Careers section: Hit or miss?

By André Nunes & Diana Garcia

To what extent do companies need to attract job seekers?

These days, human capital is considered to be one of the most important elements for competitive advantage in an organization, especially because it is a unique asset that is impossible to replicate.

So, in short, yes! If companies wish to attract the best job seekers and professionals they will need to put a considerable amount of effort into the communication of their work environment and conditions, health programs, training opportunities and more.

The right career content for job seekers

The latest Webranking Career survey revealed that the work environment and working conditions are the most valuable content that should be provided for job seekers.

After the overview of the company, which comes in second, information about job vacancies is the third most important disclosure for our respondents.

Equal opportunities and diversity is a hot topic in nowadays’ society. But, is it really content that you should be prioritising? Despite 92% of our respondents being interested in this topic, only 63% consider it very important.

What job seekers value the most

Suggestions for engaging content

To meet the audience’s expectations, corporate websites should provide a specific introduction for jobseekers and clearly describe the company’s values and culture as well as the conditions offered to their employees. And by conditions we mean: work environment, remuneration and benefits, diversity policy and training opportunities.

People wish to know if companies would treat them as individuals, without judgments and stereotypes, offering fair and equal opportunities to everyone. Informing the audience about your company’s policy on this matter will encourage people from different countries, ethnicities and cultures to engage with you.

In the end, the feeling of belonging has already been proven to be one of the most important motivational factors for performance.

Corporate websites should offer information about their current national and international job vacancies, if any, without missing crucial information regarding deadlines of application, main duties and different ways of applying. And why? Because about 85% of respondents want to find job adverts on corporate websites.

Comprend’s Webranking survey revealed company websites to be the most common source for jobseekers to search for job adverts. However, if they had to choose only one source they would prefer to use LinkedIn. So how can you use this to your advantage? Advertise your job vacancies on LinkedIn or re-direct them to your website to reach a wider audience.

Highlights from Europe’s 500 Careers section

The latest edition of Webranking, which covered 778 corporate websites from 32 different countries, shows that more than 50% of companies are neglecting information about their job vacancies on their websites.

In general, the information displayed on careers section of corporate websites has not changed much over the last 3 years. Our Webranking results show that Europe’s largest 500 listed companies disclose, on average, only 38% of the content considered important by stakeholders, young and senior professionals or students.

In fact, not a single company managed to provide all relevant content required for job seekers and students’ community. The Careers section shows where the distance of the best performer to the total possible score was the widest. The best performer on this section, Italy’s utility company Snam, fulfils 94% of the demanded criteria.

When analysing the details we found that, despite the importance of the topic, only 6% of Europe’s largest 500 listed companies are being fully transparent by providing a company introduction to job seekers, the company’s work environment, values, geographical locations and an updated LinkedIn account.

Best practice examples for career content

Snam – Italy’s utility company - Webranking 2016-2017 winner

Snam provides a thorough section about working at the company. Different topics are presented in different subsections and with clear labels.

See the example on Snam's website.

Swedish Match – nearly perfect on job vacancies criteria

Swedish Match is knocking on the door of the Careers section top 20 with a score near perfect on the Job vacancies criteria. The main feature is that the company makes it possible to apply for a job through the candidates’ LinkedIn account.

See the example on Swedish Match's website.

Kesko – clear presentation of diversity and equal opportunities

Kesko offers clear labels for its entire website. On the Careers section the company presents its "diverse working community" with numbers and neat content about the subject.

See the example on Kesko's website.

Europe’s top 20 – Outstanding career section!

The following table illustrates the top 20 best performers on Webranking 2016-2017 for the Careers section.

Find out more about your company’s performance in the careers and other sections of your corporate website by ordering a full report.

Get in touch with Helena Wennergren, Head of Research at +46 70 971 12 10 or helena.wennergren@comprend.com.