SuccessFactors (@SuccessFactors) recently released an infographic aimed at “putting your career site on steroids.” We like the sound of that! As one of the most effective tools that recruiters have at their disposal, it’s important to invest in the career page by keeping up with current candidates trends. Here are a few from their helpful infographic, “Career Sites: Taking Your Recruits Where You Want Them to Go.”

90% of candidates will go directly to the list of open jobs on your career page. Tweet this stat.

So first of all, how easy is this page to find? SuccessFactors claims that most sites will have one tiny link in the site map, or somewhere out of the way. They suggest that instead of hiding job listings; make them a prominent part of the page. 75% of the career site should be about candidates searching for jobs or connecting with you via social or a talent community. This page should be easy to spot and accessible within one click of the homepage. Furthermore, candidates should be able to apply with as little as 3 clicks. The standards in career sites are getting very competitive!

79% of visitors to you site will start an application. Tweet this stat.

“Start” is the key word here. Application abandonment rates can vary greatly based upon the company’s application process. The current standard is 15 minutes; if the application process takes longer than that, candidates start dropping out. Companies should also offer a “save” and re-access option. This allows candidates to easily come back to the application process if they are unable to complete it at the moment.

31% of candidates who apply on corporate career sites get hired. Tweet this stat.

Compared to other hiring resources like social networks, major job boards and niche job boards, career sites are one of the top two sources for engaging and hiring the right talent. Job aggregators do get more traffic, but the career site gets more follow-throughs when it comes to applicants. Companies are getting a very large portion of their hires from their own career sites.

Give candidates multiple actions to take when it comes to interacting on your career site.

Director of Recruiting Strategy at SAP, Will Staney (@Will Staney) brings to light that not all job candidates will use the same mediums of communication. Boomers might lean toward email, while a Millennial might prefer to engage via Twitter. Your site should offer all of the following engagement opportunities to your different audiences: Email, RSS, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog/Resources, YouTube and Mobile Optimization.

Our favorite part of the article centered around the infographic is when the author likens the application process to marketing a product:

We love finding and sharing insights like these to help our clients improve every step of the recruitment process. We should also add that totally integrated, mobile optimized, user-friendly applicant software is 100% mandatory in today’s recruiting landscape. Attracting talent is tough, so when you have them on the career page and they bail on the process due to crappy software or systems that is a huge missed opportunity.

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