That’s why a careers site does more than list openings and copy and paste from the ‘about us’ page; it reflects the organisation’s commitments to its people and to the wider world. It should answer questions like: What do we stand for? How do we support our people? What impact do we make on society? When done well, it inspires candidates not only to apply, but to imagine a future with you.
Five essentials of a great careers site
1. Communicate with your audience clearly and succinctly
I’ve got three simple rules for this one:
- Show, don’t just tell
- Keep the candidate at the heart of your content
- Don’t be generic
2. Showcase your people
There are so many ways you can do this well. You could have a dedicated area for your people like Reckitt and Standard Chartered, or you can pepper your people throughout with relevant stories to back up a claim you’ve made around your culture and values. For example – “we invest in our people to grow”; insert spotlight on Sarah who was funded and supported by you to study her specialism and later promoted.
You’re putting faces to names and showing the culture and people that you’ll work with, it’s a great way to strengthen your employer brand too.
3. Invest in your employer brand
Your employer brand comes first. It’s not the same as your corporate brand or your “About Us” page, because your audience isn’t the same. Candidates aren’t looking for product information or company history; they want to understand what it feels like to work with you, what you stand for as an employer, and how you’ll support their growth.
A strong employer brand signals that you value people as much as business performance. It sets expectations for potential hires and reinforces for current employees the culture and values you’re striving to uphold. It doesn’t exist to only attract talent; it inspires your workforce to live and champion those values too.
4. Be unique
I’ve touched on this briefly already, but this is a really important one. Just as candidates are competing against one another to work for you, you are competing with your peers and beyond for the right people. So, why should they choose you? We know what generic looks like and although it should be clear that you also offer all of those things, what sets you apart from the rest? Identify it and make a show of it.
5. Make sure it works!
The basics matter. If your ATS integration doesn’t display jobs correctly, or if tagging is inconsistent, you’ll frustrate candidates and lose applications. Accessibility, speed, and ease of navigation aren’t nice-to-haves, they’re hygiene factors that signal professionalism.
If these basics aren’t met, you’re making a bad impression for simple but critical details. For example, if you have job listings in London, are you certain there is only one way to tag ‘London’ as the location? If a second option like ‘London, UK’ - or anything else - has made its way in there, some job roles could be excluded from filtered lists entirely, causing you to miss out on talent.
Where careers sites go wrong
There are countless ways a careers site can miss the mark, but two issues consistently stand out in our Webranking research:
1. Lack of pay transparency
Salary disclosure is no longer optional; it’s a candidate expectation. We found that 74% of jobseekers want this information upfront, yet only 33% of companies provide it. By omitting it, businesses risk losing candidates before they even apply.
2. Lack of clarity around the recruitment process
Is your process five steps with a task across six weeks, or three key steps that take four months? Candidates don’t want to guess. 97% of jobseekers told us they want clear information about what to expect, but only 37% of companies publish it online. Leaving candidates in the dark creates frustration and weakens your brand experience.
Staying ahead of the curve:
Once you’ve nailed the basics, here are ways to keep your careers site fresh, innovative and competitive:
Technology and tools
- AI-powered matching: Recruiter tools are evolving into ‘matching’ or ‘discovery’ agents. Platforms like Jack & Jill AI help connect the right people with the right roles, benefiting both candidates and businesses. With great power comes responsibility, ensure AI use is transparent, ethical, and supported by human oversight to avoid bias.
- SEO and structured data: careers content can’t escape optimisation. Structured job data makes sure your roles appear in Google Jobs and other aggregators, giving your postings maximum visibility.
Experience and engagement
- Playful design: innovative teams are experimenting with quizzes, interactive journeys, and even VR tours to make the experience memorable. For example, Deloitte’s Explore Your Fit tool, which matches candidates with career paths based on their interests.
- Immersive storytelling: from 360° office tours to “day in the life” videos, these experiences let candidates picture themselves in the role before they apply.
Strategy and mindset
- Omni-channel activation: Your EVP shouldn’t live in a PDF. Bring it to life consistently across every candidate touchpoint, from job ads to social media, and let it guide which channels you prioritise.
- Skills or culture first? Decide whether you’re hiring for technical expertise, cultural fit, or a mix of both, and communicate that clearly. Candidates need to know if you value qualifications above all, or if potential and attitude can open the door.
The bottom line
A careers site is far more than a place to post vacancies, it’s a stage for your culture, your values, and your ambitions. When it communicates with clarity, showcases your people, and reflects a strong employer brand, it becomes a powerful tool for attracting and retaining the right talent.
The very best sites go further. They differentiate, they innovate, and they offer candidates a glimpse of what their future could look like with you. Done well, a careers site doesn’t just fill roles, it tells a story that inspires, builds trust, and sets the tone for the kind of organisation you want to be. Treat it as a strategic asset, not a checkbox, and it will help you win the people your business needs to grow.