Most companies have the basics down in their career section; an introduction to the company and listings of job vacancies, according to Webranking by Comprend 2017-2018. But there is still a big gap between what job seekers want and what the companies provide. Best performers are Finnish Metso and Italian Snam.
Every year Comprend ranks the corporate websites of the largest companies in Europe, based on stakeholder demands in Webranking by Comprend. The stakeholder demands are based on our two surveys to the capital market and job seekers. Here are summaries of what they said last year (new reports to come soon!)
The corporate website important to job seekers, but lack information
The number one place job seekers look for information about jobs is the career section of a company’s website according to 67% of the respondents. The corporate website is seen as direct, trustworthy and shows a complete picture of the company. And companies know this. Job seekers are ranked as the main target group for corporate website, and career related content was ranked a high priority when prioritising work efforts according to our upcoming Web Management Report. In addition to be a prioritised area, the career section is often the most visited part of a corporate website.
Still, the results from Webranking 2017-2018 speaks a clear language. The career section is where companies continue to underperform in meeting job seekers’ expectations. The 500 largest companies in Europe managed to fulfil only 41% of their demands. Among the 10 sections that Webranking criteria are split into, the career section comes on 8th place on demand fulfilment – only share and investor relations information demands have a lower fulfilment rate.
On the good side, the results of the career section have seen an improvement the past 5 years – increasing from 34% in Webranking 2013-2014 to 41% in 2017-2018.
So what is it that job seekers want?
Introducing the company to job seekers
Job seekers want to get to know the company before applying for a job, specifically through an overview tailored to their situation. An overview of the company with a short description of the business, mission, vision and geographical locations is a good place to start.
Finnish industrial goods company Metso is a good example in giving potential employees a short and informative overview of them as a company and showing their global presence in a clear way:
Companies are today fighting for talent and might sometime struggle to find the right people among a large number of applicants. To get the right applicants, vacancies should be listed in a clear way with relevant titles so that it is easy for the job seekers to understand which vacancies are relevant for them. The vacancy should also describe the main duties, have a specific contact, information about application and feedback dates and letting applicants upload their CV to the website.
If there are no vacancies, be clear about that. Companies that only have local vacancies should link to the local websites to make them easier to find.
Besides having a great filtering function, Austrian technology and capital goods company Voestalpine clearly describes main duties, what skills are required for the job, has a specific contact person for the job and has employer branding movie included in the job ad:
They also give the applicants several options regarding apply for the job, either through sending CV’s through their website or login to get an overview of the full hiring process:
What’s it like working for you?
A workplace is more than just work and happy employees are good employees. Job seekers wants to know what it’s like working for you, and catering to their needs makes you a more attractive employer. Information about what it’s like working at your company, your work environment, your culture and your values is something job seekers expect to find. Webranking 2017-2018 showed that companies only fulfilled 33% of job seekers expectations in this area.
Swedish telecom company Telia Company is a great example in showing what it’s like working for them. The have a clear introduction, explaining what they strive for as a company and what they can offer their employees:
If it wasn’t important already, #metoo should have been an eye-opener for everyone. Presenting your policies on how you work with diversity and equal opportunities and the actual data on diversity in your workplace is something job seekers are looking for.
Italian gas company Snam has a full section on the importance of diversity, linking it to how it creates value for them as a company. They disclose numbers on gender and age diversity, and the pay gap based on gender. Even the subject of physical and psychological diversity is brought up and presented:
The best performers in Webranking 2017-2018 Europe 500 have an average score of 82 %, double the average score of all 500 companies. On a split first position are Finnish packaging company Metso and Italian gas company Snam.
The companies have been ranked on 6 criteria about career information split into 33 measure points. The criteria are based on the demands from job seekers in Europe.
Cookies
This website uses cookies as described in our Cookie policy. To see what cookies we serve and set your own preferences, please use your web browser's settings. Otherwise, if you agree to our use of cookies, please continue to use our website.
