Recruitment website tips [+checklist]

A war is raging in the labor market. A war for talent that makes it difficult for the average organization to attract good staff. Unless that organization successfully applies recruitment website. In this blog, you’ll learn what’s involved in a strong recruitment website. It provides you with a detailed roadmap for establishing your organization as an irresistible direct employer. Not for just any job seekers, but for your ideal employees. We also call this form of marketing employer branding.

Define the goals of your recruitment website

With employer branding, we quickly think of one goal: attract and retain the very best employees. Of course every company wants that, but such a goal is not easily measurable. Therefore, it is better to zoom in and pick out smaller targets. These are some examples of goals (KPIs) that are interesting to measure.

• Number of potential candidates reached
• Number of applications received
• Number of job interviews started
• Number of employment contracts signed

Tips from 2manydots

Discover why employees love working for you

Do you know why your current employees chose your organization? Do you know why they stay? Is it clear to you what people find most attractive about you as an employer?

You need to know the answers to these questions if you want to create a successful recruitment website strategy. The answers to these questions make up your value proposition: a set of values that you use to attract your ideal candidates.

To do this, you need input from your current employees. For example, organize a workshop in which you ask a cross-section of your organization to list your values. Sending an online questionnaire to all employees is also possible, of course. This should be the beginning of a new tradition: an annual survey.

Know your company’s weaknesses

You will read it more often in this white paper: we are looking for an authentic message. In no company is it all rosy, if only because things happen in our personal lives that affect us in the workplace. But that’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Your employee survey will no doubt already reveal some of those downsides. Exit interviews with departing employees are also a valuable source of information.

Therefore, in your message to candidates, it’s okay to talk about your lesser strengths, as long as you put a positive spin on it. So if your office doesn’t have an inspiring view, feel free to tell us. But also tell them that your office garden evokes the true zen feeling.

With honesty, you attract the best-fit candidates: employees who feel a real “click” with your organization. People who, on the one hand, understand that perfection does not exist, but at the same time see that your drive constantly ensures improvements.

Know the terms of employment at your competitors

Employer branding is basically a marketing exercise. And as with any marketing strategy, recruitment websites include market research. Not only do you want to know what your incumbent employees think about you, it’s also important to see what your competitors are doing.

What working conditions do companies in the same industry offer? What responsibilities are employees given in positions similar to your open positions? What ratings do former employees (anonymous or otherwise) give these companies?

In the job postings of competitors, you quickly discover the extent to which these companies have applied employer branding, but you also learn a lot from job interviews with “switchers. In some cases, you can also find information about the atmosphere and working conditions on social media.

Take action to increase work comfort and enjoyment

Once you know your weaker points, you need to work on them. Employees greatly appreciate it when you not only ask for comments and suggestions, but also take action to make their work more enjoyable. Your efforts send the message that you care about your employees, that you value them and want to do everything you can to keep them “on board.

So invest in comfortable workspaces, in original activities, offer fun incentives and engage with your employees to know what’s going on. Because employer branding is only truly effective when you work from the inside out. Only when your employees are happy can you work on a strong message to the job market.

Tell a story your employees identify with

Employer branding involves a broad-based, distinctive story (corporate story). A story that makes clear what you stand for as an organization and what direction you are taking. In a well thought out story, articulate your organization’s reason for existence and tell what makes you unique from other organizations. There are good reasons for this.

• For potential employees, the story can be a source of information as well as generate a “click” that makes them feel encouraged to send in a job application.
• For your current employees, the story can make them feel connected to each other and your organization. It gives direction in their work.
• Departing employees should also be able to relate to your story so that they remain ambassadors even after their contract ends.
• For clients, the corporate story works convincingly. Your target audience understands what you stand for. By tapping into emotions, you create the foundation for a long-term relationship.

A good story starts with the WHY: why should I want to work for you? The story answers the question “why does my target audience choose us as an employer? In doing so, you pique the interest of your readers and invite them to then read about your WHAT and HOW. By the way, that reading is not an obligation. You will want to have your story in writing, but of course you can support it with an animation -or read aloud-in a video message for the more visually or aurally inclined visitors.

Determine with your employees what values you promote

From the conversations with your employees and your organization’s story, you then distill your norms and values. What is the social glue that binds you together? To arrive at your unique blend of values, ask the following questions for inspiration:

• What does my organization stand for?
• What makes our employees proud?
• Is everything we do in line with what we say?
• What values and standards do we want to promote?
• What are the motivations of our employees?

For example, one organization will want to present itself as “innovative and technological,” while another will want to portray itself as “a small informal organization with short lines of communication. In the case of relatively new, fast-growing companies, values such as entrepreneurship, flexibility, problem-solving, open communication, pride and commitment often emerge. In any case, it is important that your employees are comfortable with the identity.

Customize your work-at-home site

One of the tasks of your value proposition is to connect with candidates. You want to hit those ideal employees with a story they want to feature in. With the right communication and recruitment strategy, you will attract people who fit your organization. This, in turn, has a direct impact on the work atmosphere and sales growth.

One way to communicate your company’s values is to share enthusiastic stories from your employees. For example, is there an extrovert in the workforce with a great anecdote? Or someone who combines a special hobby with working for your organization? Someone who has won awards?

Take a look at how General Electric communicates its values with its own YouTube channel. From the more down-to-earth Netherlands comes Boskalis’ video campaign. And that a campaign may well include humor is proven by the Israeli company Sodastream.

Set up employee profiles

You now clearly know who you are and what you stand for. You also know what values you want to communicate to potential employees. But your message will only be truly effective if you properly delineate your target audience. You do this using employee profiles.

Perhaps you already know them from the marketing world: the personas that represent ideal customers. We are now going to do the same thing for the workers you want to attract. In doing so, you want to be as detailed as possible. Make up a name for each employee profile, include age and position, his or her work history, skills, desired salary, career goals, motivations and so on.

Once you have created these employee profiles, you will know exactly who to address your communications to. Your job postings will no longer be a shotgun where you spend a long time separating the wheat from the chaff. Instead, you engage in targeted recruiting. And that doesn’t even have to result in fewer applicants, although they will be much more relevant to you.

Find out where potential candidates are active

This step is actually part of the employee profiling process, but it is so important that we touch on it separately. You want to know exactly how your ideal employees are looking for work (if they are looking at all). Do they read trade magazines or use job boards? Do they use social media or do they search primarily within their personal and professional networks? Do they attend job fairs?

Either way, you want to be original above all else. It takes creativity to stand out and stand out in the job market. Your way of communicating must arrive at the right audience; like marketing, this is a creative discipline.

For example, you can choose to target unsuspecting professionals as they drive to or from work or in their spare time. If it is relevant to your employee profile, you can even search for candidates at the local gym, as you see in the example below.

Set a budget for recruitment

A successful online recruitment campaign typically has a lower investment per candidate recruited than other, traditional forms of recruitment. After all, you have many ways for your message to reach your target audience. We can group these into three main categories:

• Paid media are all publications you pay for, such as ads on Google, social media and job boards. But also consider advertorials in magazines and billboards.
• Owned media are your own communication channels, such as your website, your YouTube channel, your Twitter account or a banner on the facade of your building.
• Earned media are third-party publications for which you have not paid and over which you have little control: social media comments, testimonials, reviews or press articles.

Ideally, you should combine these three categories, with an emphasis on owned media. Indeed, with this you have the opportunity to give an honest picture behind the scenes. This is how you show candidates what the workplace is like. And if you create interesting, eye-catching content of your own, external parties are also more likely to write about you.

You may have already had a budget for ads on job boards, but strive to expand this budget. So you have room to boost your own blog posts on Facebook, to host an event for press or to go out with a full-screen ad on an industry-related website.

Plan your content for maximum visibility

You know where your target audience is active and how much budget you have at your disposal. Then now is the time to draw up a plan of attack. With a good overview, your chances of success are much higher than if you push ad hoc content. Therefore, create a content calendar by which you plan things like social media posts, blog posts, press releases, job postings, and so on.

In the content calendar, also put who is producing and posting this content. In this way, you strengthen the team spirit and work together toward the set goals. Use color to distinguish the different types of content from each other and alternate content types. The idea of this is that you don’t produce overkill on one channel while neglecting the other channels. Be original every time!

You also want to set aside time for unscheduled content. Consider comments on social media. If you get responses to posts, or if you are tagged in a tweet, be sure to engage in dialogue to create connection. Because imagine what a turn-off it is for a job seeker if they don’t get an answer to their question.

Measure results and make regular adjustments

Any good marketing plan involves testing, measuring and evaluating. This is because it is impossible to achieve maximum results immediately; there is always something left to optimize somewhere.

• You can apply A/B testing to the content you share through your recruitment website. This allows you to see which version of a job posting or blog post produces the highest conversion, depending on the conversion goals you’ve set. Thus, these tests steer you in the right direction.
• With social media content, and to that we count Linkedin, you see how many likes, shares and comments your posts generate. By sharing different types of posts, you will soon get an idea of what guarantees success. Also, vary the days and times you share content.
• Don’t forget to involve your employees in your new approach. What do they think of the online image? Do they feel more like sharing posts or jobs? What could be even better?
• And what happens internally? Absenteeism, employee turnover, attendance at team events: all of these give an indication of how well your employer brand is doing.

Little by little, your employer brand will become rock solid in this way. But beware of sitting back: the job market is constantly changing, and so are the ways in which candidates seek employment. To stay ahead of the competition, it is important to keep optimizing.

Recruitment websites by 2manydots

Over the past few years, we at 2manydots have proudly developed and optimized several recruitment websites for top clients. Check out our case studies and discover how we have contributed to our clients’ success in attracting talent and optimizing their recruitment processes.

Making recruitment links?

Looking for a recruitment link that integrates seamlessly with your WordPress website? At 2manydots, we offer several links to optimize your recruitment process. From plugins for platforms such as Recruitee, Hireserve, Bullhorn, Carerix and HRoffice to custom API integrations. Find out how we can help you simplify your recruiting efforts. Check out our links for more information:

• Recruitee API Plugin
• Hireserve API Plugin
• Bullhorn Linking API or Plugin
• Carerix API Plugin
• HRoffice API Plugin

Discuss the possibilities?

Let 2manydots develop your recruitment website! At 2manydots, we specialize in developing recruitment websites that attract qualified candidates. With our expertise, we can create a centralized website that streamlines the recruitment process and maximizes conversion. Contact us today to discuss your options!