Need more staff? Get your Online Recruitment right.

You've fired candidates up with your latest recruitment campaign and have an enticing URL as a landing page for those who respond to it. Everything points to the company being a great place to work. So will they access your site and be further convinced of spending the next five years checking it regularly for new job listings? Or will they struggle to navigate the site, feel let down and frustrated by the online experience and quickly move on?

More than a decade of online recruitment should mean that the answer is always the former, but don't bank on it. Chris Averill, chief executive officer of CADinteractive, an agency that specialises in usability, says that visiting some recruitment sites is more like going back 10 years in web design terms. He cites inaccessibility, design over functionality and an unnecessary use of Flash (web programme which provides animation) among the downsides and says, in many cases, poor design stems from companies lavishing budget, time and resources on the consumer side of their site to the detriment of the careers site.

"Career sites are such an important touch point for a company," says Averill. "But companies don't always treat them with the importance that they should. Those responsible for this area of the site often don't have the control, knowledge or budget that they should have. Companies need to see careers sites as part of their wider online strategy."

10 simple steps to a successful careers site

1. Test the recruitment site's usability on your target market and yourself. Don't merely take the web designer's word for it. If you find the navigation unwieldy and irritating, so will others.
2. Check the basics, such as making sure the back button does what it should. If the web designer has flouted conventional wisdom about type size and colour or the positioning of web page elements, ask them to justify their actions.
3. Does it download quickly or will the user lose interest while waiting for rich media such as weighty graphics to appear? The site should respect a potential candidate's time. Don't be scared of telling the designer that the site is over-designed for its purpose.
4. Is it accessible to everyone? The use of Flash may enhance its appearance but it may make it difficult for the partially sighted to view it. Make sure the site is inclusive.
5. Does the site reflect your core brand values and brand design. If you took the logo and name off, for instance, could a user still tell it is your site?
6. Compare the look and user experience with the consumer side of the site. Is there consistency or a disconnect? Does the home page make the careers area look inferior?
7. Check out any features such as job searches or quizzes personally to make sure they deliver what they are supposed to.
8. Is the content sufficiently compelling? Does it tell a believable story about what it is like to work at the company. Allowing employees to speak in their own words can make for a powerful sell.
9. Have a strategy in place to update content and keep the site fresh. An obviously out-of-date website reflects poorly on the brand.
10. Finally, elicit feedback from candidates and nip any weaknesses in the user experience in the bud rather than let it fester and damage the brand.


For the full article plus plenty of examples, click the link below.

Associated Link: Recruiter Magazine: How usable is your website?

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