Having a beautiful design is great. A recruitment website that delivers on its key objectives is even better. An amalgamation of the two is the dream but takes a clear plan from the start to achieve.
When most recruitment firms begin a website upgrade project, their main motivation is the desire for a fresh, new design that better represents their brand – which is clearly important. Their priorities might include improving the way the site performs across the latest browsers and mobile devices, which is fantastic. But neither of these consider what recruitment firms are looking for their recruitment website to provide them with:
- Candidates applying for their jobs (good, relevant, high calibre candidates)
- Potential clients getting in touch
- Recruiters wanting to join their business
Achieving these starts long before you hit the page and see the site design.
Imagine the people you’re targeting don’t know who you are. That they’re doing a Google search. They’re not looking for you, they’re looking to solve a problem, to answer a question. You need to know what their questions are, what they’re searching for, what to provide them with; you need relevant content, and for that content to be well optimised, in order to be found.
Now there are many technical factors regarding the platform your site uses etc. that need to be considered first but assuming you’ve found a recruitment website provider, and that the platform they’re offering users the latest technology, then your site needs to be built based on:
- Drawing in your target audience
- Converting your target audience
(Whilst at the same time looking pretty and being easy to use.)
Once a candidate has read your latest blog post, what do you want them to do? Do you want them to apply to relevant jobs? To share the post across social media? To sign up to your mailing list?
When a potential client has read your latest salary survey, what do you want them to do? Do you want them to sign up to your mailing list to receive future updates? To read other related reports? To call you to discuss what they’ve read in more detail?
It’s not enough to have a great design. It’s not enough to use the latest technology. It’s not enough to have great content. You need strong calls to action. You need to lead your targets to the actions you want them to take. If you leave them to guess, chances are they’ll leave. The content was great, they liked your website, but you didn’t ask them to do anything.
Need help writing great content that draws in candidates / clients / recruiters? We can help.
Author: Jennifer Wright
