn't a fixed recipe for what to show or how to show it, but here are some ingredients that can help your company.

We are likely to see a higher degree of remote work following the pandemic - something that jobseekers want to know your approach on. Even so, images and videos of employees, from the company's offices and other locations can help to paint the picture of the working environment.

Having your own employees sharing what they do and what they think about their employer in testimonials is one way of illustrating what it is like to work at your company. These can be simple interviews with photos or videos. Make sure to cover different types of roles, locations, and experience levels.

The job ad and recruitment process

After deciding that this is a company the jobseeker wants to work for, the next step is finding a vacancy and understanding the recruitment process. Most ads follow the same formula of main duties and profile, making it fairly easy to understand what the job is about and to assess if it would be a fit.

For the jobseeker, it is also important to understand the context - what kind of team would I be part of, or even which business unit or division does the role belong to. Describing this in the job ad helps the jobseeker to decide whether or not to apply.

On the more practical side, information about the recruitment process is, in general, extremely helpful in setting expectations. TietoEvry have a great step-by-step description of the recruitment process, from "Discover & Apply" to "Welcome". It doesn't require tonnes of words or descriptions, but an overview of the different steps that can be included.

The ad itself should, of course, include information about when the applicant can expect to hear back from the company, and when the position would start. Contact information to the recruiting manager is also important.

TietoEvry's step-by-step description of the recruitment process

Do you want to know how well your careers website stands against others? Learn more about Webranking by Comprend. or get in touch to learn how we can help you with your content.